[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 327 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 327

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the trial and 
 subsequent convictions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev by 
   the Government of the Russian Federation constitute a politically 
motivated case of selective arrest and prosecution which put in serious 
doubt the rule of law and the independence of Russia's judicial system.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 23, 2011

   Mr. McGovern (for himself, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Wolf, Mr. 
 Pitts, and Mrs. Myrick) submitted the following resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the trial and 
 subsequent convictions of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev by 
   the Government of the Russian Federation constitute a politically 
motivated case of selective arrest and prosecution which put in serious 
doubt the rule of law and the independence of Russia's judicial system.

Whereas, on April 1, 2009, President Obama and Russian 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 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 President Medvedev decried an attitude of ``legal nihilism'' in Russian 
        society and government 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 Mr. 
        Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev that violate both Russian domestic law and 
        international legal norms;
Whereas at a press conference in May 2005, President George W. 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 United States 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 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 
        Karrinna Moskalenko, one of Russia's most distinguished and renowned 
        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 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 United States 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 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 [Khodorkovsky] 
        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 . . .'' that ``the current charges . . . amount to legal 
        hooliganism and highlight the petty meanness of the senior government 
        officials behind this travesty of justice.'' and ``[the charges] 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 called 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, on May 21, 2009, the European Court on Human Rights declared admissible 
        Mr. Khodorkovsky's application, alleging that his arrest, detention, and 
        prosecution were politically motivated as well as violations of the 
        prohibition on torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and the right 
        to liberty and security;
Whereas Russian legal experts opined, in a October 2009 report prepared by the 
        independent Center for Political Technologies in Moscow, that ``The 
        judiciary is perceived not to be independent, but entirely implanted 
        into the state machine, `transparent' for neither the civil society nor 
        the mass media, or `ordinary people''' and they foresee that 
        applications to the European Court will rise, as a result of citizens' 
        low confidence in their judicial system;
Whereas, on March 24, 2010, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a prominent Russian human rights 
        activist and founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group, lamented that Russian 
        human rights workers and activists are in grave danger, and that the 
        collaboration with international human rights entities is essential to 
        their work;
Whereas, on May 31, 2010, the Moscow Times published a letter, signed by 
        prominent human rights activists such as former President of the Czech 
        Republic Vaclav Havel and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, which questioned 
        Russia's commitment to protecting and fulfilling its human rights 
        obligations and said that, ``We ask [President] Medvedev and urge the 
        Russian government to protect people in danger and to ensure quick and 
        effective investigations into the murders of human rights activists, 
        journalists and independent-minded jurists.'';
Whereas, on December 15, 2010, Judge Viktor Danilkin delayed the verdict in the 
        Khodorkovsky case until December 27, 2010, without any explanation;
Whereas Prime Minister Putin appears to have interfered with the proceedings of 
        the trial on numerous occasions, by publicly accusing Mr. Khodorkovsky 
        of being a murderer and, on December 16, 2010, one day after the 
        inexplicable postponement, by preempting the verdict saying that ``a 
        thief belongs in prison'';
Whereas, on December 27, 2010, two years after the start of the second trial, 
        Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev were found guilty of money laundering 
        and embezzlement;
Whereas, on December 27, 2010, the White House issued a press release stating 
        that, ``We are troubled by the allegations of serious due process 
        violations, and what appears to be an abusive use of the legal system 
        for improper ends. The apparent selective application of the law to 
        these individuals undermines Russia's reputation as a country committed 
        to deepening the rule of law.'';
Whereas, on December 30, 2010, Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev were sentenced 
        to a maximum of 14 years imprisonment, which conforms with the 
        prosecutor's demands, and which, dating from their first arrest in 2003, 
        will extend their imprisonment until 2017;
Whereas, on New Year's Eve 2010, during large rallies to peacefully protest 
        restrictions on the freedom of assembly and the court decision in the 
        case against Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev, the police detained some 
        130 people in Moscow and St. Petersburg, including prominent opposition 
        leaders, some of whom were subsequently arrested and jailed;
Whereas, on February 14, 2011, an interview in Gazetta.ru with Natalya 
        Vasilyeva, the former assistant to judge Viktor Danilkin, confirmed 
        allegations of judicial interference and revealed that the judge was 
        pressured in his deliberations and a verdict was imposed from above;
Whereas, on February 17, 2011, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human 
        Rights, Navi Pillay observed that the ``Rule of law, including 
        accountability and protection of rights for all citizens and non-
        citizens on Russian territory, is an essential prerequisite for true 
        democracy, peace and development.'';
Whereas, on March 10, 2011, Vice President Joe Biden delivered a speech in 
        Moscow and stressed that the United States ``will continue to object 
        when we think human rights are violated or democracy and the rule of law 
        is undermined.'';
Whereas an independent, impartial, accountable, and effective judicial system is 
        fundamental to protecting and upholding the rights of Russian citizens;
Whereas Article 15(4) of the Russian Constitution provides that ``. . . commonly 
        recognized principles and norms of international law and the 
        international treaties of the Russian Federation shall be a component 
        part of its legal system. If an international treaty of the Russian 
        Federation stipulates other rules than those stipulated by the law, the 
        rules of the international treaty shall apply.'';
Whereas the Russian Federation has ratified the European Convention on Human 
        Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 
        International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the 
        Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading 
        Treatment or Punishment; and
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: 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) as a demonstration of Russia's commitment to democracy, 
        human rights and the rule of law, the Prosecutor General 
        should--
                    (A) conduct an official and impartial investigation 
                into the allegations of judicial interference and 
                misconduct;
                    (B) initiate criminal proceedings to bring 
                violators to justice; and
                    (C) appeal the guilty verdict as delivered on 
                December 27, 2010;
            (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 immediately overturning the convictions of Mikhail 
        Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, and securing their immediate 
        release; 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>