A decade of injustice: October 25, 2003 – October 25, 2013

This October 25th marked the ninth anniversary of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s arrest. As we enter his tenth year of incarceration, we look back at the past nine on our dedicated website pages, which will be a hub for information about our “Decade of Injustice” campaign.

Khodorkovsky’s son, Pavel, wrote in The Daily Telegraph about his father’s unjust persecution. Pavel emphasised the damaging effect that his father’s imprisonment has had on Russia both politically and economically. Citing recent events such as the protests provoked by rigged elections, the imprisonment of Pussy Riot band members and the new anti-NGO “foreign agents” law, Pavel argued that “democracy and human rights in Russia remain fragile”. However it is clear that neither Pavel nor his father has lost hope. Pavel’s prognosis is that “Russia will soon face intensified international attention” due to “its slaughter-facilitating intransigence on Syria, its recent accession to the World Trade Organisation, and its hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympics. The question for Putin is how to hold onto power peacefully, without looking ever more authoritarian, outlandish and out of control”. Pavel and his family hope part of the answer could be Khodorkovsky’s release.

Vasily Alexanyan Remembered as European Parliament Calls for Sanctions Against Human Rights Abusers in Russia

October 3rd marked the first anniversary of the death of Vasily Alexanyan, a former Yukos lawyer and executive who died at the age of 39 as a result of prolonged denial of medical treatment for HIV/AIDS and cancer while in pre-trial detention in Moscow. He was never found guilty of any offense. The authorities attempted to blackmail Alexanyan into giving false testimony against Khodorkovsky. Alexanyan will always be remembered as someone who steadfastly refused to bend before the threats of a corrupt state, and ended up paying with his life for his principles.

This month, the European Parliament called on the Council of the European Union – composed of the national governments of the EU – to impose visa bans and freeze assets of officials identified as having played a part in the detention, torture and death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Vasily Alexanyan was also remembered, as MEPs voted in favour of a recommendation calling on EU member states to pass legislation punishing those responsible for serious human rights abuses in Russia.

Former Estonian foreign minister Kristiina Ojuland formally introduced the recommendation in the European Parliament, stressing the importance of targeted sanctions as a means of expressing the EU’s dismay at systemic human rights abuses in Russia. Ojuland said: “Nearly three years have passed since the tragic death of Sergei Magnitsky in custody, after torture and lack of medical aid. The horrific treatment and torture also resembles the case of Vasily Alexanyan, the young lawyer of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yukos”.

She further stated: “Putin’s regime has turned its back to the liberal democratic values and to the rule of law”, and added: “the democratic Russian opposition encourages us to endorse this legislation without delay because it is in the interests of those Russians, who want to live in a state of the rule of law”.

European parliamentarians: Russia needs to show it can be trusted as EU trade partner

On October 26th, the EPP Group – by far the largest political group in the European Parliament –linked the Khodorkovsky case to concerns about Russia’s trustworthiness as a trade partner.

Laima Andrikienė, Vice-Chair of the Working Group on Foreign Affairs and Member of the Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, stated: “In the nine years since Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s arrest there have been many other signs of Russia’s selective approach to the rule of law – especially in the commercial field … Russia is an important commercial partner for the EU but it remains potentially unreliable.”  Andrikienė further stated that the Kremlin could “restore investor confidence in Russia” by commissioning an independent and impartial inquiry into the “politically-motivated prosecution of Mikhail Khodorkovsky”.

New UK Foreign Affairs Committee Human Rights Report

The UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee published a report into the Foreign Office’s human rights work in 2011. Having taken evidence from Pavel Khodorkovsky, Magnitsky’s law firm Hermitage Capital, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the report states: “Britain welcomes visitors from around the world … but not those who have perpetrated human rights abuses … 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.”

The Committee recognised that the UK does not routinely publicise the identity of individuals denied a visa, and that it has resisted calls to make public any denial of visas to people involved in Magnitsky’s death in Russian police custody. However, it recommended that the government should, sparingly, publicise the names of those denied entry on human rights grounds as a valuable tool in drawing attention to the UK’s determination to uphold high standards of human rights.

