Nine Years Plus

The YUKOS Affair


Yesterday Moscow's Meshchansky Court sentenced Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev to nine years each in prison. The third defendant, Andrey Krainov, received a five-year suspended sentence, as the prosecutor requested. “I know very well that the sentence in my criminal case was decided in the Kremlin,” Khodorkovsky, who never admitted his guilt, said after the court session. Lawyers called the court's decision a political reprisal. Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General's Office has already promised that it will soon bring new charges against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. If the court unconditionally sides with the prosecution in the new trial and rejects all of the defence's arguments, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev will obviously be isolated from society for much more than nine years.


In the aggregate and by partial addition of terms…

The final court session began with the reading out of evidence the court considered admissible or not. The court recalled that the defence had petitioned to have the results of seizures at Trust Bank and searches at Zhukovka declared inadmissible evidence. The court found the lawyers' arguments unfounded. This caused an indignant whisper in the room and even laughter, which drew a reprimand from Judge Irina Kolesnikova. Thus, the court found nearly all of the defence's arguments unfounded. This time, the judges read the verdict very quickly; they were obviously in a hurry, and it was clear that the end was near.

After a 20-minute break, the court proceeded to the main business. It noted that the defence's arguments for an amnesty for the accused unsound, as this was inapplicable to persons accused of several crimes at once. The court then mentioned that in Krainov's case, his first conviction and his role in exposing the crimes was taken into consideration. “All rise,” Kolesnikova said at last.

The court found Khodorkovsky and Lebedev guilty of two counts of fraud (Article 159 of the RF Criminal Code) for malicious failure to execute court orders that had entered into legal force (Article 315). In addition, both were found guilty under Article 160 (Embezzlement or misappropriation), and Article 165 (Causing large-scale material damage to property owners with no indication of theft). They were also found guilty of arranging especially large-scale tax evasion by organizations in the form of nonmonetary payments (Article 198) and tax evasion as private individuals (Article 198).

“In the aggregate and by partial addition of terms…Mikhail Khodorkovsky is sentenced to nine years in prison to be served at a medium-security security prison camp,” the judge pronounced. A buzz went around the rooms as the terms were named. Many were expecting lesser terms, although Prosecutor Shokhin had asked for ten-years prison terms. The court found Krainov guilty under Articles 315, 165, 159 of the Criminal Code and handed him a five-year suspended sentence, as the prosecution had requested. In addition, the court fully satisfied the Ministry of Taxation's claims against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, ordering the collection of a total of 17,395,449,000 rubles from them jointly (this figure consists of the tax arrears of four companies that were controlled by the accused and operated in the domestic offshore of Lesnoi, Sverdlov Region). The court did not satisfy the claims of Moscow Tax Inspectorates Nos. 1 and 5, but stated that it recognized their right to collect 15 million rubles from Lebedev and more than 62 million rubles from Khodorkovsky (as private individuals) by way of civil justice.

The court noted that the prison terms should be counted from the time of the defendants' actual detention. Recall that Lebedev was arrested on June 2, 2003, and Khodorkovsky, on October 25, 2003. Thus, if the sentence enters into legal force, both of them still have to serve slightly more than seven years. However, they could get a conditional early discharge after serving half of the term from the moment of detention.

I understand your crime

The accused listened to the sentence calmly. Even when the terms were read out, Khodorkovsky's expression didn't change. A slight ironic smile was frozen on Lebedev's face. “Do you understand the sentence?” Kolesnikova asked the three of them in turn. Krainov answered in the affirmative. Khodorkovsky said loudly to the entire room “I understand the sentence. I consider it only a monument to Basmanny justice.” Lebedev said he didn't understand the sentence, and Kolesnikov impassively reread the paragraphs incriminating Lebedev and the term set for him.

Finally, the court asked those present to be seated. Some of listeners left the room; the rest stayed – the judges still had to read the determination on the episode of the fraudulent acquisition of shares of Apatit. By now it was already clear that this case would be closed. Khodorkovsky's wife, Irina, who had been sitting there all day in dark glasses, began inconspicuously to wipe her eyes, while Khodorkovsky's mother, Marina Khodorkovskaia moved over to her, hugged her, and tried to calm her. Khodorkovsky also soothed his wife from behind the bars. The other relatives of the accused restrained themselves and hid their emotions.

