Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

The convictions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev on May 31, 2005, were quickly appealed to the Moscow City Court in early June. Like the trial, the appeals process was fraught with violations of legal rights. For a short time, the defense lawyers were permitted to work with the original trial record. Then, without explanations of the reasons, access to the original record was terminated, and the defense lawyers were given copies of the record; each copy was missing more than 3,000 pages. When the trial record was checked against the transcribed audio-recordings made by the defense team, it turned out that the text of the record produced by the court had been altered in favor of the prosecution. The defense team prepared extensive objections to the trial record. These were rejected by Judge Kolesnikova without providing any reason.

On September 22, 2005, the Moscow City Court both began and concluded its hearings of Khodorkovsky's appeal. Lebedev declined to participate in the hearing, saying the outcome had been predetermined and he would instead spend time preparing for appeals before Russia's Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

The Moscow City Court partially granted the appeal of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev and reduced their prison sentences to eight years. The judges took only one hour to reach a decision in a case that lasted a year and consisted of 450 legal volumes. "Not only am I not guilty, but also a crime was never committed," Khodorkovsky said in response. "My guilt has been recognized not by a court, but by a clutch of bureaucrats."

Aftermath

After Khodorkovsky's appeal was dismissed, the Prosecutor General's Office attacked his defense team. Five officials awoke lawyer Bob Amsterdam in his hotel room, claiming that his visa was cancelled and demanding he leave Russia within 24 hours or face arrest. The Prosecutor's office also attempted to disbar members of the defense team, a request later rejected by the Moscow Bar Association. Also at this time, new investigations were launched against the company and its former executives.

On October 5, 2005, the offices of Open Russia, a Khodorkovsky-supported non-profit foundation, was raided and documents and computers were seized. The foundation was effectively shut down within one year due to the freezing of accounts by authorities.