Timeline of the Yukos Affair
1989
Following the creation of a successful import-export business, Mikhail Khodorkovsky acquires a banking license and with several business partners forms Bank Menatep, one of the first commercial banks in Russia. Subsequently, Khodorkovsky and his business partners establish Rosprom, a diversified holding company. Rosprom was later replaced with Group Menatep Limited.
April 15, 1993
The Russian Government founds Yukos as a separate legal entity and consolidates certain state-owned producing, refining and distribution entities into a vertically integrated oil company. By the end of 1995, Yukos comes close to bankruptcy amid falling output and rising debt, owing over $3 billion.
1996
The government makes a decision to privatize Yukos. Through their holding company, Khodorkovsky and his business partners acquire a majority interest in Yukos for approximately $350 million. At this time, Yukos' debt exceeds $3 billion and the company is six months behind in payment of salaries to its employees. Yukos annual oil production reaches 34 million metric tons of oil but is decreasing by 7-15% annually.
1996- 1999
With Khodorkovsky's leadership, Yukos initiates a series of modernizing reforms and major restructuring programs to "match international standards for corporate behavior and financial stability." By the end of 1999, Yukos' oil production was increasing 10% annually. By 2003, its production level reached 80 million metric tons of oil per year.
February 2000
Yukos launches its Governance Charter and publishes accounts to international standards.
March 2001
Yukos becomes listed on the New York, London, Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich financial indexes.
February 2001
Khodorkovsky founds the "Open Russian Foundation" (ORF) a non-governmental organization dedicated to principles of freedom and democracy. Prior to its enforced closure by the Kremlin in 2006, the ORF funded up to $20 million per annum in programs diversified across education and science, public health, leadership and cultural development. The ORF was also noted for providing support to populations indigenous to the areas in which Yukos maintained production facilities.
2003
Group Menatep Limited, which holds a majority interest in Yukos, enters into negotiations with United States oil majors ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco for the acquisition of at least a 25% interest in Yukos for up to $20 billion. In addition, Yukos agrees in both principle and detail to acquire Sibneft, the fourth-largest oil company in Russia, through a merger.
February 19, 2003
During a live televised broadcast, Khodorkovsky challenges President Putin over Rosneft's controversial acquisition of the oil producer Severnaya Neft from Senator Andrei Vavilov. During this exchange, Khodorkovsky argues that the $600 million price paid by Rosneft was excessive, thus implying that some parties close to the Kremlin had improperly benefited from the transaction.
April 2003
In an attempt to promote democracy and engender greater political debate, Khodorkovsky shows his public support for numerous political groups including Yabloko, the Communist Party and even the pro-Kremlin United Russia.
June 19, 2003
The Russian government arrests one of the Yukos security managers, Alexei Pichugin, on charges of murder and attempted murder. Pichugin's arrest is widely seen as an attempt to coerce him into implicating one or more of the founders of Yukos. During his pre-trial detention in the Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, Pichugin is denied access to counsel and is interrogated with the aid of psychotropic drugs.
July 2, 2003
Platon Lebedev, a major shareholder in Yukos, head of Group Menatep Limited, and a close friend of Khodorkovsky is arrested on fraud charges relating to the 1994 privatization of the fertilizer company Apatit. The arrest occurs while Lebedev is hospitalized.
August 14, 2003
The Yukos-Sibneft merger is approved by the Russian Anti-Monopoly authority, subject to certain standard conditions. The merger would create Russia's largest oil and gas group and the world's fourth largest oil producer. However, following discussions between leading Sibneft shareholder Roman Abramovich and President Putin, the merger which had been scheduled to begin in January 2004 is unexpectedly cancelled.
October 2003
In an interview with German publication Die Welt, Khodorkovsky argues that the Kremlin had sought to create a "managed democracy" that operates "a liberal economy in an authoritarian state." The publication of the interview comes only three days prior to his arrest.
October 25, 2003
When a TU-134 plane with Khodorkovsky on board stops in Irkutsk where he was scheduled to speak at the School of Public Politics, FSB Special Forces arrest Khodorkovsky at gunpoint on trumped-up charges of fraud and tax evasion. When news of the arrest is made public, the Russian stock market closes for the first time ever and the rouble experiences one of its most drastic falls. The Russian media argued that the arrest marked "the end of capitalism" and even state-owned news outlets described the arrest as "absurd."
October 30, 2003
The Russian prosecutor's office freezes 44% of Yukos common stock owned by Group Menatep Limited "as shares which are in effect owned by Khodorkovsky."
December 29, 2003
The Russian tax authorities initiate a "special" tax re-audit of Yukos' income tax payments for 2000. The audit lasts less than two weeks, and the Russian tax authorities conclude that Yukos failed to pay approximately $3.4 billion in taxes for 2000 (almost 85% of Yukos' income before income taxes for that year).
