On February 2, more than a hundred people, including members of the European Parliament, Russian politicians, officials from the European institutions, human rights activists and artists, attended the opening of the exhibition “Sketches of (in)justice” in the European Parliament. The exhibition showcases around 30 courtroom sketches and paintings by different Russian artists of the ongoing trial against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, already serving an eight year prison term.

The event in the European Parliament was hosted by MEPs Kristiina Ojuland and Graham Watson. Prominent guest speakers included the former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights MEP Heidi Hautala and Memorial’s Executive Director Elena Zhemkova, winner of the European Parliament’s 2009 Sakharov Prize.

All speakers criticized the Russian Government for its disrespect of human rights and the rule of law. In her opening speech Kristiina Ojuland commented: “Russia is sinking deeper and deeper into authoritarianism that thrives upon fear. Leading Yukos executives’ trials and their convictions seem to serve as a warning to anyone, trying to defy the Kremlin, which explains why all the persistent efforts to establish opportunities for a fair trial and pleas to overturn the guilty verdict have been in vain and the Russian authorities have remained unyielding.”

Mikhail Kasyanov, Prime Minister of Russia under President Putin and still in office at the time of Khodorkovsky’s and Lebedev’s arrests in 2003, was strikingly clear in his criticism of the current government. “Putin told me [the trial] was political” he said and he went on saying that “all charges were fabricated”. Kasyanov has already given testimony in support of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev to the European Court of Human Rights and announced that he would do so again if needed.

Finnish MEP Heidi Hautala and Elena Zhemkova from the Russian human rights organization Memorial spoke about the dire situation for democracy and civil society in Russia. Zhemkova claimed that many aspects of the Stalinist era had returned to Russia and that the trial against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who worked for a democratic and socially responsible Russia, was an obvious example.

The court room drawings have already been exhibited in Moscow and London and will travel to Paris from Brussels, where they will be displayed on the occasion of the France-Russia year 2010. The works of art were submitted as part of an open contest for artists, illustrators and cartoonists, working at the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Around 40 artists submitted almost 400 pieces of art. The contest was organized by the Sergey Kuznetsov Content Group and the Andrey Sakharov Memorial Museum and Community Center for Peace, Progress and Human Rights.