Putin vs. Khodorkovsky: The Courtroom as Battlefield
Kim Zigfield, a Russian commentator and blogger, comments that two armies of lawyers are fighting simultaneous battles in Strasbourg and one in Moscow, and the result of their combat will likely determine Russia's future. Whilst in a Siberian prison cell, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has mapped out and executed a counterattack on his jailer, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Khodorkovsky, former head of YUKOS, was arrested and railroaded on bogus embezzlement charges as soon as he indicated a challenge to Putin. His company, which had been leading the way in bringing Western accounting and management practices to Russia, was seized by the Russian government.
Human rights groups around the globe condemned the judicial proceedings, and Zigfield comments that there is little doubt that he faces the single most absurd criminal indictment ever leveled against an individual in the annals of jurisprudence.
Zigfield notes that Khodorkovsky has struck back. First he published a condemnation of the Russian justice system in Nezavisimaya Gazeta; then he served up a $100 billion lawsuit against Putin, filed in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). If the ECtHR determines that Russia, a signatory to its treaty, violated basic international law when it stripped Khodorkovsky and his fellow shareholders of their property rights in YUKOS, it can order that property restored. And if the Kremlin won't pay, then it can order the seizure of Russian assets throughout Europe. Such a ruling would strip away the last vestiges of legitimacy enjoyed by the Putin regime.
Zigfield concludes that it is beginning to seem that Putin made a very grave error when he jailed Khodorkovsky.