April 14, 2004
Following an irregular "re-audit" of Yukos' tax liabilities, Russian tax authorities declare Yukos liable for a further RUB 99.4 billion in retroactive tax liabilities dating back to 2000. Simultaneously, Yukos are told by Russian Tax Ministry that they have two days within which to fulfill their tax obligations.
April 15, 2004
Only a day after Yukos' declared liability, the Russian Tax Ministry initiates legal proceedings with the Moscow court of arbitration to recover their tax entitlements.
May 6, 2004
In a Moscow Arbitrazh Court, Yukos appeals the $3.4 billion assessment of back taxes, asking the court to declare unlawful the decision of the tax authorities.
May 26, 2004
Following a short period of deliberation, the Moscow Arbitrazh Court upholds 99% of the Russian Tax Ministry's reassessment of Yukos. Consequently, Yukos is compelled to make the repayment within 5 working days, while all its bank accounts and assets are under arrest as security. Yukos subsequently make three appeals against the decision only for the court to uphold the ruling on 29th June 2004.
June 16, 2004
The initial trial of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev begins, only to be immediately adjourned at the request of the prosecution.
July 12, 2004
The trial resumes with prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin brandishing Khodorkovsky as the head of an "organized criminal group," an accusation the defense describes as "absurd." The Russian judicial system is broadly criticized for requiring that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev endure the entire trial from within a metal cage in the courtroom.
July 20, 2004
The Moscow District Federal Arbitrazh Court upholds the decision of the Moscow Arbitrazh Court forcing Yukos to pay its $3.4 billion back tax claim immediately.
July 24, 2004
Former Yukos executive and Representative on the Russian Federation Council, Leonid Nevzlin is accused of organizing contract killings. An in absentia trial of Nevzlin (based on a new law which was recently adopted) began on March 19th, 2008 and resulted in Nevzlin's conviction on August 1st, 2008, with a sentence of life in prison. Nevzlin, who remains in Israel, has applied to the ECHR for review of his case.
November 2004
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issues a report titled "The circumstances surrounding the arrest and prosecution of leading Yukos executives". The report concludes that "the circumstances of the arrest and prosecution of leading Yukos executives suggest that the interest of the State's action in these cases goes beyond the mere pursuit of criminal justice, to include such elements as to weaken an outspoken political opponent, to intimidate other wealthy individuals and to regain control of strategic economic assets."
November 2, 2004
The Russian tax authorities announce additional tax liabilities on Yukos for the financial years of 2001 and 2002, adding another $10 billion in back tax claims.
November 19, 2004
The Russian government announces that it will conduct an auction of Yuganskneftegaz (YNG), the main production subsidiary of Yukos, to be held on 19th December 2004, in order to liquidate all or part of Yukos' alleged tax liability. The auction contravenes Russian law, which requires non-core assets to be sold first for such purposes. Gazprom is rumored to be the expected winner of the auction.
December 7, 2004
Former Yukos in-house legal counsel Svetlana Bakhmina is arrested on charges of embezzlement related to Yukos activity. In April 2006 she was convicted and sentenced to seven years (reduced to 6.5 years on appeal) of imprisonment in a Mordovian prison camp, over 600 kilometers away from her family, including two young sons, in Moscow. Russian law allows sentencing to be delayed when a mother has very young children, but Bakhmina's request was denied. At times during her imprisonment, she went on hunger strikes to protest the prison authorities' acts of cruelty, which included not allowing her to phone her children.
December 16, 2004
Yukos files for bankruptcy protection in the United States to prevent the auction of YNG. It accuses the Russian authorities of "an unprecedented campaign of illegal, discriminatory, and disproportionate tax claims escalating into raids and confiscations, culminating in intimidation and arrests". The Houston bankruptcy court issues an order freezing all Yukos assets including the YNG stock that was to be the subject of the auction and enjoining Gazpromneft, Gazprom and several foreign banks from taking any actions with respect to the sale of YNG shares.
December 19, 2004
State-owned gas producer Gazprom attends the YNG auction, yet does not bid. YNG is purchased by a diminutive Russian front company, Baikal Finance Group, at the fire sale price of only $9.7 billion. Baikal's bid is the only bid at the auction.
Subsequently, it transpires that Baikal Finance Group was wholly comprised of Kremlin insiders headed by Igor Sechin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration and a close associate of President Putin. On 22nd December, Baikal Finance Group is purchased by Rosneft, a wholly state-owned Russian oil company. Igor Sechin had been Chairman of Rosneft from July 2004.
When asked, "Why does the state use non-transparent schemes...[such as] the use of Baikal Finance Group to buy YNG?", Putin responded by claiming that the use of Baikal Finance Group to purchase YNG was necessary to protect the ultimate owner of the asset from legal claims of expropriation.
The de-facto nationalization of YNG was denounced by Andrei Illarionov, then the most senior Kremlin economic advisor, who described it as "the scam of the year."
