Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s lawyer, Vadim Klyuvgant, spoke to Radio Echo Moskvy about the Yukos case and the personal ramifications that resulted from it.

Klyuvgant spoke at length about both Yukos cases reaffirming the position the defence team have consistently argued; that the case should be terminated completely due to the absence of any crime.

Klyuvgant outlined the importance of international public support in highlighting the injustices of the ruling while noting the human cost of spending 10 years in prison: “Without the support of the public such cases, of course, have very uncertain and dim prospects… Because it can always get worse than it is…it’s absolutely obvious that the tenth year is a very long time given today’s pace of life, and that this case has been in the spotlight for ten years. And people have not been forgotten – I mean, all of the Yukos prisoners, and first and foremost, of course, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. The fact that both journalists and the public in Russia and all over the world are interested in this case is, of course, a significant factor.”

When asked whether he thought new charges and a third trial will be brought against Khodorkovsky, Klyuvgant answered:  “I proceed from the assumption that there shouldn’t have been the first or the second term… the issue is just whether there will be some will expressed from somewhere above and whether an appropriate go-ahead will be given, and that’s all.”

The full video of the interview is here

The full English transcript is here: Vadim Klyuvgant on Echo of Moscow