Day Four: Global Media Continue to Report on the "Guilty" Trial Verdict
The Voice of Russia today reports that a Moscow court continues to hand down its "guilty" verdict to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Only half of the document has been read out so far. The publication notes that if the court fails to proclaims its verdict this year it will be rescheduled for 2011.
The Associated Press adds that the sentence is to be announced last, which Khodorkovsky's lawyers expect to occur by the end of the week, before the start of Russia's 10-day New Year's holiday. The publication adds that one of the defense lawyers, Yelena Liptser, said yesterday that much of the judge's verdict was copied from the indictment and the prosecutors' final arguments. She said: "That is why we continue to hear totally absurd remarks and, frankly speaking, we are surprised that he hasn't deleted the most improbable stuff from the verdict...We are discussing how we are going to appeal against the verdict and, naturally, waiting for the sentence that he is going to pass on our defendants." The Associated Press notes that Wednesday's session included at least one glitch. While reading the verdict in an impossibly fast monotone, Judge Viktor Danilkin suddenly stopped and said he had read one page by mistake, but he did not explain which one or why. The judge's reading also put one of the prosecutors to sleep for several minutes.
The Washington Post today reports on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs lashing back at the West for meddling in the Khodorkovsky verdict. The Washington Post fully understands the importance of the statement from the State Dept and the White House. It reports that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a chorus of political figures in the United States and Europe in condemning the ruling, saying that it raised "serious questions about selective prosecution and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations." The Washington Post also gets the significance of the White House statement. It reports that the White House said it was troubled by what appears to be "an abusive use of the legal system for improper ends" and said the ruling hurts Russia's ability to improve ties with the United States. The Obama administration has worked to "reset" ties with Russia under President Dmitry Medvedev, who has promised to strengthen the rule of law as part of his mission to modernize Russia and increase foreign investment. But Khodorkovsky's conviction demonstrates how little has changed in Russia since Medvedev succeeded Putin more than two years ago.
The Guardian's Tom Parfitt writes that on day three of the verdict, Danilkin was hitting top speed. He comments: "Despite the gravity of the moment, Danilkin's delivery is bizarre. For three days now he has been reading his verdict in an excruciating, accelerated monotone." He adds: "So here it is: Russian justice in the flesh. No eloquent annihilation of the defence lawyers' arguments. No pause for effect, no polished turn of phrase from a learned m'lud. Just a pale, frightened looking man in a black robe reading a text at breakneck pace: going through the motions. By law, the judge must describe the case in detail before he can announce his sentence. A fine idea, you might think. But after 14 hours Danilkin's numbing monologue - almost a carbon copy of the prosecutors's case - is beginning to pall." Parfitt quotes Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Vadim Klyuvgant, who said: "It is a charade, of course...An absurd parody of a real trial."
RIA Novosti adds that day four of the verdict, and Khodorkovsky says he "doesn't care" when his sentence will be delivered. Khodorkovsky said: "In my situation, I don't really care," when prompted by a court bailiff escorting him into the courtroom after expressing hopes out loud that the sentence would be delivered by December 31 so that he could enjoy New Year's celebrations. In his final address in November, Khodorkovsky said it was "all the Russian people" who were "standing trial." The publication notes that term of the new sentence is expected later today or early tomorrow, when Danilkin finishes reading the full 250-page verdict in the most significant trial since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Economist comments: "Nobody expected Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to be acquitted, just as nobody believed they were guilty of stealing oil and laundering the proceeds...But there was some hope, however irrational, that Danilkin might find the courage to resist political pressure and deliver justice...It was not to be...What is clear is that it will be determined by the political needs of Putin rather than by the requirements of the law."
The Philadelphia Inquirer's opinion columnist, Trudy Rubin, comments that Khodorkovsky's conviction in this "sham trial" shows that President Dmitry Medvedev's talk of reform is just that - talk. Rubin comments: "Any hope that Medvedev might behave differently from his mentor, and Russia's real ruler - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - has been doused by the biggest show trial since the days of the Soviet Union." Rubin adds that no one in Russia was surprised at the verdict, but what makes this case so important to the West is what it reveals about Russia's direction. The Russian foreign ministry has told Western governments the Khodorkovsky case is none of their affair. This, she states, is untrue: "Russia aspires to be part of Europe, to join the World Trade Organization, yet its government's behavior will determine whether this is possible." She concludes: "As Khodorkovsky awaits sentencing, his son holds out "a little hope" for a lenient jail term - or even a presidential pardon. Medvedev talks of "rule of law" for Russia and Putin talks of "the dictatorship of law." Which is it to be?"