March 2005
Following Russia's petition to Britain for the extradition of Yukos employees, the Bow Street Magistrates' Court refuses the extradition of both Dmitry Maruev and Natalya Chernysheva. The court deems that the charges against Khodorkovsky and other Yukos employees are "politically motivated".
March 1, 2005
The Committee of Foreign Affairs of the Spanish Congress of Deputies passes a motion supporting the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky (file number 161/1408), published in the "BOCG. Congreso de los Diputados" Series D, Volume 325 1st February 2006, that calls upon Russian authorities to respect Resolutions 1418 (2005) and 1692 (2005) of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe in relation to Khodorkovsky and other Yukos executives, in reference to infringements of the rule of law; and to request the immediate transfer of Khodorkovsky to a detention center with conditions of incarceration to which he is legally entitled as is any prisoner, and which is in proximity to his immediate family.
March 30, 2005
Former Yukos security manager Alexei Pichugin is found guilty of organizing the murders of Sergei and Olga Gorin and the attempted murder of Olga Kostina and Victor Kolesov. Pichugin is sentenced to serve 20 years in prison. Between April 3rd and August 17th, 2006, a second case against Pichugin was tried in the Moscow City Court on allegations of organizing the murders of Valentina Korneyeva and Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov, two attempted murders of Yevgeny Rybin and his driver and two bodyguards. Pichugin was convicted and sentenced to an additional 24 years in prison. Following a retrial of his second case that saw an appeal by the prosecution to increase the severity of the sentence, in August 2007 Pichugin was again found guilty and the sentence was increased to life in prison.xxi Pichugin applied to the ECHR to review both convictions.
April 11, 2005
Amnesty International issues a public statement on the political motivations behind the arrest and prosecution of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev: "Amnesty International believes that the concerns in these cases are indicative of wider problems in the criminal justice system in the Russian Federation relating to the independence of the judiciary; access to effective legal counsel; conditions of detention; and the use of torture and ill-treatment in order to extract confessions."
May 16, 2005
After 12 days of concluding statements at Moscow's Meshchansky Court, judges find both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev guilty on all charges and they are sentenced to 9 years imprisonment (reduced to 8 years on appeal). The trial was officially concluded on May 31 when the judges finished reading of the verdict in open court.
August 1, 2005
The first part of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's political essay "Left Turn", written in his prison cell, is published in Vedomosti, calling for a turn to a more socially responsible state.
August 19, 2005
Khodorkovsky announces that he is on hunger strike in protest over Lebedev's placement in a punishment cell. Khodorkovsky asserts that because Lebedev has diabetes mellitus and heart conditions, keeping him in the punishment cell could be equivalent to murder.
September 2005
The hearing of Khodorkovsky's appeal of his verdict is rushed through at an impossible speed: 450 case volumes, 6,500 protocols from the court hearings and 700 pages of the defense's appeal are ostensibly read and considered by the Moscow City Court in one day.
The purpose of the rushed appeal process is to deprive Khodorkovsky of his right to stand for election in the Duma by ensuring his conviction is confirmed before a certain date under the election timetable - which turned out to be the day after the appeal judgment. The authorities were eliminating any chance that Khodorkovsky win election to the Duma and thus have a political platform - again denying him his right to engagement in political processes and peaceful expression of his political beliefs.
October 2005
Khodorkovsky is transferred to the prison camp YaG-14/10 in Krasnokamensk, Siberia, close to the border with China. The camp is close to a uranium mine, and the area was found in 1995 to have levels of radon 190 times over the recommended maximum. Lebedev is transferred to OG 98/3 Kharp Colony, a prison colony located above the Arctic Circle.
November 11, 2005
Mikhail Khodorkovsky expresses his views on Russia's political future and the role of the elites in the second part of his political essay "Left Turn", published in Vedomosti.
November 18, 2005
U.S. Senate Resolution 322, signed by Barack Obama, John McCain and Joe Biden, is passed and states that "the criminal cases against Khodorkovsky, Lebedev, and their associates are politically motivated." It continues to suggest that "the trial, sentencing, and imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev have raised troubling questions about the impartiality and integrity of the judicial system in Russia," and that their imprisonment represents "a violation of the norms and practices of Russian law."
December 2005
The Russian tax authorities bring a new tax claim against Yukos for the 2003 tax period in excess of $4 billion. With an additional claim for back taxes for 2004, Yukos' total tax bill exceeded $30 billion for the 2000-2004 tax periods.
April 7, 2006
Just 3 days after his appointment as Executive Vice President of Yukos to lead the battle for Yukos survival, Vasily Alexanyan, former Head of the Yukos Legal Department, is arrested on charges of money laundering and embezzlement.
April 13, 2006
Khodorkovsky is attacked in his sleep by fellow prisoner Alexander Kuchma. In 2008, around the time of the hearing on Khodorkovsky's application for parole, the same prisoner files a lawsuit for 500,000 rubles ($15,000) against Khodorkovsky, accusing him of homosexual harassment. Kuchma's intended appearance at the parole hearing as a witness was planned by the authorities to demonstrate that Khodorkovsky was not fit to be released from prison. In March 2009, after Khodorkovsky's parole application was denied, the case was summarily dismissed after the initial court hearing.
August 2006
A court order formally declares Yukos bankrupt and calls for the liquidation of assets to commence. Liquidators are appointed despite Yukos' appeal.
December 2006
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are transferred from their prison camps to Chita pre-trial detention facility No.1 (IZ-75/1), located in another Siberian city, 6,072 kilometers east of Moscow. In 2003, the prison gained notoriety when it drew strong criticism from the Moscow Helsinki Group which reported it to be operating under extremely poor conditions and severe overcrowding, with as many as eighty people occupying rooms designated for only twenty. Despite the flagrant unsuitability and illegality of their relocation, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were forced to prepare their defense arguments 6,072 kilometers from the scene of their trial and the location of their lawyers.
December 25-26, 2006
The Russian Federal Tax Service files a suit against Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) in the Moscow Arbitrazh Court demanding that the 2002-2004 Yukos audit contracts be declared invalid. The next day, Michael Kubena, Director-General of PwC in Russia strongly refutes the charges, stating: "PwC's audited statements for Yukos in 2002 had no professional, legal or regulatory defects. To the contrary, PwC conducts all of its audits, including the 2002 Yukos audit, according to the highest professional and ethical standards strictly in compliance with Russian and international law. We will vigorously defend our position and reputation both in court and in dialogue with government authorities which are empowered to regulate [the] auditing profession."
The Russian authorities make it clear to PwC that any attempt to cooperate with the Khodorkovsky defense team would potentially land several PwC officials in jail, and perhaps even cost PwC Russia its business.
January 17, 2007
PwC issue a statement on Yukos financial statements: "[PwC] reiterates that Yukos financial statements "have been properly prepared to present, in all material respects, the company's financial position and financial results in accordance with the relevant Russian accounting standards. We conducted these audits according to the highest professional and ethical standards strictly in compliance with Russian law and best auditing practices."
February 5, 2007
Shortly preceding Khodorkovsky's and Lebedev's eligibility for parole, new charges of the embezzlement of oil produced by Yukos subsidiaries, embezzlement of shares held by a Yukos subsidiary, and money laundering resulting from the sale of the allegedly embezzled oil collectively worth $25 billion are brought against them. The charges would potentially add up to 15 years to their sentences.
February 14, 2007
On its front page and in a worldwide exclusive outside of Russia, Le Monde publishes the full text of Khodorkovsky's strong rebuttal to the new allegations against him, under the headline, "I am not afraid".
In a statement published in the newspaper, Khodorkovsky says: "The reason why all this is being done is also quite obvious. People who invented the 'Khodorkovsky case' in order to steal Yukos, the most prosperous company in Russia, are very much afraid to see me freed and want to insure themselves against the possibility of my conditional release."
March 9, 2007
Approximately twenty representatives of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office raid and search PwC's Moscow office on the grounds that as Yukos' auditors, the firm had committed tax fraud. Interior Ministry officials also announce they are launching a criminal probe into alleged tax avoidance by PwC in Russia. PwC comment that the Russian authorities seized paper files and electronic records not limited to the period of 2002 which went well beyond the scope of the tax claim.
March 20, 2007
The Moscow Arbitrazh Court rules that contracts held by PwC with Yukos were invalid and orders a payment by PwC of $480,000 to the Russian State.
At the hearing the representative of the tax authorities says that PwC employees who acted as auditors and consultants to Yukos are formally put on notice that they may be prosecuted for tax evasion schemes and other crimes allegedly committed by Yukos.
April 2007
PwC appeals the decision of the Moscow Arbitrazh Court which ruled that the contracts for audit between the accounting firm and Yukos in 2002-2004 were invalid.
PwC loses its major Russian client of 13 years, carmaker AvtoVAZ; the Russian Government annuls its contract with PwC for the Sakhalin II hydrocarbon project, and Transneft reports that it will not renew its contract with PwC. Pressure mounts on PwC not to defend its audits on behalf of Yukos.
March - August 2007 - The Final Assets of Yukos Sold Off
Following the highly punitive tax arrears against Yukos that totaled more than $30 billion, and acquisition by Rosneft of the vast majority of Yukos assets in controversial auctions, the liquidation of Yukos is nearly completed. According to The Financial Times, "Rosneft's sweep of all of Yukos' production units and refineries has transformed the company from Russia's number eight oil major, worth just $6 billion, into the country's biggest producer, with a market capitalization of $90 billion. It spent a mere net $2 billion in the process." The Economist describes the Yukos sell-offs as "larceny".
June 24, 2007
PwC succumb to the intensive pressure applied against it by the Russian state. The auditors reverse course on their vigorous defense of their audits on behalf of Yukos, withdrawing the entire set of audit reports for the company for the years ending 1995 to 2004. A cryptic PwC press release states that new information brought to its attention by Russian authorities led the audit firm to believe that certain information provided to it by Yukos may not have been accurate. Observers find PwC's statement to be dubious.
PwC provide no specifics as to what new information could possibly cause such a broad reversal and full surrender.
August 2007
The Swiss Federal Tribunal forbids Swiss authorities from cooperating with Russian prosecutors on Moscow's requests for legal assistance related to the allegations against Khodorkovsky. The Tribunal - which is Switzerland's highest court - noted that such assistance must be refused when a case is "a subterfuge to pursue a person for his political opinion". This was the first time, outside of extradition cases, that Swiss courts denied assistance because a case was political in nature.
Owing to the "politically motivated nature" of the case, the Lithuanian Prosecutor's General Office denies Russia's request that Mikhail Brudno, a former associate of Khodorkovsky, be extradited.
October 2007
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) finds that Lebedev's prosecution violated international human rights laws and awards him damages. The ECHR finds that Lebedev was detained illegally and denied access to counsel, that hearings were conducted on his case without his attorneys present, that proceedings have been unlawfully delayed, and that the appeal process has been continually obstructed.
The Amsterdam District Court rejects the Russian Bankruptcy Receiver's attempt to take control of Yukos' subsidiary outside of Russia, Yukos Finance, NV, and finds that Yukos was deprived of a fair trial in the Russian tax cases and, therefore, the Yukos bankruptcy case violated the fundamental principles of due process of law as generally accepted in the Netherlands and outlined in Article 6 of the ECHR.
October 2007
Following an appeal by UK based firm RosInvestCo, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) accepted jurisdiction for the appeal owing to the MFN clause found in the UK-Soviet Bilateral Investment Treaty. The appeal by RosInvestCo is founded on evidence that the Russian Government initiated discriminatory and expropriatory actions that rendered Yukos and by extension RosInvestCo's assets worthless. Following the SCC's ruling, the Russian state sought again to challenge the Tribunal and the jurisdictional permissibility of the case.
October 26, 2007
In Le Monde, French philosopher André Glucksmann publishes an article titled "Sakharov and Khodorkovsky: The Same Battle" in which he describes Khodorkovsky's ongoing imprisonment as retribution for his expression of political values inconsistent with those of the regime.
November 7, 2007
Following a lengthy arbitration with Rosneft, the Dutch courts find in favor of the petitioner Yukos Capital S.a.r.l, thus refusing to recognize the enforced bankruptcy of Yukos. The appointment of Eduard Rebgun, the Kremlin-installed administrator of Yukos' Finance Division BV, is deemed unlawful. Following this decision, in April 2009 the Amsterdam Court of Appeal rules that Rosneft pay an arbitration award worth $400 million in damages to Yukos Capital S.a.r.l. The decision effectively allows Yukos Capital S.a.r.l. the right to seize Rosneft assets in the Netherlands.
November 15, 2007
Following the completion of the sale of Yukos' remaining assets, the courts grant the liquidator's application to declare Yukos bankrupt and formally dissolved. On the 22nd of November, Yukos Oil Company was removed from the Russian register of enterprises.
January 30, 2008
Khodorkovsky begins a hunger strike in protest over former Head of Yukos Legal Department Alexanyan's treatment. Despite being HIV-positive, Alexanyan was denied any medical treatment because he refused pressure to testify falsely against Khodorkovsky, Lebedev and other Yukos officials. Following a diagnosis of lymphatic cancer, Alexanyan continued to be deprived of medical care, and was kept in harsh jail conditions, with his condition severely deteriorating over the course of nearly two years while the criminal investigation is pending. In three decisions, the ECHR pressures Russia to provide medical care on an urgent basis and an immediate release of Alexanyan. Khodorkovsky's hunger strike continues for fourteen days (from 30th January to 12th February) until Alexanyan is finally moved to a hospital, where despite being handcuffed to his bed he is finally able to receive treatment. On the 30th December 2008 the terminally-ill Alexanyan is released on bail, with his trial delayed pending a court decision on whether he can stand trial despite his illness.
February 7, 2008
On the front pages of its four editions worldwide, The Financial Times publishes the first face-to-face interview with Khodorkovsky since his arrest in 2003. In a broad-ranging interview, Khodorkovsky expresses hope that President Medvedev will succeed in his goal to combat "legal nihilism" in Russia, and wishes Medvedev strength in the face of strong forces impeding the development of the rule of law in Russia.
