Ponomarev: Oil Embezzlement Seems Absurd to Any Sound Person
Lev Ponomarev, executive director for the All Russia Movement for Human Rights, has expressed his hope that the European Court Of Human Rights (ECtHR) will not be governed by "highest political motives" over the YUKOS Case, and its ruling will not contradict those that have already been made.
Ponomarev said: "We all know that the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Cyprus, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Estonia, and others have frequently denied Russia judicial help as they recognize that the YUKOS case was politically motivated."
He added: "My strongest argument, which, I hope, the ECtHR will recognize too, is that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are on trial for alleged theft of the oil, for which, according to the prosecutors, YUKOS underpaid taxes. Not only does it make no sense from judicial point of view, but it also seems absurd to any sound person."