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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Mikhail Khodorkovsky's trial was not politically motivated. (http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-europe

by 1gor 13y ago

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Mikhail Khodorkovsky's trial was not politically motivated. (http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-european-court-khodorkovsky/25056475.html http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-european-court-khodorkov...). This means Khodorkovsky was jailed for his economic crimes, not because of his anti-Putin stance. Why Western media keeps referring to him as a 'political prisoner' and 'freed dissident' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25472250 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25472250)?

vasilipupkin 13y ago
Because he did not receive a fair trial. It's quite obvious that he was jailed for reasons that have little to do with serving justice
- 1gor 13y ago
  The European Court of Human Rights said there was no violation of the defendants' right to a fair trial. This is from the linked article on Radio Free Europe site.
  - cpleppert 13y ago
    The article said in a narrow sense that the charges on their own had a healthy foundation. It is very clear that the decision to prosecute a tax violation in a tax code designed to force businesses to skirt the law to remain competitive was politically motivated. The business environment is why there have been massive amounts of capital outflows in recent years. Everyone understands the game being played here, you get to play by Putin's rule are you get your toys taken away at the minimum or get sent to a siberian penal colony.
    - 1gor 13y ago
      > It is very clear that the decision to prosecute ... was politically motivated. No, the opposite is clear. The ECHR court "found no basis that the case against the two was politically motivated, as Khodorkovsky and Lebedev alleged in their complaint" (direct quote). The supra-national court is in no sense a pro-Russian organisation, and the judges were perfectly aware of the political implications of their ruling. They did note several improprieties of the trial (keeping defendants in cages etc.), and even ordered Russian state to pay some compensation to the defendants, but that did not change their core conclusion. Khodorkovsky was enriching himself by defrauding the state and the Russian public (most of the social security is funded through oil taxes). This was the reason for his prosecution, regardless of what "everybody understands" thanks to various PR campaigns.
- dfkf 13y ago
  Of course he did receive a fair trial. The only unjust thing here is that all other oligarchs went away free. It is understandable why this had to be that way, every country has to go through the period of original accumulation of capital.
yarou 13y ago
> Why Western media keeps referring to him as a 'political prisoner' and 'freed dissident' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25472250 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25472250)? Could it be that our journalists have zero integrity?

by 1gor 13y ago

vasilipupkin 13y ago

Because he did not receive a fair trial. It's quite obvious that he was jailed for reasons that have little to do with serving justice

1gor 13y ago
The European Court of Human Rights said there was no violation of the defendants' right to a fair trial. This is from the linked article on Radio Free Europe site.
- cpleppert 13y ago
  The article said in a narrow sense that the charges on their own had a healthy foundation. It is very clear that the decision to prosecute a tax violation in a tax code designed to force businesses to skirt the law to remain competitive was politically motivated. The business environment is why there have been massive amounts of capital outflows in recent years. Everyone understands the game being played here, you get to play by Putin's rule are you get your toys taken away at the minimum or get sent to a siberian penal colony.
  - 1gor 13y ago
    > It is very clear that the decision to prosecute ... was politically motivated. No, the opposite is clear. The ECHR court "found no basis that the case against the two was politically motivated, as Khodorkovsky and Lebedev alleged in their complaint" (direct quote). The supra-national court is in no sense a pro-Russian organisation, and the judges were perfectly aware of the political implications of their ruling. They did note several improprieties of the trial (keeping defendants in cages etc.), and even ordered Russian state to pay some compensation to the defendants, but that did not change their core conclusion. Khodorkovsky was enriching himself by defrauding the state and the Russian public (most of the social security is funded through oil taxes). This was the reason for his prosecution, regardless of what "everybody understands" thanks to various PR campaigns.
dfkf 13y ago
Of course he did receive a fair trial. The only unjust thing here is that all other oligarchs went away free. It is understandable why this had to be that way, every country has to go through the period of original accumulation of capital.

yarou 13y ago

> Why Western media keeps referring to him as a 'political prisoner' and 'freed dissident' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25472250 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25472250)? Could it be that our journalists have zero integrity?