Russian Tycoon Khodorkovsky Gets Six More Years

[ rfe/rl banner ]

Russian Tycoon Khodorkovsky Gets Six More Years

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 30.12.2010 15:35
By RFE/RL

A Moscow court has sentenced jailed former oil oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky to another six years in prison in a trial seen as a major barometer of Russia's authoritarian government.

The country's most famous political prisoner was convicted of stealing billions of dollars' worth of oil and laundering the proceeds, charges Kremlin critics say were fabricated because of the political threat he posed to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, were both ordered to serve 14 years in prison on charges they embezzled and laundered more than $25 billion from Khodorkovsky's Yukos oil company.

The sentence includes time served since their arrest in 2003, meaning they'll be released in 2017.

"Khodorkovsky and Lebedev's guilt has been fully proved by the investigation and trial," Judge Viktor Danilkin said in reading the verdict.

Sitting inside a glass cage in the courtroom, the two defendants smiled silently on hearing the sentence.

Khodorkovsky's mother, Marina Khodorkovskaya, reacted emotionally, telling the judge, "Damn you and your descendants!"

Khodorkovsky's lawyer said he would appeal the verdict. "I consider the sentence unlawful and not based on evidence," he told reporters after the sentencing.

Danilkin found Khodorkovsky and Lebedev guilty on December 27 but delivered his sentence only today because Russian judges continue the Soviet-era practice of reading verdicts' every word before handing down sentences.

Opposition leaders condemned the sentence.

Sergei Mitrokhin, head of Russia's liberal Yabloko Party, told RFE/RL's Russian Service it was "illegal."

"It is absolutely not based on the law," Mitrokhin said. "It is a pure case of a political order. And this is a certain type of political repression."

Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov called the sentence a "disgrace."

The verdict was due to have been read earlier this month but was postponed in a move Kremlin critics believe was meant to minimize publicity by taking place just before New Year's, Russia's biggest holiday.

Power And Enemies

Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky is already serving an eight-year sentence on charges of fraud and tax evasion, in a case that has come to symbolize Putin's authoritarian rule.

Yukos, the country's biggest oil firm, was dismembered. Its best assets were sold to a state-controlled company in a shady closed auction, part of Putin's drive to put much of Russia's vast energy industry back under state control.

The latest charges against Khodorkovsky were brought months before he was first eligible for parole in 2007. Many believe he and Lebedev were charged as an excuse to keep them in jail through the next presidential election in 2012, in which many believe Putin wants to run.

Khodorkovsky's supporters say the accusations against him are absurd and contradict the outcome of his first trial. They say he was arrested because he posed a political threat to then-President Putin by funding opposition parties and using his huge influence to lobby against state control over the oil industry.

Most Russians believe Putin has retained his grip on power since stepping down to become prime minister in 2008. Earlier this month, he said Khodorkovsky was a "thief" who should sit in jail. Khodorkovsky's lawyers said that statement was proof Putin was openly interfering in the court proceedings despite President Dmitry Medvedev's many promises to clean up Russia's notoriously corrupt court system.

After today's sentencing, Leonid Gozman, a leader of the market-oriented Right Cause Party, told RFE/RL's Russian Service that the latest sentence was "expected but shameful."

"I hope they will be released earlier," Gozman said. "They have already secured a moral victory, and I hope sooner or later they will get an acquittal. It is obvious that this was a personal case."

In his final statement during the trial, Khodorkovsky said the process showed the officials running Russia's "bureaucratic and law-enforcement machine" are free to act at will. "There is no right of private property," he said. "No person who conflicts with the 'system' has any rights whatsoever."

The guilty verdict drew condemnation from Western countries.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called the sentencing a "regrettable end to a trial accompanied by doubt."

Speaking outside the courthouse on December 29 as Judge Danilkin was still reading the sentence, Khodorkovsky's father, Boris Khodorkovsky, called the trial a "farce."

"As long as the judicial system isn't cleaned up, as our deeply respected president said, nothing will change," Boris Khodorkovsky said.

Sergei Nikitin, head of Amnesty International's Moscow office, told Interfax news agency although the case against Khodorkovsky was politically motivated, he hoped the appeal process would be "governed by law."

written by Gregory Feifer based on reports from RFE/RL's Russian Service

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia_khodorkovsky_yukos_sentenced/2263379.html

NEWSLETTER

Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Russian Tycoon Khodorkovsky Gets Six More Years