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For more information on Mikhail Khodorkovsky, please visithttp://www.khodorkovskycenter.com 
 
THE SECOND TRIAL OF MIKHAIL B. KHODORKOVSKY
Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003 and sentenced in May 2005 to a 9-year prison term,later reduced to 8 years on appeal. With Khodorkovsky becoming eligible for parole in 2007, officials steppedup efforts to find new pretexts to keep him incarcerated well into the future. In February 2007, new charges ofembezzlement and money laundering were brought against him, however the trial based on that indictment didnot commence until March 2009.
 
On April 21, 2009, in the Khamovnichesky Court in Moscow before Judge ViktorN. Danilkin, Khodorkovsky and his co-accused business partner Platon L. Lebedev pleaded not guilty, whileemphasizing that the charges against them were incomprehensible and unexplained.The charges in the second trial are based on allegations that are incongruous with those of the first case againstKhodorkovsky and Lebedev and the massive tax claims against Yukos which bankrupted the company to thebenefit of state-controlled Rosneft.
 
The charges also contradict Russia’s current position as it attempts to defendits treatment of Khodorkovsky, Lebedev and Yukos before the European Court of Human Rights. On one hand, theauthorities imposed grossly punitive taxes on oil sold and accounted for by Yukos; on the other hand, the same oilis alleged not to have been sold by Yukos but rather to have been embezzled by Khodorkovsky and Lebedev,with laundering of the proceeds.The second trial has widely been seen as the crucial test of President Dmitry A. Medvedev’s pledge to end “legalnihilism” in Russia. A guilty verdict will send a damaging message to the Russian people, Russian businesses, andto foreign investors, foreign governments and international tribunals, that the country is not ready to change.Russia’s political and economic stability will remain in doubt. With respect for human rights, due process and stateaccountability being prerequisites for Russia to modernize, the ongoing Khodorkovsky case continues to stainRussia’s record and undercut its prospects for modernization. On the other hand, the release of Khodorkovskyand Lebedev would send the ultimate signal that Russia is truly changing.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SECOND TRIALThe Prosecution’s Case
•
 
Over the eleven-month period from April 21, 2009 to March 29, 2010, the prosecution presented theevidence intended to support its case. Yet rather than prove their case, prosecutors spent this timeengaged in rote reading of reams of seemingly random pieces of the case file, and in presentingwitnesses who proffered either no testimony germane to the accusations, or testimony that actuallycontradicted the accusations. The prosecution has been unable to explain any logical connectionbetween the data they have compiled or the witnesses they called, and the charges against thedefendants. After having nearly a year to present their case, the prosecution has shown no proof ofembezzlement and no proof of money laundering – despite their persistent assertions that both occurredon a grand scale.
The Court’s Obstruction of Justice
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For its part, the Khamovnichesky Court has repeatedly shirked its responsibility to compel theprosecution to act within the confines of procedural rules – or common sense. Despite the obvious anddocumented impossibility of the allegations of grand-scale embezzlement and money laundering, thecourt has ploughed through with the case rather than sending it back to prosecutors due to its obviouslegal and factual defects. The judge has repeatedly ignored or unjustifiably rejected defencearguments about procedural violations, electing to be wilfully blind to the many violations that havecontaminated the process from the investigatory stage to the ongoing trial. Wrongly asserting that it isnot within his purview to do so, the judge has failed to exercise his authority to cure even the mostegregious of the prosecution’s flaws and abuses pointed out by the defence. The judge’s actions seem toconfirm, as insisted upon by the prosecution, that the case has been effectively closed from the outset.
Defence Efforts Frustrated
•
 
From April 5, 2010 to September 29, 2010 the defence presented its case. Through to April 30, 2010,Khodorkovsky personally presented a wide-ranging response to the charges. Yet Khodorkovsky’ssubmissions to the court and the defence’s subsequent efforts were exercises in frustration. Without validlegal grounds the court blocked the defence from introducing exculpatory documentary evidence,witnesses and expert testimony. The judge routinely quashed defence motions that sought to bring somefairness to the process. Investigators and prosecutors indirectly and directly threatened potentialwitnesses and experts to influence their testimony or to prevent them from appearing at all. Despite the
 
