Commentary: Russia, International Economic Crime and the Rule of Law
Ethan S. Burger, a professor at Georgetown University Law Centre, and Bill Bowring a professor at the School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London, comment that recent court rulings outside of Russia may signal a change of unique proportions.
On 11 March, an English court ruled to seize assets in England and Wales of Rosneft, under a lawsuit filed by managers of YUKOS. Burger and Bowring argue that those who quip that in practice, there is no such thing as "international law," may soon be proven wrong. They cite the former YUKOS managers, who have sued the Russian government for approximately $100 million in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, asserting that they have been victimized by a politically motivated, illegal expropriation of YUKOS' property. Burger and Bowring note there is a personal element to the case as then Mikhail Khodorkovsky was convicted of a variety of crimes and placed in jail after what is widely viewed as a show trial.
Burger and Bowring note that the Russian Federation is a party to numerous international instruments that not only are part of its legal system, but take precedence over any contrary domestic legislation. They acknowledge that national governments often have a multitude of reasons not to protect the interests of their citizens. Many national leaders fear that there may be significant risk if they seek to hold the leaderships and elites of countries responsible to uphold their economic and human rights obligations. Non-state actors, such as YUKOS, its managers and shareholders, have no such constraints. That, they conclude, is precisely what Russia is now discovering.