Newsletter October 2011
IBA Report: Khodorkovsky-Lebedev ‘trial was not fair’
The International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, the only organization with a full-time independent observer in attendance during the second trial of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev from 2009 to 2010, this month released a report that severely criticized the proceedings. The report concludes that the ‘trial was not fair’ and cites numerous legal failings and violations stating that the proceedings were ‘incapable of producing clear proof’ for a sound conviction.
Also this month, the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev defense team released their latest installment of ‘Justice Under Pressure’ – a comprehensive briefing on the trial, verdict and sentencing that pushed Khodorkovsky’s and Lebedev’s scheduled release from 2011 to 2016.
Download the briefing ‘Justice under Pressure’
ECHR: Yukos Was Unlawfully Destroyed
On September 20th, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) released its judgment in a case lodged by Yukos in 2004. The case involved a claim for compensation for the unlawful expropriation of Yukos by the Government of the Russian Federation. The ECHR ruled that serious breaches of fair trial and property rights were committed by the Government of the Russian Federation in its treatment of Yukos. While Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were not parties to the case and played no part in the proceedings, their position has long been that Yukos was forced into an unwarranted and unjust state-orchestrated bankruptcy.
Read more
Russian Supreme Court: Detention Conditions Illegal
On September 13th the Russian Supreme Court ruled that last year Khodorkovsky’s and Lebedev’s harsh conditions of detention had been imposed unlawfully. With their trial now over, the ruling comes too late to benefit Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, after they suffered nearly four and a half consecutive years in a harsh detention regime. However this is an important moral victory that will serve as a precedent for thousands of others detained in unlawful conditions in Russia. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev pursued appeals on this issue to highlight and to oppose the widespread practice of corrupt authorities abusing their powers of arrest and detention. This ruling echoed a similar decision delivered this past April by the Russian Supreme Court, again concerning Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron in Russia
David Cameron’s visit to Moscow earlier this month was the first trip to Russia by a British Prime Minister in the last six years. During his visit, Cameron met six Russian human rights activists including Dmitry Muratov, editor of pro-opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who presented Cameron with a prison uniform, noting that a court had refused to parole Platon Lebedev on the pretext that he had lost just such a uniform. Ahead of Cameron’s visit, four former UK Foreign Secretaries called on him to confront Russia over the death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the prosecution of Khodorkovsky and the fairness of the upcoming Duma elections.
Khodorkovsky Book Event in Paris
On September 27th, the Globe bookstore and the Fayard publishing house co-organized an event in Paris to mark the release of ‘Paroles libres’ (‘Free Words’), the French version of a collection of writings by Khodorkovsky. The renowned Russian human rights lawyer Yuri Schmidt, recipient of the Andrei Sakharov Prize and numerous other distinctions, spoke to an audience so large that a video feed was set up on a second floor of the packed bookstore.
Meanwhile, on September 28th, the Times Literary Supplement published a review of the original Russian version of the book. In the review Professor Richard Sakwa states that Khodorkovsky has ‘earned himself a place in the pantheon of Russian heroes.’
Upcoming 8th Anniversary of Khodorkovsky’s Arrest
As we approach the 8th anniversary of Khodorkovsky’s arrest, the Khodorkovsky and Lebedev Communications Center has created an activist toolkit for those concerned about the case. For more information, follow @mbk_center on Twitter or visit the Communications Center page on Facebook where you can download a FreeMBK twibbon to show your support for the release of Russia’s most famous political prisoners.