For more information on Mikhail Khodorkovsky, please visithttp://www.khodorkovskycenter.com 
defendants’ full confidence in their ability to exonerate themselves of the absurd charges, the judgerejected or ignored material proof they sought to submit to the court, in favour of unsupported,erroneous or untruthful assertions by the prosecution. The defendants publicly released their courtsubmissions and extensive related materials, accessible online, demonstrating the absurdity of thejudge’s handling of the case in the face of the failure of the prosecution to adduce evidence proving thecharges.
High-Profile Witnesses Undermined Prosecution’s Case
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On May 24, 2010, Mikhail Kasyanov, former Prime Minister of Russia (from 2000-2004) and a witnessfor the defence asserted that both the current and the previous trials of Khodorkovsky and Lebedevwere politically motivated. On June 21, 2010, German Gref, the chief of Sberbank and the formerRussian Minister of Economic Development and Trade (from 2000-2007), testified as a witness for thedefence, stating that embezzlement of the scale Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are charged with could nothave occurred without the government and his ministry detecting it. The following day, echoing Gref’sevidence, Viktor Khristenko, Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister, testified at the trial that he is unawareof “millions of tons” of oil being stolen as alleged by the prosecution. Meanwhile,the defence asked thecourt to summon Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin and other high-profile officials to testify aswitnesses.The court refused to summon Prime Minister Putin, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and DeputyPrime Minister Igor Sechin to testify.
Strict Conditions of Incarceration Flout Recent Reforms
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On August 16, 2010, the court extended the “pre-trial detention” of Khodorkovsky and Lebedevthrough to November 17, 2010. Pre-trial detention is considered to be an exceptional form ofincarceration, which is why the judge presiding over the current trial must decide every three monthswhether to extend the duration of the detention measures. For nearly 6 years Khodorkovsky andLebedev have suffered the restrictions on access to legal counsel and the limitations on family visitsimposed under pre-trial detention rules. Under these rules, combined with minimal exposure to fresh airand direct sunlight and inadequate opportunities for exercise, the pre-trial detention regime becomesextremely difficult physically and psychologically, particularly over extended periods. The situation hasbeen especially difficult during Moscow’s recent heat wave, when cell temperatures hovered at 50degrees Celsius. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have repeatedly petitioned authorities for removal fromthe confines of pre-trial isolation in favour of the less restrictive conditions of incarceration to which theyare entitled under law. The detention measures imposed upon them are inconsistent with Russian criminalprocedure law, the Russian Constitution and Russia’s international obligations under the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights, as confirmed by Russia’s Constitutional Court, the Presidium of Russia’sSupreme Court, and the European Court of Human Rights. Furthermore, since April 2010, underamendments to Section 108 of Russia’s Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, courts can nolonger order detention as a pre-trial measure of restraint for allegations of certain economic crimes,such as those alleged in the ongoing case against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. These law reformsresulted from President Medvedev’s efforts to make Russia’s criminal justice system more humane, and tohalt abuses by officials exploiting the criminal justice system to attack legitimate businesses. Politically itis highly notable that in the most high-profile and closely-watched trial underway in Russia today, thecourt can so openly ignore the recently-amended governing law on the issue of pre-trial detention. Thisis an affront to President Medvedev’s highly-publicized efforts to reform Russia’s criminal justice systemand to address the country’s “legal nihilism.”
The end of the trial
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On September 29, after more than a year and a half since the start of the trial, 280 days of hearings,210 volumes of case materials and 81 witnesses (51 summoned by the prosecution and 30 summonedby the defence), Judge Danilkin scheduled the closing arguments of the prosecution and defence tobegin on October 14, 2010. Each of the defendants and the legal team gave their closing argumentsfollowed by final words from Khodorkovsky. In his closing words, Khodorkovsky spoke of his readiness todie for his beliefs saying "I am not at all an ideal person, but I am - a person of ideas. For me, as foranybody, it is hard to live in jail, and I do not want to die there. But if I have to - I will not hesitate. Thethings I believe in are worth dying for. I think I have proven this." He went on to call for a newgeneration of "Korolevs" and "Sakharovs" under the protection of fair laws and independent courts thatcould change the country for the better and lambasted so-called "patriots" who "so tenaciously resistany change that impacts their feeding trough". He showed his pride for the Yukos employees who stoodby their principles, kept their dignity, and refused to become false witnesses despite being tortured, cutoff from their families, and thrown in jail and he warned that "the significance of our trial extends far
 
