Danilkin, A Fall Guy For Khodorkovsky Verdict?
In an opinion editorial for Eurasia Review, Grigory Pasko, a Russian journalist and recognized prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, comments on the Khodorkovsky case, as the defendants' term of detention is extended.
Pasko notes that over a year and a half of the second trial of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, state prosecutor Valery Lakhtin has successfully demonstrated once and for all Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev's innocence. He adds that prosecution witnesses did not provide the court "with any even remotely serious evidence of the defendants' guilt". On the contrary, he notes that the witnesses invited by the defense convincingly testified that there was no theft of oil in YUKOS, nor could there have been.
The trial is dragging out, which Pasko suggests may be because the prosecution is completely unable to find anything at all weighty that would compel Judge Danilkin to compose a guilty verdict that could leave his career intact. He adds: "Without minimally passable evidence, such a verdict in a political case just doesn't happen. A clumsily composed verdict without grounds - this is a disgrace not only for Danilkin, but for the entire system of Russian justice as a whole."
Pasko comments: "It looks like the guilty verdict is going to be as clumsy, groundless and far from jurisprudence as the current decision on extending the term of detention to November, 17." With regret he believes that the second trial will end in a guilty verdict. He concludes that in a civilized country, such a verdict should become the start of mass spontaneous rallies and protests, with calls for resignation of those responsible in the leadership. Pasko adds that the reaction should be widespread because the YUKOS case concerns all of the citizens of Russia, "because it really shows in what a macabre state our judicial system is found. The trial shows that this monster is capable of breaking the fate of anybody, each and every one of us, who gets caught in its way." He concludes: "The mayhem has got to be stopped by the whole world."