March 2, 2008
Dmitry Medvedev is elected Russian President, who then appoints Vladimir Putin as Russian Prime Minister. President Medvedev publicly acknowledges the systemic corruption and misuse of the Russian judicial system, and subsequently vows to tackle the "legal nihilism" endemic in Russia. Medvedev's declaration leads to assertions that Khodorkovsky's new trial represents "a litmus test" for Medvedev's agenda of reforming Russia's judiciary and removing the state's perturbing level of corruption.
May 2008
Cypriot Judge Alecos Panayiotou denies Russia's request for the extradition of Vladislav Kartashov, a former manager of Yukos. Judge Panayiotou rules that "there is a real risk that his right to a fair trial may be flagrantly violated." He further states that the charges against Yukos and Khodorkovsky were "tainted with political motive."
June 8, 2008
When asked for her opinion on a potential pardon for Khodorkovsky, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany "would welcome" such a move.
June 30, 2008
In order to circumvent a law limiting pre-trial detention to a maximum of 18 months, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are presented with a recycled version of the charges brought against them in February 2007.
July 16, 2008
Having served more than half of his eight year sentence, Khodorkovsky's legal team submits a request for his parole to the Chita District Court.
August 22, 2008
The Chita District Court denies Khodorkovsky's parole request. Following a further appeal to the Ingodinsky Regional Court in Chita, Judge Igor Faliliyev upholds the original parole denial, citing a series of supposed acts of indiscipline and "lack of enthusiasm in learning how to sew" as evidence of Khodorkovsky's unsuitability for rehabilitation.
After a Russian news agency incorrectly reports that Khodorkovsky was granted parole, the Russian stock market reacted positively, and then plummeted again when the rumors were found to be untrue.
October 2008
Mikhail Khodorkovsky's written dialogue with Russian writer Boris Akunin is published in the Russian edition of Esquire magazine.
In his written answers, Mikhail Khodorkovsky reflects on the experience from the first trial and its impact, and recollects his role in promoting anti-corruption legislation and democratic reform before his arrest.
October 8, 2008
After his first major interview with the Russian edition of Esquire magazine is published, Khodorkovsky is castigated with 12 days of solitary confinement. Following the unsuccessful appeal of the parole decision, the original decision to reprimand Khodorkovsky for his Esquire interview is condemned as "illegal". His interviewer, Boris Akunin, a well known writer in Russia, argues that Khodorkovsky has become "a symbol of Russia's lost rule of law."
November 2008
In 2008, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague considers GML's claim for $50 billion in compensation from the Russian Federation following the disintegration of Yukos. GML brought an Energy Charter Treaty Claim (the world's largest investment lawsuit to date) against the Kremlin. Yukos shareholders accuse the Russian Federation of unlawfully expropriating their investments by issuing the company a series of impossibly huge tax demands, forcing the sale of its production subsidiaries to state-owned companies at a fraction of their value.
November 7, 2008
The third part of Khodorkovsky's political essay "Left Turn", a strikingly radical article with the subheading "Global Perestroika", is published in Vedomosti.
February 18, 2009
The ECHR declares that the Yukos case filed on 29th January 2009 is admissible for further examination regarding complaints that:
- the company was taxed unlawfully in respect of liabilities asserted against no other taxpayer in Russia and which were wholly unknown to Russian law before the Yukos case;
- that this taxation and its enforcement amounted to the disguised expropriation of the company and its assets;
- and that these measures singled the company out for special treatment in a discriminatory and abusive way
This is the first time the ECHR reached such a conclusion for a publicly quoted company and in monetary terms this is the biggest claim ever submitted to the ECHR or any other court in the world.
January 27, 2009
Upon the conclusion of the investigation of the new charges, the defense lawyers of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev file a motion with the prosecution to dismiss the charges against the men and terminate the proceedings. Citing the numerous violations of their clients' constitutional rights and lawful interests, the attorneys assert that it would be impossible for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to receive a fair trial.
January 30, 2009
The ECHR rules that a claim against the Russian government filed by Yukos is partially acceptable. The Strasbourg court rejects claims by the Russian side that Yukos had already been liquidated and therefore the case could not be heard. At the same time, the court found admissible Yukos' assertion that tax claims against the company were filed to destroy it and sell off its assets. The hearing on the merits of Yukos claims was scheduled for November 19, 2009.
February 24, 2009
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are moved from Chita to Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina Detention Facility to face trial on the new charges.
March 3, 2009
The preliminary hearings begin on the new case with Khodorkovsky and Lebedev facing charges of embezzling 350 million metric tons of oil worth $25.4 billion - an amount that exceeds Yukos' entire production over the 6 year period in question. The defense repeats its motion to terminate the criminal case against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev previously filed with the prosecution. The court denies this motion as well as all other motions filed by the defense at the preliminary hearings.
March 31, 2009
Following the completion of the preliminary hearings, Chief Judge Viktor Danilkin begins trial proceedings at the Khamovnichesky Court on 31st March 2009.
