Putin vs. Khodorkovsky: The Courtroom as Battlefield
They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, and probably nobody in the world understands that better than deposed Russian oil baron Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Whilst literally seated on ice cubes in a Siberian prison cell, Khodorkovsky, though deprived of his billions and his freedom (to say nothing of his hair), has nonetheless mapped out and executed a devastating counterattack on his jailer, Vladimir Putin.
Khodorkovsky was formerly the head of the massive YUKOS oil concern and Russia’s richest man. The moment he began making noises about challenging Putin for the presidency he was summarily arrested, railroaded on bogus embezzlement charges, and sent off for a lengthy stretch in Siberia. His entire company, which had been leading the way in bringing Western accounting and management practices to Russia, was seized and usurped by the Russian government.
Human rights groups around the globe have condemned the kangaroo judicial proceedings he faced, and now he faces a second go-round that makes the first proceeding look like a tea party.
Double jeopardy being standard procedure in Russia, Khodorkovsky is being retried on exactly the same charges, except that now the amount of goods he allegedly personally misappropriated now amounts to the total value of goods produced by the company. There is little doubt that he faces the single most absurd criminal indictment ever leveled against an individual in the annals of jurisprudence.
The conditions under which he is conveyed from jail to court each day are truly barbaric: “For two hours each way, the man who once supplied 2 percent of the world’s oil crouches in a steel cage measuring 47 by 31 by 20 inches.” The indictment charging him with new crimes is nearly 3,500 pages long.
But now, even as he vies with Kremlin prosecutors in a Moscow courtroom under such oppressive conditions, Khodorkovsky is unbowed. He has struck back.
First, he published a devastating condemnation of the Russian justice system in the opposition newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta. He wrote that “the steamroller that has replaced justice is the gravedigger of the modern Russian state” and accused the Putin regime of operating a mafia-like judicial system whose “destruction will occur in the traditional way for Russia — from below and with bloodshed.”
Russia’s future is the same as Western Europe’s – Islam. And Russia is probably getting there even faster.
Mr. Khodorkovsky’s courage is beyond admirable, but it seems likely that all the ECHR will “seize” from the new Soviet Union is whatever is stuck to the soles of Putin’s boots.
It would seem that the issue is whether the judges feel that their personal security is at risk if they defy Putin. I don’t believe any Russian citizen would feel safe in relying on the good will and obedient nature of an ex KGB killer.
the euros don’t care about human rights and even though theirs money to be had they won’t touch it because they fear russia.
The euros only care about human rights when its easy money….
The show trials during Stalin’s purges have the same lack of credibility of the legal machinations of the Putyin Machine, which saw Khodorkovsky jailed.
#4, then the Euros need to be replaced. Brussels, like the Beltway,
have to be isolated so that the contagion they spread affects only themselves. I cast my lot with the Euro-skeptics, because they pay more than lip service to freedoms & responsibilities of everyone, and everything.
Well, it would be a good way for the EU to get their hands on millions of dollars, millions that they need to bring down their massive debt…Talk about human rights…What about the human rights of the german worker who is propping up the EURO, while the rest of Europe just sits on the back of them…If it wasn’t for Germany, the EU would be all but just a dream in the prostitution area of Denmark…
It is difficult to see how the ECHR can dismiss or deny the charges against Putin. Let us hope that justice prevails.
“the opposition newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta”
so at least, there is one opposition paper, did someone warn Putin about that ?
I don’t think any court can revert russian ways, be them of Putin, probably that if Khodorkovsky recovered part of his properties, and the money, and managed to put Putin aside, Medvedev would be as so pleased, he is still trying to modernise Russia, when Putin is ruining each attempt he makes, by apparitions on TV or anywhere where he can contradict his own president.
This scenariois simply unrealistic !
# 4 & 5
do the US care more of these human rights ? not evident since a decade ! too many of your presidents bowed to Saudi kings, to China … last I heard of latin America, it wasn’t a paradize…
#6,
last time I heard from your debt, it was the worst, if you consider private debt (+100%) and the public debt (indecipherable as it is increasing each month), you beat the scores of any EU state, so keep your ape paper money, its because we trusted your dollar and your wall street thieves that we got some devasting viruses too !
@Eric R.
The future of Russia is not Islam, it is the Russian Orthodox Church – one of the most intolerant “Christian” denominations. While Protestants enjoyed great freedom during the 1990′s to evangelize and provide humanitarian aid; that freedom has been greatly curtailed in the new millennium due to the rising influence of the Russian Orthodox Church in politics.
