Marcus Mekel, German Social Democratic Party Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Criticizes the Khodorkovsky Trial
Marcus Mekel, the foreign affairs spokesman of Germany's Social Democratic Party, shared his impressions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's trial after attending the hearing on June 8th in Moscow's Khamovniki Court.
Mekel said: "The goal of my visit was to show that we are all watching what is happening here." He said the factions of the parties in Germany's Bundestag are preparing a resolution on the trial, which will be adopted before the federal elections in September. The politician believes that the outcome of the trial will show if President Dmitry Medvedev is truly committed to making Russia's judicial system truly independent.
Mekel criticized the charges that Mikhail Khodorkovsky is facing, and the way in which they are being "absurdly" presented. Additionally, he noted that the defendants are not allowed to speak in their defense and described the conditions in which Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are being kept during the court hearings as "inhumane".
"If we assume that the court is independent, let us wait for the court's decision, which I believe, will prove the charges are absurd," Mekel concluded.