[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 588 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 588

Expressing the sense of the United States House of Representatives that 
   the trial by the Government of the Russian Federation of Mikhail 
  Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 26, 2009

  Mr. McGovern (for himself, Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Wexler) submitted the 
 following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the United States House of Representatives that 
   the trial by the Government of the Russian Federation of Mikhail 
  Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev 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.

Whereas, on April 1, 2009, President Obama and President Medvedev issued a joint 
        statement affirming that ``[i]n our relations with each other, we also 
        seek to be guided by the rule of law, respect for fundamental freedoms 
        and human rights, and tolerance for different views'';
Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation will continue the dialogue 
        on these issues in a spirit of cooperation at an upcoming summit to be 
        held in June 2009;
Whereas it has been the long-held position of the United States to support the 
        development of democracy, rule of law, judicial independence, freedom, 
        and respect for human rights in the Russian Federation;
Whereas Russian President Medvedev has called Russia a country of ``legal 
        nihilism'' and issued a new foreign policy doctrine citing ``the 
        supremacy of law in international relations'' as one of Russia's top 
        priorities;
Whereas two of the most prominent cases of Russian abuse of civil liberties and 
        injustice involve the Yukos Oil Company, its president, Mikhail 
        Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, who were 
        convicted and sentenced in May 2005 to serve nine years in a remote 
        penal camp;
Whereas Russian authorities confiscated Yukos assets and assigned ownership to a 
        state company that is chaired by an official in the Kremlin, harassed, 
        exiled, persecuted, and imprisoned many Yukos officers and legal 
        representatives, and issued a series of court rulings against 
        Khodorkovsky and Lebedev that violate both Russian domestic law and 
        international legal norms;
Whereas at a press conference in May 2005, President George Bush stated ``it 
        appeared to us, or at least people in my Administration, that it looked 
        like [Mikhail Khodorkovsky] had been judged guilty prior to having a 
        fair trial. In other words, he was put in prison, and then was tried'';
Whereas the 2005 U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report confirmed that 
        ``the arrest and conviction of Khodorkovsky raised concerns about the 
        rule of law, including the independence of the courts, the right to due 
        process, the sanctity of contracts and property rights and the lack of a 
        predictable tax regime'';
Whereas Amnesty International, Freedom House, and other prominent international 
        human rights organizations have cited the conviction and imprisonment of 
        Mr. Khodorkovsky as evidence of the arbitrary and political use of the 
        legal system and the lack of a truly independent judiciary in today's 
        Russian Federation;
Whereas governments, courts, journalists, and human rights organizations around 
        the world have expressed concern about the prosecution, trial, 
        imprisonment, and treatment of the individuals in the Yukos case, and 
        have called on President Medvedev to honor his pledge to end ``legal 
        nihilism'' in his country;
Whereas, on February 5, 2007, on the eve of their eligibility for parole, 
        Russian prosecutors brought new charges against Khodorkovsky and 
        Lebedev, accusing them of embezzling $20 billion in Yukos oil revenues;
Whereas in May 2007, the Prosecutor General in Moscow attempted to disbar 
        Karrinna Moskalenko, one of Russia's most distinguished and renown human 
        rights lawyers and defense counsel to Mr. Khodorkovsky, in apparent 
        reprisal for actions she had taken on behalf of her client;
Whereas in August 2007, Switzerland's highest court denied Russian authorities 
        access to Yukos documents on the basis that the case against Yukos and 
        its principal executives and core shareholders, specifically Mr. 
        Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev, had a ``political and discriminatory 
        character . . . undermined by the infringement of human rights and the 
        right to defense'';
Whereas courts in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, 
        Lithuania, and Switzerland have described the Yukos proceeding as 
        politically motivated and have rejected motions from Russian prosecutors 
        seeking the extradition of Yukos officials or materials for use in 
        trials in Russia;
Whereas, on October 25, 2007, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Mr. 
        Lebedev's rights to liberty and security were violated during his arrest 
        and subsequent pretrial detention, and ordered Russia to pay him $14,230 
        as compensation;
Whereas, on March 13, 2008, the European Parliament issued a resolution calling 
        on the Russian President to ``review the treatment of imprisoned public 
        figures (among them Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev), whose 
        imprisonment has been assessed by most observers as having been 
        politically motivated'';
Whereas in July 2008, President Dmitry Medvedev said it was essential that 
        Russia ``take all necessary means to strengthen the independence of 
        judges'' since ``it goes without saying that pressure is applied, 
