Inside Russia
The murdered investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Soviet dissidents and Russian activists Lev Ponomarev and Liudmila Alekseeva. Chess champion Garry Kasparov. The list of prominent and respected Russian supporters for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev goes on and on.
Beginning with the resignation of Vladimir Putin’s own chief of staff, Alexander Voloshin, over Khodorkovsky’s arrest, and the parliamentarians who said they would vouch for Khodorkovsky in order to secure his release on bail during the pre-trial period, the YUKOS case sparked an uproar among many Russians who saw their country headed down the wrong path. Indeed, it was the Kremlin’s own economic advisor, Andrei Illarionov, who denounced the sale of YUKOS’s jewel asset as the “scam of the year.”
At times, thousands came to protest the incarceration of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. Protesters were usually met with stiff and disproportionate police response, including arresting leaders and dispersing supporters. And a 2009 Levada Center opinion poll found that nearly half of respondents object to the prosecution's presentation of evidence in the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev trial.
It is also true that many in Russia saw a form of vindication in Khodorkovsky’s arrest and sentencing, as if his suffering could atone for the loss felt at the end of the Soviet Union or the anger over the oligarchs who acquired enormous wealth and fled Russia. But there are also those who were imprisoned for criticizing the Soviet Union, those who denounced the end of independent media and viable opposition parties in Russia and those who believe Russia must first end rampant corruption in government and business before it can prosper. These are the people who write to Khodorkovsky in prison and tell him not to give up, who praise him for maintaining his dignity, and urge him to continue expressing his thoughts.
Public hearings have been held in Moscow on the Khodorkovsky case:
Many prominent figures in Russia have spoken out in support of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev:
- See a list of prominent Russians who recognize Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev as political prisoners.
- See Garry Kasparov discuss Khodorkovsky and Lebedev’s second trial.
- Video of Lev Ponomarev attending the Khodorkovsky/Lebedev trial in April 2009.
- In a May 4, 2009, statement, Liudmila Alekseeva asks if democracy is working.
- Igor Yurgens, a senior aide to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, said that the second Khodorkovsky trial was counterproductive to Russia.
- Ekho Moskvy Radio host Yulia Latynina commented that she could not believe the charges against Mikhail Khodorkovsky when his lawyers first explained them to her.
- Gazeta.ru journalist Natalya Gevorkyan invites Russia President Dmitry Medvedev to attend the hearings to see what kind of justice is being delivered in his country.
- Dmitry Muratov, editor of Novaya Gazeta said, "I don't understand why the prosecution doesn't respect the High Court… this is no way to treat an open trial.”
- Masha Lipman of the Carnegie Moscow Center wrote, "Although President Medvedev claims to support the rule of law, if he continues to stay out of this affair he will bear responsibility for Russia's continued plunge into lawlessness.”
See additional statements of support for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev >>