[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 327 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 327
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the trial and
subsequent convictions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev by
the Government of the Russian Federation constitute a politically
motivated case of selective arrest and prosecution which put in serious
doubt the rule of law and the independence of Russia's judicial system.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 23, 2011
Mr. McGovern (for himself, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Wolf, Mr.
Pitts, and Mrs. Myrick) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the trial and
subsequent convictions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev by
the Government of the Russian Federation constitute a politically
motivated case of selective arrest and prosecution which put in serious
doubt the rule of law and the independence of Russia's judicial system.
Whereas, on April 1, 2009, President Obama and Russian President Medvedev issued
a joint statement affirming that ``[i]n our relations with each other,
we also seek to be guided by the rule of law, respect for fundamental
freedoms and human rights, and tolerance for different views'';
Whereas it has been the long-held position of the United States to support the
development of democracy, rule of law, judicial independence, freedom,
and respect for human rights in the Russian Federation;
Whereas President Medvedev decried an attitude of ``legal nihilism'' in Russian
society and government and issued a new foreign policy doctrine citing
``the supremacy of law in international relations'' as one of Russia's
top priorities;
Whereas two of the most prominent cases of Russian abuse of civil liberties and
injustice involve the Yukos Oil Company, its president, Mikhail
Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, who were
convicted and sentenced in May 2005 to serve nine years in a remote
penal camp;
Whereas Russian authorities confiscated Yukos assets and assigned ownership to a
state company that is chaired by an official in the Kremlin, harassed,
exiled, persecuted, and imprisoned many Yukos officers and legal
representatives, and issued a series of court rulings against Mr.
Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev that violate both Russian domestic law and
international legal norms;
Whereas at a press conference in May 2005, President George W. Bush stated ``it
appeared to us, or at least people in my Administration, that it looked
like [Mikhail Khodorkovsky] had been judged guilty prior to having a
fair trial. In other words, he was put in prison, and then was tried'';
Whereas the 2005 United States Department of State Human Rights Report confirmed
that ``the arrest and conviction of Khodorkovsky raised concerns about
the rule of law, including the independence of the courts, the right to
due process, the sanctity of contracts and property rights and the lack
of a predictable tax regime'';
Whereas Amnesty International, Freedom House, and other prominent international
human rights organizations have cited the conviction and imprisonment of
Mr. Khodorkovsky as evidence of the arbitrary and political use of the
legal system and the lack of a truly independent judiciary in today's
Russian Federation;
Whereas governments, courts, journalists, and human rights organizations around
the world have expressed concern about the prosecution, trial,
imprisonment, and treatment of the individuals in the Yukos case, and
have called on President Medvedev to honor his pledge to end ``legal
nihilism'' in his country;
Whereas, on February 5, 2007, on the eve of their eligibility for parole,
Russian prosecutors brought new charges against Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr.
Lebedev, accusing them of embezzling $20,000,000,000 in Yukos oil
revenues;
Whereas in May 2007, the Prosecutor General in Moscow attempted to disbar
Karrinna Moskalenko, one of Russia's most distinguished and renowned
human rights lawyers and defense counsel to Mr. Khodorkovsky, in
apparent reprisal for actions she had taken on behalf of her client;
Whereas in August 2007, Switzerland's highest court denied Russian authorities
access to Yukos documents on the basis that the case against Yukos and
its principal executives and core shareholders, specifically Mr.
Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev, had a ``political and discriminatory
character . . . undermined by the infringement of human rights and the
right to defense'';
Whereas courts in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, and Switzerland have described the Yukos proceeding as
politically motivated and have rejected motions from Russian prosecutors
seeking the extradition of Yukos officials or materials for use in
trials in Russia;
Whereas, on October 25, 2007, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Mr.