My brother was part of a Protestant group that to the Magadan Provence, Russia in 2001 to distribute some humanitarian aid to the people (especially children) of the small towns and villages. Their goal was to visit as many villages as they could in a 3 month period, staying in each village 1-2 weeks. Within hours of arriving in the first town after leaving Magadan (the province capital) they were arrested, held in an abandoned wing of the hospital for several hours, and asked to leave town and not come back. The officer was very apologetic, saying that while he supported what they came to do, his hands were tied as the order had come from his superiors in Magadan. It turns out that an Orthodox priest had learned of the group’s plans and complained to a senior officer in Magadan. When later my brother spoke with this priest, trying to convince him that they were trying to do good (i.e. help the alcoholics so that they could support their families) the priest’s reply was that he would rather see a man remain a drunk, dirty swine and Orthodox rather than an upstanding citizen and Protestant. Tragically, this view is shared by many Russians.
Even though Russia has been under enforced atheism for 70 years under Soviet rule; they still remember that they were once Orthodox and they will defend and support the Church – even if they only attend services once a year. The smart politicians realize this and in turn promote the Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church, who historically has not liked competition, uses this influence to squeeze out or – at the very least – hinder her competitors.
I am not trying to imply that all (or even most) Russian Orthodox Christians are ungodly or power hungry; only that as the situation currently stands, it would be difficult for any other denomination or religion to make serious headway in Russia. Not to mention even dreaming of displacing the Russian Orthodox Church as the unofficial state religion.
You guys were stealing clients and the Russian justly so kicked you out of the country.
The author makes some major leaps of intuition here that are completely unfounded. First, if Khodorkovsky was “making noises” about challenging Putin for the presidency, they must have been small noises indeed, because nobody else knows anything about it except a brief mention from a “source close to the situation”, AFTER Khodorkovsky was imprisoned. The single previous mention was larded with terms like “appears to” and “likely”, with no statement by Khodorkovsky himself. Khodorkovsky was alleged to have been influencing members of the Duma to prevent reform of tax laws that would have affected windfall profits and offshore tax shelters. In this context he might have been loosely construed as challenging Putin’s presidency, but that’s a long way from challenging him “for” the presidency. That implies he wants to lead the country – despite the superhuman efforts of his western supporters to shoehorn him into a presidential frame, he has never personally expressed any desire for such a role, and seemed content with being just a simple billionaire. Fairly large assumptions have been made that IF he wanted to displace Putin, he would have the wealth to make a strong run and the support of Washington and the pro-U.S. camp in Moscow. The former is probably true – Washington hasn’t met too many billionaires it didn’t like.
Another is the author’s confident assertion that double jeopardy is “standard procedure” in Russia, because Khodorkovsky is “being retried on exactly the same charges”. Neither is correct. Double jeopardy is as illegal in Russia as it is in the U.S., and it would require a casual reading indeed of the linked reference to arrive at the conclusion Khodorkovsky was being retried on the same charges. It specifically refers to them as “new charges”, and it is fairly common knowledge that the original charges were for fraud and tax evasion while the new ones are for embezzlement of company funds.
While there’s every reason to believe Khodorkovsky’s arrest and detention are politically motivated, it’s also worth noting that defence lawyers ALWAYS say the charges are “absurd”. There is enough controversy surrounding the charges and the trial without making things up.
Hello,
Quasi-communist knows animals don’t have birth defect like whichis politically different from from them because they know how the earth was anchored.
When they call us to be part of inhabitants of earth we refused because among them one suggestion from their species offend our understanding on the universe.
Now they balanced our contribution as losers to what they gained from us before we conquered them to know the structure of the instrument.
They said the position we were offered angered one of the species which what we requested for not beign the first to be created was too much,the first to be created among animal species doe not know exact thing that happened in between our creation if we can remember they can offer us our request.
Quasi-communist knows that people who promote lies of USSR visiting moon are of different method with USA walking in moon,which is like people that goes to temple in Samaria and other in Judea.
The Principle Russia which was capital of defunct USSR used to disclose the truth about vsisting moon is different with USA method of not going to that place because gravitaional force they talked about is like billows of smoke from temple in Samaria and other is like temple in Judea which was a topic od discussion to of Jacob.
Animals who are not politically like us does not know the position we will offer them now we have scattered their quorum they will individually seek and lobby the way we lobbied during those days we practice anism by not knowing and recognising divide as a symbol of divide and rule among their converstion about us by not eating one animal species to get blesing curse if if we eat them.
Putin is Yeltin’s apology to his people before he died. It is to Boris’s credit he appointed Putin as successor as he knew Putin was the type to give Russia back her dignity. He is, starting with the Ogligarchs
I hope he gets re elected President, despite his negatives as he seems the only one tough enough