German Bundestag Criticizes Khodorkovsky Trials
On 9 November, the German Bundestag adopted a resolution on the current situation in Russia in which it is stated amongst others that the trials against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev violated constitutional principles. The Bundestag calls upon the Federal Government to raise critical issues such as democracy and human rights in their upcoming consultations with the Russian government (16 November). The text points out that the Russian leadership treats politically active citizens not as partners but that the legal and judicial measures which had been implemented since Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin stand for a confrontational course against government critics.
The Bundestag sees considerable reform requirements for the Russian judicial system especially with respect to the powerful role of presiding judges, corruption and grievances in the Russian penal system and a “selective justice” of which the Khodorkovsky case is one example. The resolution requests from the German Government to urge the Russian government to investigate the death of Sergei Magnitsky in custody as well as the medical negligence of former Yukos lawyer Vasily Alexanyan while in prison which subsequently led to his death.
During the parliamentary debate on the resolution MP Marieluise Beck, spokesperson on Eastern European Affairs for the Green Party, pointed out that the resolution would not criticize the Russian people but the former KGB agents who are now sitting in the Kremlin. MP Beck also critically remarked that the German industry which would have excellent contacts with Vladimir Putin would never raise the Khodorkovsky case with him and express its concern that Khodorkovsky’s Yukos company was destroyed by the tax authorities and that its main assets were shoved on to Rosneft through a sham auction. She also argued that BP through its billion dollar deal with Rosneft acquired something which the Civil Code calls “stolen goods”.