Lebedev's rights to liberty and security were violated during his arrest
and subsequent pretrial detention, and ordered Russia to pay him $14,230
as compensation;
Whereas, on March 13, 2008, the European Parliament issued a resolution calling
on the Russian President to ``review the treatment of imprisoned public
figures (among them Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev), whose
imprisonment has been assessed by most observers as having been
politically motivated'';
Whereas in July 2008, President Medvedev said it was essential that Russia
``take all necessary means to strengthen the independence of judges''
since ``it goes without saying that pressure is applied, influence is
exerted, and direct bribery is often used'';
Whereas, on August 22, 2008, Mr. Khodorkovsky was denied parole on the grounds
that he refused to take part in vocational training in sewing and for
his alleged failure to keep his hands behind his back during a jail
walk;
Whereas, on October 8, 2008, Mr. Khodorkovsky was placed in solitary confinement
for 12 days for giving a written interview to the Russian edition of
Esquire magazine, despite the fact that the interview had previously
been approved;
Whereas, on October 25, 2008, the United States Department of State issued a
statement marking the fifth anniversary of Mr. Khodorkovsky's arrest,
stating ``the conduct of the cases against Khodorkovsky and his
associates has eroded Russia's reputation and public confidence in
Russian legal and judicial institutions'';
Whereas, on December 22, 2008, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the
release of the terminally ill former Yukos oil executive Vasily
Aleksanyan, who had been held in detention since April 6, 2006, despite
repeated orders by the European Court that Mr. Aleksanyan be treated in
a humane fashion for cancer and AIDS;
Whereas in February 2009, Andrei Illarianov, former chief economic advisor to
President Putin, stated that ``[o]ne of the best known political
prisoners is Mr. Khodorkovsky who has been sentenced to 9 years in the
Siberian camp Krasnokamensk on the basis of purely fabricated case
against him and his oil company Yukos'';
Whereas, on February 24, 2009, human rights lawyer Karinna Moskalenko, said that
``[a]ll verdicts are possible in this country. But for people like
Khodorkovsky, everything is already planned out and decided as long as
the political will does not change'';
Whereas, on February 25, 2009, Olga Kudeshkina, former Moscow court judge who
was dismissed from her duties in 2004, stated that Moscow City Court
``has turned into an institution of settling political, commercial and
other scores'' and that ``nobody can be sure that the [Khodorkovsky]
case will be resolved in accordance with the law'';
Whereas, on April 2, 2009, Senator Ben Cardin, chair of the Helsinki Commission,
issued a statement in the United States Senate in which he noted that
``the Council of Europe, Freedom House and Amnesty International, among
others, have concluded that Mr. Khodorkovsky was charged and imprisoned
in a process that did not follow the rule of law and was politically
influenced . . .'' that ``the current charges . . . amount to legal
hooliganism and highlight the petty meanness of the senior government
officials behind this travesty of justice.'' and ``[the charges] should
be dropped and the new trial should be abandoned'';
Whereas, on April 10, 2009, the New York Times wrote an editorial noting that
the new charges and trial against Mr. Khodorkovsky ``are for show,
intended only to keep [him] and his colleague in prison forever'';
Whereas, on April 11, 2009, the Washington Post wrote, ``If Mr. Medvedev allows
[the Khodorkovsky trial] to go forward to its scripted conclusion--a
lengthy extension of Mr. Khodorkovsky's sentence to a Siberian prison
camp--the point will be proved that Russia still has no rule of law but
only a ruler'';
Whereas, on April 21, 2009, Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights
First, Human Rights Watch, the International League for Human Rights,
the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and the Jacob
Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights joined in a
letter to President Medvedev in which they noted ``the serious human
rights concerns raised by the case so far'' and called on the Russian
Government to ``ensure that international observers are allowed
unhindered access to the courtroom'' to monitor the trial, to ``ensure
that the rule of law is upheld'' and that it ``meets the standards of
the Russian Constitution and international law.'';
Whereas, on May 21, 2009, the European Court on Human Rights declared admissible
Mr. Khodorkovsky's application, alleging that his arrest, detention, and
prosecution were politically motivated as well as violations of the
prohibition on torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and the right
to liberty and security;
Whereas Russian legal experts opined, in a October 2009 report prepared by the
independent Center for Political Technologies in Moscow, that ``The
judiciary is perceived not to be independent, but entirely implanted
into the state machine, `transparent' for neither the civil society nor
the mass media, or `ordinary people''' and they foresee that
applications to the European Court will rise, as a result of citizens'
low confidence in their judicial system;
Whereas, on March 24, 2010, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a prominent Russian human rights
