Former YUKOS co-owner Leonid Nevzlin appealed to US presidency candidates Barack Obama and John McCain asking to help release Russian political detainees, Gazeta.ru reported.
      
      In his letter to the candidates Nevzlin says American presidents have always protected people's rights and freedoms and contributed greatly to the release of dissidents and rights defenders from Soviet prisons.
      
      Among those who Nevzlin believes the candidates should help are Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev, Svetlana Bakhmina, Alexei Pichugin, and Vasily Alexanyan.
      
      Leonid Nevzlin was given a life sentence for numerous murders and murder attempts in August 2008. He is both Russian and Israeli, and has been living in Israel since 2003.
      
      Source: www.lenta.ru