The European Court of Human Rights should deliver prompt judgment in the three unresolved cases brought by Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his co-defendant Platon Lebedev, according to eminent parliamentarians from across Europe who have signed a Written Declaration raising concerns about ongoing delays.

The Written Declaration, which was tabled by members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, expressed “hope and confidence that the ECtHR will deliver judgment without further delay on the cases 11082/06, 13772/05 and all other outstanding applications lodged by Mr Khodorkovsky and Mr Lebedev.”

Case 11082/06, an application by Khodorkovsky relating to his first trial, was lodged in early 2006, meaning he has been waiting for a judgment for more than seven years. Lebedev’s equivalent complaint was lodged even earlier, in late 2005.

The Written Declaration was signed by 46 members, representing almost half of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

Chairman of the EPP-CD Group in PACE, Luca Volontè, initiated the Written Declaration.

He commented:

“Justice delayed is justice denied. I and other members of PACE are concerned that such a high-profile and important case should be delayed for so long. Hopefully our Written Declaration will remind the European Court of Human Rights that we are watching this case and we want to see Khodorkovsky’s complaints dealt with promptly. Time and again PACE has expressed its alarm at the situation in Russia and the prosecutions of Khodorkovsky, which legal experts say failed to meet accepted standards of due process. In this, the tenth year of Khodorkovsky’s imprisonment, these outstanding applications need to be resolved promptly.”

A link to the Written Declaration can be found here.