activist and founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group, lamented that Russian
human rights workers and activists are in grave danger, and that the
collaboration with international human rights entities is essential to
their work;
Whereas, on May 31, 2010, the Moscow Times published a letter, signed by
prominent human rights activists such as former President of the Czech
Republic Vaclav Havel and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, which questioned
Russia's commitment to protecting and fulfilling its human rights
obligations and said that, ``We ask [President] Medvedev and urge the
Russian government to protect people in danger and to ensure quick and
effective investigations into the murders of human rights activists,
journalists and independent-minded jurists.'';
Whereas, on December 15, 2010, Judge Viktor Danilkin delayed the verdict in the
Khodorkovsky case until December 27, 2010, without any explanation;
Whereas Prime Minister Putin appears to have interfered with the proceedings of
the trial on numerous occasions, by publicly accusing Mr. Khodorkovsky
of being a murderer and, on December 16, 2010, one day after the
inexplicable postponement, by preempting the verdict saying that ``a
thief belongs in prison'';
Whereas, on December 27, 2010, two years after the start of the second trial,
Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev were found guilty of money laundering
and embezzlement;
Whereas, on December 27, 2010, the White House issued a press release stating
that, ``We are troubled by the allegations of serious due process
violations, and what appears to be an abusive use of the legal system
for improper ends. The apparent selective application of the law to
these individuals undermines Russia's reputation as a country committed
to deepening the rule of law.'';
Whereas, on December 30, 2010, Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev were sentenced
to a maximum of 14 years imprisonment, which conforms with the
prosecutor's demands, and which, dating from their first arrest in 2003,
will extend their imprisonment until 2017;
Whereas, on New Year's Eve 2010, during large rallies to peacefully protest
restrictions on the freedom of assembly and the court decision in the
case against Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev, the police detained some
130 people in Moscow and St. Petersburg, including prominent opposition
leaders, some of whom were subsequently arrested and jailed;
Whereas, on February 14, 2011, an interview in Gazetta.ru with Natalya
Vasilyeva, the former assistant to judge Viktor Danilkin, confirmed
allegations of judicial interference and revealed that the judge was
pressured in his deliberations and a verdict was imposed from above;
Whereas, on February 17, 2011, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Navi Pillay observed that the ``Rule of law, including
accountability and protection of rights for all citizens and non-
citizens on Russian territory, is an essential prerequisite for true
democracy, peace and development.'';
Whereas, on March 10, 2011, Vice President Joe Biden delivered a speech in
Moscow and stressed that the United States ``will continue to object
when we think human rights are violated or democracy and the rule of law
is undermined.'';
Whereas an independent, impartial, accountable, and effective judicial system is
fundamental to protecting and upholding the rights of Russian citizens;
Whereas Article 15(4) of the Russian Constitution provides that ``. . . commonly
recognized principles and norms of international law and the
international treaties of the Russian Federation shall be a component
part of its legal system. If an international treaty of the Russian
Federation stipulates other rules than those stipulated by the law, the
rules of the international treaty shall apply.'';
Whereas the Russian Federation has ratified the European Convention on Human
Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment; and
Whereas the selective disregard for the rule of law by Russian officials
undermines the standing and status of the Russian Federation among the
democratic nations of the world: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(1) Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are prisoners
who have been denied basic due process rights under
international law and the laws of the Russian Federation for
political reasons;
(2) as a demonstration of Russia's commitment to democracy,
human rights and the rule of law, the Prosecutor General
should--
(A) conduct an official and impartial investigation
into the allegations of judicial interference and
misconduct;
(B) initiate criminal proceedings to bring
violators to justice; and
(C) appeal the guilty verdict as delivered on
December 27, 2010;
(3) the standing of the Russian Federation as a nation
supporting democracy, freedom of expression, an independent
judiciary, human rights, and the rule of law would be validated
by immediately overturning the convictions of Mikhail
Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, and securing their immediate
release; and
(4) the Russian Federation is encouraged to take these
actions to support democratic principles and human rights in
furtherance of a new and more positive relationship between the
United States and Russia and a new era of mutual cooperation.
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