Statements of Support (2003-2013) / Fuecks, Ralf

“The charges were absurd, the process a farce, the verdict foreseeable. The public prejudgment by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was a clear hint to the outcome of the trial. (…) Anyone who has participated as observer in these hearings could not help the impression of a show trial. The Khodorkovsky process belies the reform rhetoric by President Dmitry Medvedev. The ‘legal nihilism’ which he lamented about is part of the system of “guided democracy” which has been expanded since Putin took power. In today’s Russia, tax authorities and criminal justice system are proven instruments of state power in order to remove unwanted contemporaries out of the way and to bring companies under control”

Ralf Fuecks, President of Heinrich Boell Foundation, December 2010