[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 189 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 189

   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the trial by the Russian 
   Government of businessmen 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 the judicial system of Russia.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 18, 2009

    Mr. Wicker (for himself and Mr. Cardin) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the trial by the Russian 
   Government of businessmen 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 the judicial system of Russia.

Whereas, on April 1, 2009, President Barack Obama and President Dmitry 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 Russia, in a spirit of cooperation, will continue 
        the dialogue on the issues affirmed in such joint statement 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 the top 
        priorities of Russia;
Whereas 2 prominent cases involve the Yukos Oil Company and its president, 
        Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partner, Platon Lebedev, who were convicted 
        and sentenced in May 2005 to serve 9 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 Mr. 
        Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev that violate international legal norms;
Whereas at a press conference in May 2005, President George Bush stated, ``it 
        appeared to . . . people in my Administration, that . . . [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, on October 25, 2005, Congressmen Roger Wicker and Tom Lantos introduced 
        H. Res. 525, which noted the actions that the Russian government had 
        taken with respect to Yukos, Mr. Khodorkovsky, and Mr. Lebedev, and 
        called upon Russian authorities to prove that the cases were not 
        politically motivated, that the Russian judicial system is truly 
        independent and not simply an instrument of the Kremlin, and that the 
        state was not engaged in a campaign to selectively reclaim or re-
        nationalize private enterprises;
Whereas, on November 18, 2005, Senators Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and John McCain 
        introduced S. Res. 322, which called the cases against Mr. Khodorkovsky 
        and Mr. Lebedev ``politically motivated'', noted that Mr. Khodorkovsky 
        and Mr. Lebedev had not been accorded fair, transparent, and impartial 
        treatment, and deplored their transfer to remote prison camps;
Whereas Amnesty International, Freedom House, and other prominent international 
        human rights organizations have cited the conviction and imprisonment of 
        Mikhail Khodorkovsky as evidence of the arbitrary and political use of 
        the legal system and the lack of a truly independent judiciary in the 
        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 Russia;
Whereas, on February 5, 2007, on the eve of their eligibility for parole, 
        Russian prosecutors brought new charges against Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. 
        Lebedev, accusing them of embezzling $20,000,000,000 in Yukos oil 
        revenues;
Whereas in May 2007, the Prosecutor General in Moscow attempted to disbar 
        Karinna Moskalenko, one of Russia's most distinguished and renown human 
        rights lawyers and defense counsel to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in apparent 
        reprisal for actions she had taken on behalf of her client;
Whereas in August 2007, the highest court of Switzerland denied Russian 
        authorities access to Yukos documents on the basis that the case against 
        Yukos and its principal executives and core shareholders, specifically 
        Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, had a ``political and 
        discriminatory character . . . undermined by the infringement of human 
        rights and the right to defense'';
Whereas courts in Great Britain, 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 
        Platon Lebedev's rights to liberty and security were violated during his 
        arrest and subsequent pretrial detention;
Whereas the 2008 Department of State Human Rights Report stated: ``The arrest 
        and conviction of Khodorkovsky raised concerns about the right to due 
        process and the rule of law, including the independence of courts and 
        the lack of a predictable tax regime.'';
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, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was denied parole on the 
        grounds that he refused to take part in vocational training in sewing 
        and that he allegedly failed to keep his hands behind his back during a 
        jail walk;
Whereas, on October 25, 2008, the State Department issued a statement marking 
        the fifth anniversary of Mikhail 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 Vladimir Putin, stated that ``[o]ne of the best known 
        political prisoners is Mikhail 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 Karinna 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 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 and 
        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 published an editorial noting 
        that the new charges and trial against Mikhail 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 note ``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 Senate that--
            (1) Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are prisoners 
        who have been denied basic due process rights under 
        international law 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 move closer 
        to validation by paroling Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev, 
        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>