Report Prepared for the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights Regarding the Verdict of the Khamovnichesky District Court of the City of Moscow Against M.B. Khodorkovsky and P.L. Lebedev, Criminal Case N 1-23/10, 27 December 2010

Abstract:     
This report resulted from an invitation received on April 1, 2011 from the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights "to participate in an independent public expert analaysis of official documents and proceedings in the recent criminal case concerning M.B. Khodorkovsky and P.L. Lebedev, who were convicted by a judgment announced on December 27, 2010." The report was submitted to the Council on October 1, 2011. It was the only report submitted from the United States, the other reports having been sought and received from scholars in Russia, Germany, and the Netherlands.

On December 21, 2011, the Council released this report in Russian along with the reports of the other scholars. On the basis of these reports, the Council recommended that legal proceedings begin to annul the convictions.

This report evaluates the verdict in the case for compliance with Russia's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. The report concludes that the verdict in this case reveals violations of the defendants' human rights protected under Articles 3, 6 and 7 of the Convention and that other Convention rights also may have been violated.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 116

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