Heidi Hautala MEP: Khodorkovsky and Lebedev Must Be Released Without Delay
Heidi Hautala MEP, European Parliament Chair of Subcommittee on Human Rights, visted the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev trial in August 2010 and witnessed the proceedings and the prosecution's illegal treatment of defense witnesses first hand. Afterwards, she spoke to Russian radio station Echo Moskvy and gave her thoughts on the visit.
She notes: "The case of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev is truly important. Because it clearly gives a picture of the shortcomings of Russian legislation. And the only conclusion that I made from what I read and studied and saw with my own eyes now is that they must be released without delay."
Adding, "The case is politically fabricated, and today I saw how obviously the prosecutor was exerting pressure on a witness so that he would testify against Khodorkovsky. He threatened him with his own incarceration in jail. So this is an important symbolic and concrete situation when you begin to understand how long the path of development of the Russian judicial system will still be."