April 2009
In a meeting coordinated through the National Press Club, seven prominent human rights foundations issue an open letter to President Medvedev criticizing the Russian government's "politically motivated prosecutions" and its propagation of "serious flaws within the (Russian) criminal justice system." The letter cites the plight of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev "as the case in point," using their example to demonstrate the "marred judicial process" and failures to protect its people's "liberty and security" as examples of the moral bankruptcy of the Russian legal system. The letter calls on President Medvedev to "ensure that the rule of law is upheld in the trial of Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev."
April 14, 2009
Following the official adoption of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee's Annual Report on Human Rights in the World 2008, the Committee criticizes the Russian government, expressing concern about the mistreatment of Khodorkovsky, Lebedev and Alexanyan, and noting the lack of an independent judiciary in Russia.
In the report, the Committee expresses "further concern... as to the ongoing failure of the Office of the Prosecutor to respect the right of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his associate Platon Lebedev to a fair trial"
April 21, 2009
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev plead not guilty to the criminal allegations brought against them. Khodorkovsky states: "...what is taking place is not "legal nihilism" in the name of certain "political objectives" nobody understands, but specifically a corruptional conspiracy of the petty bureaucratic slime out of personal, mercenary interests, contrary to the interests of the country and of justice". Lebedev calls the charges "blatantly falsified" and states: "This is not an accusation but a schizophrenic fraud...I have never stolen anything nor raided anything in my life, either individually or in a group. To confess to a crime that has not taken place is ridiculous."
On the same day, having served four out of six years imprisonment on charges of fraud and embezzlement, former Yukos lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina is released on parole from a prison in Mordovia. The release is the culmination of a concerted national and international campaign for her freedom that included an 86,000-person-strong petition and the public support of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The former Soviet President felt compelled to act after hearing that Bakhmina had her application for parole twice rejected, despite being legally eligible for parole, and pregnant.
April 27, 2009
Judge Danilkin denies a defense motion plea for the case to be thrown out of Court and the prosecution start to present their evidence. Defense attorneys are denied the right to comment on the evidence presented by the prosecution.
May 2009
The arbitration court in Stockholm grants jurisdiction over the claim by four Spanish investment funds with a previous stake in Yukos which demanded over $75 million in damages from the Russian Government for expropriation of their investment.
May 15, 2009
In a rare detraction from protocol, Igor Yurgens, a prominent adviser to President Medvedev, openly criticizes the premiership of Mr. Putin on the grounds of Russia's overdependence on energy revenues and for creating a legal system that practices acts of "selective jurisprudence and of disproportionate brutality that is counterproductive for the state itself." Yurgens went on to suggest: "There are signs of a thaw, but it is very cautious and it is not yet enough to prove that is a tendency rather than symbolic."
May 20, 2009
Following Khodorkovsky's 2004 application to the Strasbourg Court, the ECHR issues its Admissibility Decision. The Court rejects the arguments of the Russian Federation which had sought to have the application ruled inadmissible, and instead rules that Khodorkovsky's argument - that there had been fundamental violations of his human rights - raises "serious issues of fact and law under the Convention" which now must be considered for a final judgment. The Court decides that Khodorkovsky's allegations of the following breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights are all admissible:
- Article 3: Inhuman and degrading treatment
- Article 5: Unlawful arrest and subsequent detention
- Article 18: His arrest, detention and prosecution were politically motivated.
June 2009
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issues a report examining "politically-motivated abuses of the criminal justice system in Council of Europe member states", with a heavy emphasis on Russia and the Khodorkovsky case in particular. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a former German minister of justice who had led the research and writing of the report, highlights the Yukos affair as "emblematic" of the risks faced by investors when dealing with the Russian state's authorities. The report describes the new charges against Khodorkovsky as "bizarre" and "contradictory," and asserts that Russian authorities are waging an "unrelenting campaign" against Yukos and its executives. The arguments of the prosecutors in the new Khodorkovsky case are described as "inconsistent" and "perplexing".
June 9, 2009
MP Marcus Meckel, the foreign affairs spokesman of Germany's Social Democratic Party, attends the Khodorkovsky trial at Moscow's Khamovnichesky Court. Meckel states: "The goal of my visit was to show that we are all watching what is happening here." He further asserts that the outcome of the trial will show if President Dmitry Medvedev is truly committed to making Russia's judicial system independent. Meckel criticizes the charges that Khodorkovsky is facing, and the way in which they are being "absurdly" presented. "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," Meckel concluded.
June 19, 2009
US Senators Roger Wicker and Benjamin Cardin submit a bipartisan resolution condemning the politically-motivated trial of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. The resolution stipulates that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are "prisoners who have been denied basic due process rights under international law for political reasons", that "Russia operates on a record of selective prosecution, politicization, and abuse of process" and that "the new criminal charges brought by Russian authorities against Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev should be withdrawn."
