Khodorkovsky Rails Against “Legalized Abuse”
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned that Russia's judicial system deals in "authorized violence" that threatens the government's stability.
Khodorkovsky wrote in Nezavisimaya Gazeta that the current judicial system is an "assembly line in a huge factory" that tilts thousands of active citizens against the government. He described in detail the work of the "assembly line," which he said frames innocent businessmen on orders of those in power. He said: "In fact, the system is an enterprise whose business is authorized violence."
The Moscow Times notes that President Dmitry Medvedev has named an independent judiciary and a crackdown on corruption as hallmarks of his presidency. In his article, Khodorkovsky stressed that the current system could not go on forever in its current state and, if left unreformed, "its destruction will occur in the traditional way for Russia - from below and with bloodshed."
The Associated Press adds that Khodorkovsky mocked Russia's attitude toward its own constitution, saying it played no part in a judge's verdict. He said: "You want to really make the court laugh? Cite the constitutional principle of the presumption of innocence." Khodorkovsky added that it is down to a jailed suspect to prove his innocence. He said: "The words ‘lawful and grounded,' like the American ‘How do you do?' lost their original meaning a long time ago."