“It is useful for entrepreneurs to know what risks they are taking”

Following Boris Titov’s statement that the only thing standing in the way of a public inquiry into the verdict in Khodorkovsky’s second case was a lack of initiative on Khodorkovsky’s part, Khodorkovsky wrote to the Ombudsman for Entrepreneurs’ Rights with a request to conduct a public inquiry.

The text of the letter, which has already been officially sent by Khodorkovsky through the administration of the colony was also published in Gazeta.ru (Read the original in Russian HERE)

Dear Boris Yurievich,

After reading about your readiness to organise yet another public inquiry into the verdict, I have decided that this is a good idea. That said, I hope you will understand the obvious reasons for my extremely sceptical attitude toward your independence from the current power.

Despite this, I see a certain benefit in writing to you. The business community is sufficiently broadly informed about my and P.L. Lebedev’s verdict, which, as can be seen, is becoming a model for many such cases. Therefore it is useful for entrepreneurs to know what risks they are taking when they rely on our “justice”, how the entrepreneurs’ ombudsman can realistically help them, and the main thing: what your view of the existing practice of the “application of the law” is.

In order to maximise the usefulness for society of the work you and I do together, I propose that we conduct it openly, publishing our entire correspondence in the Gazeta.Ru internet publication, whose permission has already been received.

I ask you to take one more circumstance into account as well: inasmuch as I had opposed the prosecution personally in the trial, I would like to communicate with you and your experts on the merits of the subject of the inquiry personally as well (in writing).

I likewise hope that, in accordance with the customary practice, I will be granted the opportunity to give the necessary clarifications before a final determination is issued should you or your experts begin to have any doubts whatsoever about the fairness or soundness of my position as presented to the court, as well as about the correctness of the way it was set forth by the judicial instances. I would like to conduct this part of the work publicly as well.

Finally, I am proceeding from the premise that the subject of the inquiry – and, correspondingly, of our discussion – is going to be specifically the charge against me of theft of more than 200 mln tonnes of oil from subsidiary units (including 100% wholly-owned ones) of the YUKOS company by way of the purchase from them of the oil by the YUKOS company or its trading units. That is, about what I have been officially found guilty of by the court.

Based on the above, I ask you to conduct an inquiry into the verdict of the Khamovnichesky Court of 27.12.2010 (with the changes introduced by the cassation ruling of the Moscow City Court of 24.05.2011), issue a determination about its soundness from the legal and economic points of view, and, based on the results, undertake those steps that you deem necessary and possible.

My representative will furnish you with the materials of the court proceedings that contain my position, and with copies of the verdict and the cassation ruling. He will likewise be prepared, at your request, to furnish you with other necessary case file materials that are had at our disposal.
With hope for effective cooperation,

M.B. Khodorkovsky

Read the Ombudsman’s response HERE 

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Boris Titov was appointed Business Ombudsman in June. In one of his first interviews, which he gave to the Bloomberg company, the Ombudsman announced that around 13 thousand prisoners convicted under economic articles can be found in Russian jails. For many of them, verdicts had been issued with violations, admitted Titov. On account of Khodorkovsky it was said that he “has been in jail too long”, while his release “will have a favourable effect on the investment climate”. Bloomberg reported that Titov intends to turn to the President with a request to release several persons imprisoned under economic articles, including Khodorkovsky. Titov subsequently rebutted this information, saying that he had never promised to turn to Putin with such requests. It was likewise proposed to the business ombudsman on numerous occasions to conduct a public inquiry into Khodorkovsky’s second verdict; however, the official explained that he can not do this, inasmuch as a formal request from the convict himself had not been received by him.