June 22, 2009
MP Dr. Andreas Schockenhoff, Deputy Chairman of CDU/CSU Parliamentary Faction, visits the second trial of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. Following his visit to the trial, MP Schockenhoff says: "...the current proceedings are not congruent with the constitutional and legal norms which Russia has committed itself to. Moreover, there is concern about political influence on the proceedings and that this trial will be used for political goals...This trial is a test case for the credibility of the Russian justice system which [President] Medvedev has called for. It is also a test case for Russia's compliance with standards of the Council of Europe to which it has committed itself."
June 26, 2009
Following the Senate's resolution submission, the House of Representatives put forward House Resolution 588, introduced by James McGovern (D-Mass.), chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe. The Resolution states that the state-led castigation of Khodorkovsky constitutes "a politically-motivated case of selective arrest and prosecution that serves as a test of the rule of law and independence of Russia's judicial system."
July 2009
U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Moscow underlines the unrelenting concern of major world powers at the arbitrary and unfair treatment of Khodorkovsky. President Obama asserts that "only true democracy can advance our rights" while also suggesting that governments who do not serve the will of their people do not last long. In an interview with opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Obama comments on the perplexing nature of the new charges against Khodorkovsky, and declares his support for President Medvedev's "courageous initiative to strengthen the rule of law in Russia".
July 2, 2009
The German Bundestag passes a resolution entitled "Strengthening the Rule of Law in Russia." The Resolution attains support from all parties within the Bundestag. Dr Andreas Schockenhoff, Deputy Chairman of CDU/CSU Parliamentary Faction, states: "The Khodorkovsky trial is an important test case for the credibility of the Russian justice system Medvedev holds dear, due to its signal effect for the economic and legal culture within Russia."
July 14, 2009
German MP Rainder Steenblock attends Khodorkovsky's and Lebedev's trial, stating: "It is astonishing that the evidence is presented in a very imprecise manner. It looks like they do it on purpose...The atmosphere in the courtroom, with the defendants locked in a glass cage and with armed guardians in front of them, does not contribute to a fair trial."
July 20, 2009
Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov gives an affidavit in the ECHR supporting Khodorkovsky's case that Vladimir Putin "revealed political motives" for his attack on Khodorkovsky during his presidency. In an interview with The Financial Times, Kasyanov confirmed his closed-door conversation which he detailed in his statement to the ECHR. Kasyanov said that Putin had stated that Khodorkovsky had "crossed a line by financing the communists without his permission", despite also financing Kremlin-friendly parties.
August 6, 2009
Spanish authorities refuse to extradite Antonio Valdes Garcia, whom the Russian Prosecutor General's Office has sought in connection with the case against former Yukos officials. Valdes Garcia, a Russian-born Spanish national, is the former head of Fargoil, a former Yukos oil trading subsidiary that plays a central role in the second trial against Khodorkovsky.
At the request of the Russian General Prosecutor's office, Valdes Garcia returned to Russia in July of 2005. He was charged criminally shortly thereafter. After he was almost killed in the custody of the enforcement agencies (he fell from the window of the building where he was kept in the custody of the enforcement agencies), Valdez Garcia managed to escape Russia. In 2009, he filed a criminal complaint in Russia against the Prosecutor's office, describing threats, blackmail and torture inflicted upon him to force him to provide false testimony against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. The Prosecutor's office denied the allegations.
August 14, 2009
The Khamovnichesky Court grants the prosecution's motion to extend Khodorkovsky's and Lebedev's detention in the Matrosskaya Tishina detention facility until November 17, 2009. The court disregards all of the defense team's counter arguments against the harsh conditions of incarceration.
August 18, 2009
Yukos liquidator Eduard Rebgun is delivered a notification to pay a €500,000 fine following his failure to enforce the Dutch court's April 2009 decision regarding the restoration of Group Menatep's control over Yukos Finance, according to reports from Kommersant. The notification states that if Rebgun fails to pay the fine, his property and assets might be seized.
September 11, 2009
Khodorkovsky's correspondence with famed Russian novelist Lyudmila Ulitskaya is published by Novaya Gazeta.
Through his letters, Khodorkovsky discusses his life in prison, how he maintains his strength, his past as a wealthy entrepreneur and Russia's current political situation.
September 18, 2009
The prosecution completes its presentation of case material in the second trial.
September 24, 2009
The Italian parliament votes in favor of a motion urging the Italian Government "to activate all diplomatic channels, together with other European partners, to guarantee the respect for human rights and the right of defense for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev and for all Russian citizens".
The motion, presented by Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of the Christian Democrat Party (UDC), receives overwhelming support: out of 478 MPs attending the plenary session, 430 vote in favor.
During the debate, Alfredo Mantica, Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, express support for the motion on behalf of the Government and call for unanimous adoption by all political groups.