Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Russian justice

[NoThirdBushTerm]

Current U.S. policy towards Russia may be hardening in the wake of the recent confict between Russian and pro-west Georgia, but it is important to remember an important bi-partisan resolution from the U.S. Senate. This week, the lawyers for political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky cited a joint McCain-Obama resolution on Russia and Khordorkovsky.

In November 2005, Senators McCain, Obama, and Biden all supported a resolution addressing their concern about the trial and imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business associate Planton Lebedev. Ostensibly due to tax evasion linked to the giant Russian oil company, YUKOS, the actual motivation for the extra-legal judicial persecution rests in Khodorkovsky's pro-western views, and his philanthropic support of civil-society groups within Russia trying to strengthen the institutions of democracy.

Russian officials, in violation of their own legal code, have subjected Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to flawed court proceedings, imprisonment at facilities thousands of miles away from Moscow, denial of medical care, and denial of parole based on the flimsiest of charges.

The U.S. Senate resolution supported by Senators McCain, Obama, and Biden, call for the expression of support for political prisoners in presidential debates. Hopefully, Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev will have their day in court, and their case discussed in the U.S. presidential debates.