The Committee report also recognised that Magnitsky’s case is not an isolated one, and that according to the UK Foreign Office between 50 and 60 people die in pre-trial detention facilities in Russia each year. It also stated that 107,800 people were held in pre-trial detention in Russia on October 1st, 2011. Delays and a lack of progress in investigating deaths of human rights activists, journalists and lawyers continue, and Khodorkovsky was cited by the Committee as being just one of many who fall foul of the Russian authorities and face detention for long periods on dubious grounds.

Pavel Khodorkovsky: My Father Won’t Be Asking Putin For a “Pardon”

Pavel Khodorkovsky commented on an issue raised once again by President Vladimir Putin: a hypothetical presidential “pardon” for Mikhail Khodorkovsky should the prisoner request one. In reponse to Putin’s recently-professed “benevolent” readiness to examine such a request, Pavel declared: “I think that even if my father does ask for a pardon, and he has been considering this for a long time, his request is not going to be granted. I think that this is merely an attempt to knock a fallen opponent down completely, and I am convinced that it will not be successful”.

Pavel made the comments as he launched a speaking tour of American universities.

Freed Pussy Riot member: Khodorkovsky is one of the “major figures amongst political prisoners”

Ekaterina Samutsevich, the liberated member of the Pussy Riot band, commented on her correspondence with Mikhail Khodorkovsky during an interview with Echo of Moscow: “Of course it was very important. Khodorkovsky is one of the major figures amongst political prisoners. Naturally, his situation is different from ours, nonetheless it is in the same line of the government repressions targeted against Russia’s citizens who criticise power.”

Supporters from across Europe continue to call for release of Russia’s political prisoners

French newspaper Libération published an open letter to Vladimir Putin calling for the immediate release of Russia’s political prisoners. The letter had 70 high-profile signatories from across Europe. Writers, actors, artists, intellectuals and politicians signed an equivalent letter in German. A similar letter in English, published in The Times in August, can be found here.

Case Developments

Another victim of campaign against Yukos is released

Vladimir Malakhovsky, former Yukos trading unit head, was released on October 9th. Malakhovsky had been sentenced to 12 years in prison in March 2007, but after serving 7 years and 10 months, he was released thanks to changes in Russia’s criminal code.

In August 2010 Malakhovsky testified in court at Khodorkovsky’s second trial. Commenting on the charges against Khodorkovsky, he stated: “It is hard to imagine a bigger nonsense”.

Khodorkovsky sent congratulations to Malakhovsky, stating: “I am infinitely glad hearing of your liberation. I regret that your human dignity and refusal to perjure cost you so much. I wish your physical and mental strength a speedy recovery.”

European Court of Human Rights Rules Yukos Prisoner Had Unfair Trial

On October 23rd the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights released its judgment on an application from Aleksey Pichugin, a former Yukos employee arrested in 2003 and sentenced in 2005 to 20 years’ imprisonment after prosecutors alleged involvement in violent crimes. The Court ruled that Pichugin’s trial was unfair and that a retrial or reopening of the proceedings would be warranted.

The Russian judiciary was admonished for holding a secret trial against Pichugin. The Court also found it “peculiar” that the prosecution’s key witness — who provided the decisive statements used to convict Pichugin — was allowed to remain silent when the defence had questions undermining the accuracy and credibility of the witness’s testimony and revealing incentives the witness might have had to lie. No physical evidence linked Pichugin to the alleged crimes.

A second trial against Pichugin led to a sentence of life imprisonment in 2007; an application from Pichugin on that trial is still pending at the Strasbourg court. Pichugin has always maintained his innocence and he is broadly recognised by the Russian human rights community as a political prisoner and victim of the Kremlin’s campaign against Yukos. The Pichugin case was one of several cases featured in a 2009 report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on politically motivated abuses of the criminal justice system in Russia and other countries.