A group of western politicians has urged Dmitry Medvedev, Russian president, to “end the persecution” of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed Yukos oil tycoon, just days before a Moscow judge begins reading the verdict in his second trial.

In an open letter, the politicians – led by Sir Malcolm Rifkind and David Miliband, two former UK foreign ministers, and Bernard Kouchner, the former French foreign minister – said the seven-year legal campaign against Mr Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev had “shaken confidence in the Russian legal system” because it was seen as “not truly motivated by law”.

“As strong supporters of the drive to modernise Russia we cannot stand idly by when rule of law and human values are being so openly abused and compromised,” the letter said. “Stable and reliable partnerships with Russia can exist only where our fundamental common values are shared and applied: where human rights are protected, property rights are secure and justice prevails over corruption.”

Read the full version of the article in The Financial Times.