International reports highlight Russian human rights abuses and Khodorkovsky case

In Amnesty International’s annual report on human rights, released in May 2012, the NGO cited numerous concerns in Russia. The judiciary was said to suffer from allegations of “political interference, corruption and the collusion of judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials.” Commenting on Khodorkovsky’s case in particular, Amnesty International stated:

“In May [2011], the Moscow City Court upheld the second convictions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Their repeat convictions on barely distinguishable charges from their previous trials, following deeply flawed judicial proceedings, led Amnesty International to consider them prisoners of conscience. Even allowing for their extended prison sentences, both men qualified for parole towards the end of 2011 and both were denied it.”

The US State Department’s 2011 report on human rights in Russia was also released in May 2012, noting that Khodorkovsky’s reconviction “raised concerns about selective prosecution and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations.” The report also noted that Russia’s Presidential Council for Human Rights “questioned the legal basis of the charges and validity of the verdict in the second trial.”

In the UK, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued its 2011 report on Human Rights and Democracy at the end of April 2012. The report noted “concerns about the way the Khodorkovsky case had been conducted and the implications it had for the application of the rule of law in Russia”, and recalled that Prime Minister David Cameron had “discussed the Magnitsky and Khodorkovsky cases with President Medvedev” and that he had stressed the importance of strengthening the rule of law as “essential to Russia’s future stability and prosperity.”

More broadly regarding human rights in Russia, the report stated that “the Russian government’s support for human rights often appeared ambivalent.” Regarding human rights offenders and entry to the UK, the report specified: “Where there is independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the individual will not normally be permitted to enter the United Kingdom.”

Support from around the world

Oslo Freedom Forum

Also in May 2012, Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s son, Pavel, addressed the Oslo Freedom Forum about the human rights situation in Russia, showing pictures of the protests in Moscow, which, according to a blog on the event, were “demonstrations…barely heard about in Norway”. In a commentary published in The Financial Times, Pavel outlined his father’s message on the inauguration, once again, of President Vladimir Putin. He emphasised his father’s focus on what needs to be done in the years ahead to shape a better future for Russia. They both, Pavel said, wished they could have taken part in the protests, which have marked a shift of consciousness in Russian society. Pavel concluded by calling on the west to “neither neglect nor underestimate its potential role in advancing freedom and democracy” in Russia.

Support from Europe

Chris Bryant, former UK Minister for Europe and Chair of the Parliamentary All-Party Group on Russia, raised concerns over the treatment of Khodorkovsky with the British Prime Minister. Following the Russian Supreme Court’s dismissal of the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev appeal this May, Bryant raised the case again, in a House of Commons debate on Russia’s G8 membership. Contrasting the Russian Supreme Court’s views on the matter, Bryant stated: “Khodorkovsky’s second trial has been universally condemned by every international organisation in the world and, indeed, by many organisations in Russia.”

The German government, responding to an interpellation over rule of law in Russia from the Green Parliamentary Faction, stated it had repeatedly expressed its position on Khodorkovsky’s trial and the “harsh sentence” he and Platon Lebedev received. The government criticised the “very questionable circumstances” of the whole process, which it considers to have run counter to efforts for improvement of the rule of law in Russia.

Marina Khodorkovskaya visits Khodorkovsky and comments on the March for Millions

In May 2012, Marina Khodorkovsky visited her son in prison, wishing him freedom in advance of his upcoming 49th birthday on June 26th. Disappointed with the Russian Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss his appeal, she said her son had not expected a positive outcome, noting: “after the outrage during the protests, I did not expect anything good.” Khodorkovsky is allowed four hour-long visits, once every two months, which is, of course, not enough for his mother, who said: “I was discussing the Supreme Court and, of course, home. We need to talk about everyone, four children and a granddaughter – there is something to say about every one of them, so four hours fly by very fast.”

Marina also attended the March of Millions protest, on May 6th in Moscow, and explained how she had never seen such “outrageous behaviour” from the riot police. “Innocent people with children went to a permitted protest and were met by such a large number of police that it seemed like a war zone,” she explained. She was unable to discuss this properly with her son “because everything is being listened to.” Khodorkovsky, she says, is strongly against her attending any kinds of protests, but she will be continuing to attend them nonetheless – “I am as stubborn as he is,” she said.

In His Own Words

A commentary by Khodorkovsky, on the corruption rife within the Russian legal system, was published by Time Magazine. He outlined the importance of the next generation of young Russians standing up to the authorities, and of the building protest movement. He stated: “For their sake, we are beginning to stand taller at last. We are beginning to stand taller in the deceitful courts and on the streets of our cities. Yes, we are still afraid, but now, even more than that, we’re ashamed in the presence of our children. And we can’t be made to bend anymore.”

In the run-up to Putin’s inauguration, Al-Jazeera’s Sue Torton wrote to Khodorkovsky asking for his thoughts about Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin. He outlined the challenges for Russia which lay ahead, but also had words of thanks for his supporters, stating: “[T]he the civil society of western countries has demonstrated that for them a commitment to human rights is not a hollow one, and I’m grateful to a great many people for their support; for acknowledging myself and my friend are prisoners of conscience. This support has perhaps helped us stay alive and healthy during these long prison years.”

Meanwhile, in an exchange with Stig Fredrikson, published in the Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, Khodorkovsky suggested the protests, which have gained momentum in Russia over the past six months, and which were particularly directed against dishonest elections and bad government, are “a sign of the end of a post-revolutionary period of apathy.”

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