MOSCOW, April 4 - RAPSI. Human rights activists and artists have sent a common request to President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday asking him to pardon so-called "political prisoners."

The list consists of 40 prisoners, including former YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partner Platon Lebedev.

On Monday, Medvedev turned down an expert resolution submitted to him by the Human Rights Council. The experts concluded that the president is entitled to grant a pardon to a prisoner even without his formal request.

However, Medvedev disagreed with the assumptions and stated in his response that he does not understand why he should pardon someone who has not asked for a pardon.