Endurance also proved useful to the listeners for another three hours – the time the court spent after reading the sentence on a detailed interpretation of the episode with the Apatit shares. The court stated that the guilt of the three accused in this episode had been fully proven; however, given of the prosecutor's request to exempt the accused from punishment in this episode due to expiry of the statute of limitations, the court considered there were sufficient grounds for this. Thus, that part of the case involving fraudulent acquisition of the Apatit's shares was closed. After listening to the decision, Khodorkovsky said it was another monument to Basmanny justice; and when the judge asked Lebedev if he understood the court's determination, he answered “I understand your crime!”

With this pronouncement, the proceedings in the Meshchansky Court ended.

This is a shame, a disgrace, and a disaster for our country

“On behalf of all the lawyers, I declare that we strongly object to all parts of the sentence,” lawyer Genrikh Padva said on leaving the courtroom. “We will appeal it, although at the present time, there is little hope for our justice system.” Lawyer Karina Moskalenko added “This is a political reprisal against an independent businessman. We will have recourse to the European Court.” Lawyer Timofei Gridnev called the sentence “a harsh punishment that defies understanding”.

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General's Office distributed a statement expressing satisfaction with the sentence. “We categorically deny any hidden political motive in this case,” said Natalia Vishniakova, the head of the department of information and public relations of the Prosecutor General's Office. “Specific, serious crimes have been committed, which have been proven. Enormous amounts of money were stolen. The state and its citizens have been shamelessly robbed.” Moreover, according to Vishniakova, it was still too early to call this the end of the YUKOS affair. New charges will be brought against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, first of all, charges of legalizing criminally acquired funds amounting to billions of rubles.

As if in reply to the statement from the Prosecutor General's Office, lawyer Anton Drel read a statement from Khodorkovsky to journalist. They evidently had time to draw up this document while the court was dealing with the Apatit shares. During these hours, Drel and his client were discussing something through the bars and looking papers.

“In spite of the obvious lack of proof of my guilt, the court has decided to send me to prison. I understand the pressure to which Judge Irina Kolesnikova was subjected. Today, millions of our fellow citizens have seen that, despite the announcements of our country's highest leaders that justice is being strengthened, there is no confidence in this. This is a shame, a disgrace, and a disaster for our country,” Khodorkovsky said. “I do not admit my guilt,” he emphasized. “And it is crucial for me to obtain justice in my homeland.” Khodorkovsky noted that “freedom is a person's internal state,” and said he considered himself truly free, unlike his enemies. “It is my enemies who dream at night of Khodorkovsky thirsting for revenge; they are doomed to spend the rest of their lives watching over YUKOS's stolen assets. It is they who are profoundly unfree, and they will never be free. Their pitiful existence is the real prison.” Khodorkovsky said he would continue to be involved in charitable activities and in the near future intended to hold a press conference in absentia from prison.

I lost my son the day they elected Putin

After listening to the lawyers' numerous statements, the journalists once more crowded around the entrance to the courthouse waiting for the relatives of the accused to appear – after more than half an hour, they had still not left the courthouse. Khodorkovsky's parents finally appeared on the front steps. Boris and Marina Khodorkovsky behaved with dignity. “I lost my son the day they elected Putin,” Marina Khodorkovskaia said. Boris Khodorkovsky thanked the journalists for “taking part in this court of law”. They were applauded as they left. The remaining relatives and friends of the accused never came out to the press; they left the courthouse through the service entrance. By six o'clock in the evening, the small square in front of the Meshchansky Court was empty.

The lawyers announced yesterday that they would appeal the nine-year sentence in the Moscow City Court. Then, if it was refused, the defence planned to apply to the supervisory authority of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Until the case is heard in the Cassation Chamber for criminal cases of the Moscow City Court, the Meshchansky Court sentence is not considered to have entered into force. But in order to file a full-scale appeal, the lawyers first need to obtain the minutes of all the court sessions (it could take several weeks to copy them). Then, a date will be set for considering the appeal. So, the Moscow City Court will obviously not take up the case until the end of summer. Of course, it is not inconceivable that all the minutes were prepared during the weeks the judges were reading the verdict. And if they are handed over to the lawyers in the next few days, the lawyers will file a full appeal within ten days after that. The defence is interested in having the Moscow City Court consider the appeal as soon as possible and having the sentence enter into force. Only after this can they turn to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Of course, the predictable decision of the European Court that the trial of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev was a violation of human rights is not binding in Russia, especially in the part concerning a repeal of the sentence.

(From Kommersant, 6.1.2005)