        influence is exerted, and direct bribery is often used'';
Whereas, on August 22, 2008, Mr. Khodorkovsky was denied parole on the grounds 
        that he refused to take part in vocational training in sewing and for 
        his alleged failure to keep his hands behind his back during a jail 
        walk;
Whereas, on October 8, 2008, Mr. Khodorkovsky was placed in solitary confinement 
        for 12 days for giving a written interview to the Russian edition of 
        Esquire magazine, despite the fact that the interview had previously 
        been approved;
Whereas, on October 25, 2008, the U.S. Department of State issued a statement 
        marking the fifth anniversary of Mr. Khodorkovsky's arrest, stating 
        ``the conduct of the cases against Khodorkovsky and his associates has 
        eroded Russia's reputation and public confidence in Russian legal and 
        judicial institutions'';
Whereas, on December 22, 2008, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the 
        release of the terminally ill former Yukos oil executive Vasily 
        Aleksanyan, who had been held in detention since April 6, 2006, despite 
        repeated orders by the European Court that Mr. Aleksanyan be treated in 
        a humane fashion for cancer and AIDS;
Whereas in February 2009, Andrei Illarianov, former chief economic advisor to 
        President Putin, stated that ``[o]ne of the best known political 
        prisoners is Mr. Khodorkovsky who has been sentenced to 9 years in the 
        Siberian camp Krasnokamensk on the basis of purely fabricated case 
        against him and his oil company Yukos'';
Whereas, on February 24, 2009, human rights lawyer Karina Moskalenko, said that 
        ``[a]ll verdicts are possible in this country. But for people like 
        Khodorkovsky, everything is already planned out and decided as long as 
        the political will does not change'';
Whereas, on February 25, 2009, Olga Kudeshkina, former Moscow court judge who 
        was dismissed from her duties in 2004, stated that Moscow City Court 
        ``has turned into an institution of settling political, commercial and 
        other scores'' and that ``nobody can be sure that the case will be 
        resolved in accordance with the law'';
Whereas, on April 2, 2009, Senator Ben Cardin, chair of the Helsinki Commission, 
        issued a statement in the United States Senate in which he noted that 
        ``the Council of Europe, Freedom House and Amnesty International, among 
        others, have concluded that Mr. Khodorkovsky was charged and imprisoned 
        in a process that did not follow the rule of law and was politically 
        influenced . . .'' and that ``the current charges . . . amount to legal 
        hooliganism highlight the petty meanness of the senior government 
        officials behind this travesty of justice . . . should be dropped and 
        the new trial should be abandoned'';
Whereas, on April 10, 2009, the New York Times wrote an editorial noting that 
        the new charges and trial against Mr. Khodorkovsky ``are for show, 
        intended only to keep [him] and his colleague in prison forever'';
Whereas, on April 11, 2009, the Washington Post wrote, ``If Mr. Medvedev allows 
        [the Khodorkovsky trial] to go forward to its scripted conclusion--a 
        lengthy extension of Mr. Khodorkovsky's sentence to a Siberian prison 
        camp--the point will be proved that Russia still has no rule of law but 
        only a ruler'';
Whereas, on April 21, 2009, Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights 
        First, Human Rights Watch, the International League for Human Rights, 
        the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and the Jacob 
        Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights joined in a 
        letter to President Medvedev in which they noted ``the serious human 
        rights concerns raised by the case so far'' and call on the Russian 
        Government to ``ensure that international observers are allowed 
        unhindered access to the courtroom'' to monitor the trial, to ``ensure 
        that the rule of law is upheld'' and that it ``meets the standards of 
        the Russian Constitution and international law.'';
Whereas the selective disregard for the rule of law by Russian officials 
        undermines the standing and status of the Russian Federation among the 
        democratic nations of the world; and
Whereas both Russia and the United States have recently elected new presidents 
        that provide the opportunity to review past policies and pursue a new 
        era of mutual cooperation: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are prisoners 
        who have been denied basic due process rights under 
        international law and the laws of the Russian Federation for 
        political reasons;
            (2) in light of the record of selective prosecution, 
        politicization, and abuse of process involved in their cases, 
        and as a demonstration of Russia's commitment to democracy, 
        human rights and the rule of law, the new criminal charges 
        brought by Russian authorities against Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. 
        Lebedev should be withdrawn;
            (3) the standing of the Russian Federation as a nation 
        supporting democracy, freedom of expression, an independent 
        judiciary, human rights, and the rule of law would be validated 
        by paroling these two individuals, both of whom have served 
        more than half their sentences; and
            (4) the Russian Federation is encouraged to take these 
        actions to support democratic principles and human rights in 
        furtherance of a new and more positive relationship between the 
        United States and Russia and a new era of mutual cooperation.
                                 <all>