Khodorkovsky: “Against my Ritual Detention, I Ritually Object”
Announcing his decision to a packed courthouse, Judge Danilkin ruled against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, extending their pre-trial detention custody for a further three months on February 12, 2010. This was the third such extension granted by Judge Danilkin.
Following the hearing, defense lawyer Vladimir Krasnov described the court's ruling as "a ritual." He added that the ruling completely ignored the Russian Constitution and the Russian Supreme Court. Noting that the defense response was 2 hours long, Krasnov said that the court did not explain why any of the defense's arguments were without merit. According to Krasnov, in this situation the court's decision cannot be considered as meeting any legal standards.
Karinna Moskalenko commented that the prosecution did not argue either Russian law or International legal norms. The court paid lip service to the European Convention on Human Rights and ECtHR decisions and completely ignored the defense, highlighting that the selection of pre-trial arrest was one of the main issues Russia faced at the ECHR, she added.
In October 2007, the ECtHR ruled that the Russian government had violated Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the unlawful arrest and subsequent detention of Platon Lebedev and awarded him damages. They found that he had been detained illegally and denied access to counsel, that hearings were conducted on Lebedev's case without his attorneys present, that proceedings were unlawfully delayed, and the appeal process obstructed. Read the ECtHR decision.
The defense team will appeal the latest decision.