For more information on Mikhail Khodorkovsky, please visithttp://www.khodorkovskycenter.com 
beyond the scope of my fate and Platon's, and even the fates of all those who have guiltlessly sufferedin the course of the sweeping massacre of Yukos, those I found myself unable to protect, but about whomI remember every day…I will not be exaggerating if I say that millions of eyes throughout all of Russiaand throughout the whole world are watching for the outcome of this trial. They are watching with thehope that Russia will after all become a country of freedom and of the law, where the law will beabove the bureaucratic official."
WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT
On December 15
th
, the court will reconvene and Judge Danilkin will begin to deliver his verdict, which is expectedto take up to two weeks. The prosecution has requested sentencing to be set at fourteen years (just one year lessthan the maximum allowed under Russian law), which, if granted, would ensure both Khodorkovsky and Lebedevwould remain in prison until 2017.
 
INTERNATIONAL SUPPPORT
 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
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On September 30, 2009, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed Resolution 1685(2009), based on the June 2009 PACE report regarding politically-motivated abuses of the criminaljustice system in Council of Europe member states. The resolution cites “
a number of high-profile cases,such as the second trial of M. Khodorkovsky and P. Lebedev...[that]
 
give rise to concerns that the fight against ‘legal nihilism' launched by President [Medvedev] is still far from won
.” The resolution was passedwith 74 votes in favour, none opposed and four abstentions.
The European Parliament
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On November 12, 2009, the European Parliament adopted a resolution ahead of the EU-Russia Summitheld in Stockholm on November 18, expressing concern over developments in Russia that undermineefforts towards closer EU-Russia relations. The resolution urged the EU Council and Commission to pay“
utmost attention to the ongoing second trial of former YUKOS Oil chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which isalready replete with
severe due process violations
 ,
” 
and called upon Russian authorities
 
“
to combat arbitrariness, to respect the rule of law and not to use the judiciary as a political tool.” 
German Chancellor & Bundestag
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On March 8, 2008, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that Germany “would welcome” therelease of Khodorkovsky from prison. She also expressed concerns about Khodorkovsky duringPresident Medvedev’s visit to Berlin on June 5, 2008. In July 2009, the German Bundestag voted infavor of a parliamentary motion noting the need for improving the rule of law in Russia—specificallyreferencing abuses in the treatment of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.
•
 
In November 2010, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle met his Russian counterpart SergeiLavrov and raised his "very serious concern about the conditions of the trial proceedings", adding that"it is in Russia's interest that these concerns are taken seriously."
•
 
Many German politicians including Bundestag member Marieluise Beck and Federal Justice Minister (andformer Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Rapporteur) Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenbergerhave publically spoken out against the continued prosecution of Khodorkovsky, Lebedev and other Yukosemployees.
French National Assembly and Government
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In April 2010, François Zimeray, France’s Human Rights Ambassador, visited the trial at the request ofFrench Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and with the approval of President Nicolas Sarkozy. Zimerayemphasized that the case, which he believes has become a major human rights trial, “is closely followedby the highest authorities in France.” He stated that “the fight of Khodorkovsky, courageous, with greatdignity, against a system that tries without success to destroy him, made him a symbol, an icon of humanrights in Russia”.
 
US 
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At a meeting in Warsaw in October 2010 to discuss the Rule of Law, Ambassador Kelly, US
of 00

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