Putin vs. Khodorkovsky: The Courtroom as Battlefield
There is simply no way of overstating the impact these words will have as they reverberate inside the red brick walls of the Moscow Kremlin. Nobody speaks to the Kremlin this way, least of all those within its prison system. The notion that a man deprived of his wealth and chained down in barbaric conditions in Siberia could retain the wherewithal to write them, much less get them published, is beyond the comprehension of the clan of KGB villains who now rule the country. It is as if he roars: “The only way you can stop me is to kill me. Do you dare?”
And that was just the appetizer.
For the main course, Khodorkovsky served up a massive $100 billion lawsuit against Putin, filed not in Russian courts but in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), with opening statements just hours after his op-ed hit the streets.
Make no mistake: If the ECHR determines that Russia, a signatory to its treaty, violated basic international law when it stripped Khodorkovsky and his fellow shareholders of their property rights in YUKOS, it can order that property restored. And if the Kremlin won’t pay? The ECHR can order the seizure of Russian assets throughout Europe, and there are plenty of them available for seizure.
More important, though, such a ruling by the ECHR would strip away the last vestiges of legitimacy enjoyed by the Putin regime. It would make the accusations in Khodorkovsky’s op-ed the law. The Putin regime has already been convicted many times of state-sponsored murder and torture in the Caucasus region by the ECHR, and it has liquidated three high-profile human rights advocates who tried to tell Russians that story (Anna Politkovskaya, Natalia Estemirova, and Stanislav Markelov). An earth-shaking hundred-billion-dollar judgment would bring international attention to those rulings as well.
It’s simply amazing that, even from behind bars, Khodorkovsky could so masterfully arrange these proceedings in Europe to correspond with his own trial back in Russia. There’s no telling how far this man could have taken his country if he’d been given a chance to lead it.
But Russians chose instead to turn over the reins of power to a proud KGB spy. It is now beginning to seem that Putin made a very grave error when he jailed Khodorkovsky. Putin has shown how easy it is for him to shamelessly rig presidential elections and to marginalize opposition leaders like Garry Kasparov (who recently published his own sensational provocation of the Kremlin, though not in the Russian press). Had he used the same tactic on Khodorkovsky, his position might well be much stronger than it is today.
But Putin panicked. Just as his puppet front-man Dmitri Medvedev cravenly backed out of a scheduled appearance at the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics after Russia turned in its worst-ever performance on the field and off (a massive doping scandal and horrific incidents of poor sportsmanship made the country’s anemic medal count even more odious), Putin simply did not have the confidence to face a titan like Khodorkovsky man to man.
Now, two armies are gathered, fighting two simultaneous battles, one in Strasbourg and one in Moscow. The soldiers are lawyers, and the result of their combat will likely determine Russia’s future. As well as, perhaps, a good deal of our own.
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