The Christian Science Monitor reports that as Khodorkovsky was convicted in the politically tinged trial, Medvedev admitted that Russia's investment climate is woeful days. The publication also notes that ahead of the verdict, Russia analysts argued that an acquittal would show that Medvedev had prevailed, while a conviction would show that Putin remains Russia's real power and is likely to return to the presidency in 2012. Yesterday Medvedev addressed a business group, which convened to focus on streamlining investment in Russia. While he didn't mention the Khodorkovsky case specifically, he delivered bad news about Russia's overall business climate. The Christian Science Monitor comments: "It's a small irony that before Khodorkovsky's sentencing, he had been a crusader for more transparent corporate governance and western accounting models for Russia to attract investment and reduce corruption."
André Glucksmann, a French philosopher, pens an opinion editorial on the verdict for The Orange County Register, entitled "Guilty of being right". Glucksmann argues that while the verdict was guilty, the Russian people are not dupes: 40% know that it was concocted in behind-the-scenes power politics. He reminds that Mikhail Kasyanov (the Russian prime minister during the period in question), Viktor Khristenko (deputy prime minister at the same time), and German Gref (the development minister), called as witnesses, have stated that, a diversion of oil on such a scale that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are accused of is a pure invention; they simply could not have missed it. Glucksmann argues: "Khodorkovsky's true guilt is very grave. He is right, and Vladimir Putin is wrong. Khodorkovsky - well-known for having launched a plan ten years ago that would bring together modernization and democratization along with freedom from Russia's political-economic mafias - insists that the nation's extreme corruption, including embezzlements and assassinations, represents "a threat greater than that of a nuclear catastrophe." Not long ago, Khodorkovsky's views would have seemed premature, if not utopian, in the eyes of the Moscow establishment. Today, Glucksmann notes that the winds are changing: experience now seems to indicate that the greater risk might be on the side of Putin and his sad record. He concludes: "Russia is stagnant to its core. Khodorkovsky could have fled, but he chose to stay and confront the corruption. And so he is guilty. "As a free man," a Muscovite political scientist told me, "Khodorkovsky would embody a mixture of the Count of Monte Cristo and Nelson Mandela." Or perhaps "Robin Hood," the term journalist Anna Politkovskayau used to describe him-just before she was cut down."
Today's Washington Post features a commentary by Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy, on autocratic nations using the holiday season to tighten their hold on power. Gershman comments that this holiday season has been replete with provocative actions that autocrats hope might pass unnoticed. The rigged conviction of Khodorkovsky was postponed until December 27 in an effort, some have suggested, to avoid complicating the US Senate's ratification of the New START treaty. And Marinna Khodorkovskaya, the defendant's mother, called the delay "an attempt to avoid public attention. Too many people are interested in this case. This is the usual thing they do." Gershman notes that the Khodorkovsky verdict has certainly allowed Putin to show that he holds the real power in Russia, not Medvedev. He concludes that Russia and other nations taking advantage of the Western holiday season "should receive a stiff New Year's message that they are indeed being watched and that their abuse will meet with a firm response."
Commenting on the Khodorkovsky trial and other challenges to human rights, The Post and Courier argues that it is time for President Barack Obama to reset his foreign policy objectives to give more support to the friends of human rights.
Writing in today's Independent, John Kampfner, chief executive of Index on Censorship and author of ‘Freedom for Sale', comments that Putin is increasingly confident in parading the might of Russia's political, business and security elite working to each other's mutual benefit. Kampfner states that The further sentencing this week of Khodorkovsky was a telling reminder of the hegemony of the 21st-century variant of state power.
Journalists covering the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev trial have written to Artur Parfenchikov, RF Chief Court Bailiff, complaining that his subordinates are hampering their work. Their open letter, reported by the Russian Agency for Legal and Court Information (RAPSI) states: "Although the trial is not being held in camera, it is not only difficult to get into the courtroom: the bailiffs must give their personal permission for one or another journalist to enter the court building, applying criteria of which only they are informed ..." The journalists' letter concludes: "We sincerely hope that as head of the service you will intervene and resolve the conflict that has arisen, henceforth enabling journalists who are covering the trial to work under normal conditions."
An editorial published in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Vatican, urgues Italy to intervene in the Khodorkovsky case considering their close relationship. There are requests that can be better dealt with if they come from a friend. Avvenire stated ‘Our Prime Minister should not have any quivers in doing this. It would be enough for Berlusconi to tell Putin what he keeps saying everyday in Italy: democracy does not exist if justice is politically driven against those that are considered opponents".
Below is a video of the scenes outside the courtoom in Moscow: