[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11180-11182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    INTERNATIONAL DUE PROCESS RIGHTS

  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I am appreciative that I am able to join 
today with my friend and colleague, Senator Cardin. I appreciate his 
joining me today to discuss an issue of great concern to both of us and 
to human rights advocates around the world. That is the ongoing trial 
in Russia of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon 
Lebedev. In June of last year, Senator Cardin joined me in introducing 
a resolution urging the Senate to recognize that Khodorkovsky and 
Lebedev have been denied basic due process rights under international 
law for political reasons. It is particularly appropriate, I think, 
that Senator Cardin and I be talking about this this afternoon because 
in a matter of days, Russian President Medvedev will be coming to the 
United States and meeting with President Obama. I think this would be a 
very appropriate topic for the President of the United States to bring 
up to the President of the Russian Federation.
  I can think of no greater statement that the Russian President could 
make on behalf of the rule of law and a movement back toward human 
rights in Russia than to end the show trial of these two individuals 
and dismiss the false charges against them.
  Since his conviction, Khodorkovsky has spent his time either in a 
Siberian prison camp or a Moscow jail cell. Currently, he spends his 
days sitting in a glass cage enduring a daily farce of a trial that 
could send him back to Siberia for more than 20 years. Amazingly, 
Mikhail Khodorkovsky remains unbroken.
  I think it appropriate that President Obama and Secretary of State 
Clinton have committed to resetting relations with the country. I 
support them in this worthwhile goal. Clearly, our foreign relations 
can always stand to be improved. I support strengthening our relations, 
particularly with Russia. However, this strengthening must not be at 
the expense of progress on the issue of the rule of law and an 
independent judiciary. The United States cannot publicly extol the 
virtues of rule of law and an independent judiciary and at the same 
time turn a blind eye to what has happened to Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.
  I urge President Obama and Secretary Clinton to put the release of 
these two men high on the agenda as we continue to engage with Russia, 
and high on the agenda for President Medvedev's upcoming meeting here 
in Washington, DC.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Wicker for taking this 
time for this colloquy. He has been a real champion on human rights 
issues and on bringing out the importance for Russia to move forward on 
a path of democracy and respect for human rights. He has done that as a 
Senator from Mississippi. He has done that as a very active member of 
the Helsinki Commission. I have the honor of chairing the Helsinki 
Commission, which I think is best known because of its fight on behalf 
of human rights for the people, particularly in those countries that 
were behind the Iron Curtain--particularly before the fall of the 
Soviet Union, where we were regularly being the voices for those who 
could not have their voices heard otherwise because of the oppressive 
policies of the former Soviet Union.
  So in the 1990s, there was great euphoria that at the end of the Cold 
War, the reforms that were talked about in Russia--indeed, the 
privatization of many of its industries--would at last bring the types 
of rights to the people of Russia that they so needed. But, 
unfortunately, there was a mixed message, and in the 1990s, I think 
contrary to Western popular opinion at the time, Russia did not move 
forward as aggressively as we wanted with freedom and democracy.
  It is interesting that Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was part of the 
Communist elite, led the country into privatization in the right way. 
He took a company, Yukos Oil Company, and truly made it transparent and 
truly developed a model of corporate governance that was unheard of at 
the time in the former Soviet Union and unheard of in the Russian 
Federation, and he used that as a poster child to try to help the 
people of Russia. He started making contributions to the general 
welfare of the country, which is what we would like to see from the 
business and corporate community. He did that to help his own people. 
But he ran into trouble in the midst of the shadowy and violent Russian 
market, and his problems were encouraged many times by the same people 
who we thought were leading the reform within the Russian Federation.
  By 1998, with the collapse of the ruble, the people of Russia were 
disillusioned; they found their prosperity was only temporary. The cost 
of imports was going up. The spirit of nationalism, this nationalistic 
obsession, became much more prominent within the Russian Federation, 
and the move toward privatization lost a lot of its luster.
  The rise of Mr. Putin to power also established what was known as 
vertical power, and independent companies were inconsistent with that 
model he was developing to try to keep control of his own country. 
Therefore, what he did under this new rubric was to encourage 
nationalization spirit, to the detriment of independent companies and 
to the detriment of the development of opposition opportunity, 
democracy, and personal freedom. We started to see the decline of the 
open and free and independent media.
  All of this came about, and a highly successful and independent 
company such as Yukos under the leadership of Mikhail Khodorkovsky was 
inconsistent with what Mr. Putin was trying to do in Russia. As a 
result, there was a demise of the company, and the trials ensued. My 
friend Senator Wicker talked about what happened in the trial. It was a 
miscarriage of justice. It was wrong. We have expressed our views on 
it. And it is still continuing to this day. I thank Senator Wicker for 
continuing to bring this to the Members' attention and I hope to the 
people of Russia so they will understand there is still time to correct 
this miscarriage of justice.
  Mr. WICKER. I thank my colleague.
  I will go on to point out that things started coming to a head when 
Mr. Khodorkovsky started speaking out against the Russian Government, 
led by President Putin, and his company that he headed, Yukos, came 
into the sights of the Russian Federation.
  Mr. Khodorkovsky visited the United States less than a week before 
his arrest. He was in Washington speaking to Congressman Tom Lantos, 
the late Tom Lantos, a venerated human rights advocate from the House 
of Representatives, who had seen violations of human rights in his own 
rights. Mr. Khodorkovsky told Congressman Lantos that he had committed 
no crimes but he would not be driven into exile. He said: ``I would 
prefer to be a political prisoner rather than a political immigrant.'' 
And, of course, a political prisoner is what he is now.
  Shortly after his arrest, government officials accused Yukos Oil of 
failing to pay more than $300 billion in taxes. At the time, Yukos was 
Russia's largest taxpayer. Yet they were singled out for tax evasion. 
And PricewaterhouseCoopers had recently audited the books of Yukos, and 
the government tax office had approved the 2002 to 2003 tax returns 
just months before this trumped-up case was filed.
  The Russian Government took over Yukos, auctioned it off, and 
essentially renationalized the company, costing American stockholders 
$7 billion and stockholders all around the country who had believed 
Russia was liberalizing and becoming part of the market society. A 
Swiss court has ruled the auction illegal. A Dutch court has ruled the 
auction illegal. But even more so, they tried these two gentlemen and 
placed them in prison. Mr.

[[Page 11181]]

Khodorkovsky apparently had the mistaken impression that he was 
entitled to freedom of speech, and we discovered that in Russia, at the 
time of the trial and even today, he was not entitled, in the opinion 
of the government, to his freedom of speech.
  A recent foreign policy magazine called Khodorkovsky the ``most 
prominent prisoner'' in Vladimir Putin's Russia and a symbol of the 
peril of challenging the Kremlin, which is what Mr. Khodorkovsky did.
  I would quote a few paragraphs from a recent AP story by Gary Peach 
about the testimony of a former Prime Minister who actually served 
during the Putin years:

       A former Russian prime minister turned fierce Kremlin 
     critic came to the defense of an imprisoned tycoon on 
     Monday--

  This is a May 24 article--

     telling a Moscow court that prosecutors' new charges of 
     massive crude oil embezzlement are absurd.

  What we now find is that when Mr. Khodorkovsky is about to be 
released from his first sentence, new charges have arisen all of a 
sudden. After years and years of imprisonment in Siberia, new charges 
have arisen.

       Mikhail Kasyanov, who headed the government in 2000-2004, 
     told the court that the accusations against Khodorkovsky, a 
     former billionaire now serving an eight-year sentence in 
     prison, had no basis in reality.

  This is a former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

       Prosecutors claim that Khodorkovsky, along with his 
     business partner [who is also in prison] embezzled some 350 
     million tons--or $25 billion worth--of crude oil while they 
     headed the Yukos Oil Company.
       That's all the oil Yukos produced over six years, from 1998 
     to 2003. I consider the accusation absurd.

  He said that while Prime Minister, he received regular reports about 
Russia's oil companies and that Yukos consistently paid its taxes. 
Kasyanov, who served as Prime Minister during most of President Putin's 
first term, said that both the current trial and the previous one, 
which ended with a conviction, were politically motivated. So I would 
say this is indeed a damning accusation of the current trial going on, 
even as we speak, in Moscow.
  Mr. CARDIN. Senator Wicker has pointed out in I think real detail how 
the dismantling of the Yukos Oil Company was done illegally under any 
international law; it was returning to the Soviet days rather than 
moving forward with democratic reform. As Senator Wicker has pointed 
out, the personal attack on its founders--imprisoning them on charges 
that were inconsistent with the direction of the country after the fall 
of the Soviet Union--was another miscarriage of justice, and it is 
certainly totally inconsistent with the statements made after the fall 
of the Soviet Union.
  The early Putin years were clearly a return to nationalism in Russia 
and against what was perceived at that time by the popular Western view 
that Russia was on a path toward democracy. It just did not happen. And 
it is clearly a theft of a company's assets by the government and 
persecution, not prosecution, of the individuals who led the company 
toward privatization, which was a clear message given by the leaders 
after the fall of the Soviet Union.
  This cannot be just left alone. I understand the individuals involved 
may have been part of the elite at one time within the former Soviet 
Union. I understand, in fact, there may have been mixed messages when 
you have a country that is going through a transition. But clearly what 
was done here was a violation of their commitments under the Helsinki 
Commission, under the Helsinki Final Act. It was a violation of 
Russia's statements about allowing democracy and democratic 
institutions. It was a violation of Russia's commitments to allow a 
free market to develop within their own country. All of that was 
violated by the manner in which they handled Mr. Khodorkovsky as well 
as his codefendant and the company itself. And it is something we need 
to continue to point out should never have happened.
  The real tragedy here is that this is an ongoing matter. As Senator 
Wicker pointed out, there is now, we believe, an effort to try him on 
additional charges even though he has suffered so much. And it is a 
matter that--particularly with the Russian leadership visiting the 
United States, with direct meetings between our leaders, between Russia 
and the United States--I hope can get some attention and a chance for 
the Russian Federation to correct a miscarriage of justice.
  Mr. WICKER. Indeed, the second show trial of Mr. Khodorkovsky has 
entered its second year. We have celebrated the anniversary of the 
second trial.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an editorial by 
the Washington Post dated June 9, 2010, at this point.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Washington Post, June 9, 2010]

  Show Trial: Should Ties to Russia Be Linked to Its Record on Rights?

       Russia's government has calculated that it needs better 
     relations with the West to attract more foreign investment 
     and modern technology, according to a paper by its foreign 
     ministry that leaked to the press last month. Prime Minister 
     Vladimir Putin has recently made conciliatory gestures to 
     Poland, while President Dmitry Medvedev sealed a nuclear arms 
     treaty with President Obama. At the United Nations, Russia 
     has agreed to join Western powers in supporting new sanctions 
     against Iran.
       Moscow's new friendliness, however, hasn't led to any 
     change in its repressive domestic policies. The foreign 
     ministry paper says Russia needs to show itself as a 
     democracy with a market economy to gain Western favor. But 
     Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev have yet to take steps in that 
     direction. There have been no arrests in the more than a 
     dozen outstanding cases of murdered journalists and human 
     rights advocates; a former KGB operative accused by Scotland 
     Yard of assassinating a dissident in London still sits in the 
     Russian parliament.
       Perhaps most significantly, the Russian leadership is 
     allowing the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil 
     executive who has become the country's best-known political 
     prisoner, to go forward even though it has become a showcase 
     for the regime's cynicism, corruption and disregard for the 
     rule of law. Mr. Khodorkovsky, who angered Mr. Putin by 
     funding opposition political parties, was arrested in 2003 
     and convicted on charges of tax evasion. His Yukos oil 
     company, then Russia's largest, was broken up and handed over 
     to state-controlled firms.
       A second trial of Mr. Khodorkovsky is nearing its 
     completion in Moscow, nearly a year after it began. Its 
     purpose is transparent: to prevent the prisoner's release 
     when his first sentence expires next year. The new charges 
     are, as Mr. Putin's own former prime minister testified last 
     week, absurd: Mr. Khodorkovsky and an associate, Platon 
     Lebedev, are now accused of embezzling Yukos's oil 
     production, a crime that, had it occurred, would have made 
     their previously alleged crime of tax evasion impossible.
       Mr. Khodorkovsky, who acquired his oil empire in the rough 
     and tumble of Russia's transition from communism, is no 
     saint, but neither is he his country's Al Capone, as Mr. 
     Putin has claimed. In fact, he is looking more and more like 
     the prisoners of conscience who have haunted previous Kremlin 
     regimes. In the past several years he has written numerous 
     articles critiquing Russia's corruption and lack of 
     democracy, including one on our op-ed page last month.
       Mr. Obama raised the case of Mr. Khodorkovsky last year, 
     and the State Department's most recent human rights report 
     said the trial ``raised concerns about due process and the 
     rule of law.'' But the administration has not let this 
     obvious instance of persecution, or Mr. Putin's overall 
     failure to ease domestic repression, get in the way of its 
     ``reset'' of relations with Moscow. If the United States and 
     leading European governments would make clear that 
     improvements in human rights are necessary for Moscow to win 
     trade and other economic concessions, there is a chance Mr. 
     Putin would respond. If he does not, Western governments at 
     least would have a clearer understanding of where better 
     relations stand on the list of his true priorities.

  Mr. WICKER. The editorial points out that Russia's Government is 
trying to think of ways to attract more foreign investment, and it 
juxtaposes this desire for more Western openness and investment with 
the Khodorkovsky matter and says that this trial has become a showcase 
for the Russian regime's cynicism, corruption, and disregard for the 
rule of law.
  It goes on to say: The new charges are, as Mr. Putin's own Prime 
Minister testified last week, absurd. Mr. Khodorkovsky and his 
associate, Platon Lebedev, are now accused of embezzling Yukos Oil's 
production--a crime that, had it occurred, would have

[[Page 11182]]

made their previously alleged crime of tax evasion impossible.
  So the cynicism of these charges is that they are inconsistent with 
each other. Yet, in its brazenness, the Russian Federation Government 
and its prosecutors proceed with these charges.
  The article goes on to say: Mr. Khodorkovsky is looking more and more 
like a prisoner of conscience who haunted the previous criminal regime.
  It says:

       Mr. Obama raised the case of Mr. Khodorkovsky last year, 
     and the State Department's most recent human rights report 
     said the trial ``raised concerns about due process and the 
     rule of law.''

  I will say they raised concerns.
  Let me say in conclusion of my portion--and then I will allow my good 
friend from Maryland to close--this prosecution and violation of human 
rights and the rule of law of Lebedev and Khodorkovsky has brought the 
censure of the European Court of Human Rights that ruled that Mr. 
Khodorkovsky's rights were violated. A Swiss court has condemned the 
action of the Russian Federation and ruled it illegal. A Dutch court 
has said it is illegal. It has been denounced by such publications as 
Foreign Policy magazine, the Washington Post, a former Prime Minister 
who actually served under Mr. Putin. It has been denounced in actions 
and votes by the European Parliament, by other national parliaments, by 
numerous human rights groups, and by the U.S. State Department.
  I submit, for those within the sound of my voice--and I believe there 
are people on different continents listening to the sound of our voices 
today--it is time for the Russian President to step forward and put an 
end to this farce, admit that this trial has no merit in law, and it is 
time for prosecutors in Moscow to cease and desist on this show trial 
and begin to repair the reputation of the Russian Federation when it 
comes to human rights and the rule of law.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Wicker for bringing out 
the details of this matter. It has clearly been recognized and 
condemned by the international community as against international law. 
It is clearly against the commitments Russia had made when the Soviet 
Union fell. It is clearly of interest to all of the countries of the 
world. Originally, when Yukos oil was taken over, investors outside of 
Russia also lost money. So there has been an illegal taking of assets 
of a private company which have affected investors throughout the 
world, including in the United States. It has been offensive to all of 
us to see imprisoned two individuals who never should have been tried 
and certainly should not be in prison today. All that is offensive to 
all of us. But I would think it is most offensive to the Russian 
people.
  The Russian people believed their leaders, when the Soviet Union 
collapsed, that there would be respect for the rule of law; that there 
would be an independent judiciary, and their citizens could get a fair 
trial.
  We all know--and the international community has already spoken about 
this--that Mikhail Khodorkovsky did not get a fair trial. So the 
commitment the Russian leaders made to its own people of an independent 
and fair judiciary has not been adhered to. This is not an isolated 
example within Russia. We know investigative reporters routinely are 
arrested, sometimes arrested with violence against them. We know 
opposition parties have virtually no chance to participate in an open 
system, denying the people a real democracy. But here with justice, 
Russia has a chance to do so.
  I find it remarkable that Mr. Khodorkovsky's spirits are still 
strong, as Senator Wicker pointed out. Let me read a recent quote from 
Mr. Khodorkovsky himself, who is in prison:

       You know, I really do love my country, my Moscow. It seems 
     like one huge apathetic and indifferent anthill, but it's got 
     so much soul. . . . You know, inside I was sure about the 
     people, and they turned out to be even better than I'd 
     thought.

  I think Senator Wicker and I both believe in the Russian people. We 
believe in the future of Russia. But the future of Russia must be a 
nation that embraces its commitments under the Helsinki Final Act. It 
has to be a country that shows compassion for its citizens and shows 
justice. Russia can do that today by doing what is right for Mr. 
Khodorkovsky and his codefendant: release them from prison, respect the 
private rights and human rights of its citizens, and Russia then will 
be a nation that will truly live up to its commitment to its people to 
respect human rights and democratic principles.
  Again, I thank Senator Wicker for bringing this matter to the 
attention of our colleagues. It is a matter that can be dealt with, 
that should be dealt with, and we hope Russia will show justice in the 
way it handles this matter.
  Mr. WICKER. I thank my colleague and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. SESSIONS. I thank my colleagues for their remarks. It is worthy 
of all of us giving most serious consideration. Perhaps we have been 
too silent in failing to criticize some of the activities of Russia. We 
want to be friends with them, but good friends tell friends the truth. 
I believe my colleagues are speaking the truth.

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