PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Author) In the early 2000s, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the wealthiest man in Russia, the head of the giant Yukos oil company, ranked 16th on Forbes list of world billionaires. But his pro-democracy, anti-corruption views led to a clash with President Vladimir Putin, who had him arrested in 2003. Convicted on politically motivated fraud charges, Khodorkovsky spent ten years in Putin's prison camps, recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. Since his release in December 2013, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has lived in Switzerland and in the UK. He now leads the philanthropic Open Russia organisation, promoting political reform in Russia, including free and fair elections, the protection of journalists and activists, the rule of law and media independence. He has been described by The Economist as 'the Kremlin's leading critic-in-exile.' Martin Sixsmith (Author) Martin Sixsmith studied at Oxford, Harvard and the Sorbonne. From 1980 to 1997 he was the BBC correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. From 1997 to 2002 he worked for the Government as Director of Communications and Press Secretary to Harriet Harman, Alistair Darling and Stephen Byers. He is now a writer, presenter and journalist. He has written two novels, Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh, and is the author of three non-fiction titles - Moscow Coup- The Death of the Soviet System, The Litvinenko File- The True Story of a Death Foretold and The Lost Child of Philomena Lee- A Mother, Her Son and a Fifty Year Search.
