This morning U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner released the State Department’s 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

The report reserved strong criticism for, and cited multiple human rights violations relating to, the treatment Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The Russian section of the report raises serious concerns regarding the selective detention and prosecution of members of the political opposition, citing thirty-nine individuals including Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. The State Department also outlines how Russian authorities have gone so far as to harass human rights NGO’s which have sought to bring global attention to those cases (view report by Amnesty International on the case).

Describing human rights violations relating to trial procedures in Russia, the State Department emphasised concerns over “selective prosecution and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations” in the Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev cases. It also highlighted a number of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, finding that Russia had committed multiple human rights violations against Khodorkovsky:

Read the Russia section of the report here.

Read the full US State Department Report here.