The press office of the European Court of Human Rights has accepted that the headline of its press release issued at 10am CET was inaccurate in stating: “Charges against two Russian business executives had a sound basis, but the hearing of their case was unfair, and their placement in remote penal colonies unjustified.”

At no point in the judgment did the Court state that there was a “sound basis” to the charges.

The ECtHR press office has since withdrawn the inaccurate press release.

All journalists who have relied on the earlier, inaccurate headline are advised to reconsider their copy as they have been misled by the inaccurate title accompanying the Court’s press release.

Mr Khodorkovsky’s legal team much regret that the European Court of Human Rights should have issued a press release with a headline that had no basis in the judgment of the European Court itself.