Tycoon case defines limits of political freedom

Many Russians feel that Khodorkovsky's long legal troubles are largely the result of political vendetta by Putin.

An imprisoned business tycoon whose legal troubles have come to symbolise the limits of political freedom in Vladimir Putin’s Russia was found guilty Monday of stealing oil from his own company and is likely to face another decade behind bars.

Inside the Moscow courtroom, Judge Viktor Danilkin began reading the lengthy verdict against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partner, Platon Lebedev, in a rapid, almost inaudible monotone, not even pausing to look up. On the snowy street outside, several hundred supporters held portraits of the 48-year-old Khodorkovsky and demanded that he be freed.

The verdict agreed with prosecutors that Khodorkovsky, formerly the head of the Yukos oil company, and Lebedev had embezzled the equivalent of $27 billion worth of oil from their company.  It said they “created an illusion of a market mechanism to set oil purchase prices to hide the illegal documentation of the unfair deals and eventually to steal the oil.”

Many Russians have concluded that Khodorkovsky’s long legal troubles are largely the result of a political vendetta by Putin, and have also helped concentrate wealth in the hands of Kremlin insiders. Khodorkovsky has said repeatedly that he was persecuted for supporting the political opposition soon after Putin took over as president in 2000. Putin, who is now prime minister, still is considered the most powerful man in the country.

The businessman is nearing the end of an eight-year sentence for tax evasion and fraud, but it has been widely anticipated in Russia that authorities would find a way to keep him behind bars.

Referring to Khodorkovsky, Putin said in recent weeks that “a thief should sit in prison.”

Khodorkovsky became fabulously wealthy in the lax atmosphere that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union. Assets that once belonged to the state fell into the hands of a small class of businessmen who became known as Russia’s “oligarchs.”

Khodorkovsky turned to politics and social action, encouraging parties that sought a Western-style democracy as well as the successors to the Soviet Communists in a bid to foster a more open political system. He opened orphanages and funded university programmes.

Many of the oligarches have faced prosecution or been forced to leave the country as Putin reasserted central control. The defence insisted during the trial that Khodorkovsky’s business activity was legal at the time, and it was absurd to accuse ex-Yukos leadership of stealing oil from themselves.His lawyer, Karina Moskalenko, described the trial as “a theatre of the absurd.”

“The main message is clear: Our leaders are doing their best to keep Khodorkovsky away as long as possible,” she said in an interview. “We will certainly appeal the verdict; no question about it.”

The Obama administration, which has made improving relations with Russia one of its main foreign policy goals and last week pushed ratification of a nuclear arms treaty through the Senate, quickly criticised the verdict.“Today’s conviction in the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev on charges of embezzlement and money laundering raises serious questions about selective prosecution — and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. “This and similar cases have a negative impact on Russia’s reputation for fulfilling its international human rights obligations and improving its investment climate.”

The White House said that President Barack Obama had spoken frequently with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about Khodorkovsky’s case.

The reading of the entire verdict may take several more days, and no sentence was imposed Monday. But it seemed clear that Khodorkovsky, who has already served 2,618 days, and Lebedev would face more jail time.

Prosecutors asked for 14-year terms for both men on the new charges. Considering how much time has passed since the charges were filed, they could be imprisoned for as much as 10 years after their current terms expire next year.

In a live television call-in show earlier this month, Putin compared Khodorkovsky to Bernard L. Madoff, the US financier who was sentenced to prison for running a long-term Ponzi scheme.“Mr. Madoff in the USA got 150 years of imprisonment for the analogous crime, which involved about the same sum of money,” Putin said. “We must proceed from the fact that Khodorkovsky’s crimes were proven in court.”

Putin also implied that Khodorkovsky could be held accountable for the murder of a Siberian town mayor and two other contract killings. The former Yukos security chief was sentenced to life in prison for those crimes in 2007. “Did the (company’s) security chief commit all these murders on his own initiative?” Putin asked. Khodorkovsky’s defence and human rights groups considered Putin’s comments prior to the verdict to be unacceptable pressure on the court.

                                                                                        Los Angeles Times

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com