Venezuelan Case Recalls Russia's Khodorkovsky
Egilio Cedeno, a Venezuelan businessman with close ties to the political opposition has been arrested in a case similar to Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Robert Amsterdam, an attorney for both Khodorkovsky and Cedeno, commented to Radio Free Europe: "What the Russians and Venezuelans are doing in common is they are using courts for illegal purposes. That is a cynical way to deal with it, but that is actually what is going on." Like Khodorkovsky, Cedeno is being held in pre-trial detention several years after his arrest.
Amsterdam added: "The issue is the role of the state. And I think it's this whole issue of relativism. Only if the court goes up against a priest, are we able to denounce an unseemly perversion of state power, and I don't accept that."