Publications / Summary of Human Rights Council Report

An official public inquiry into the second prosecution and conviction of ex-Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev was conducted from April to December 2011, backed by President Dmitry Medvedev and involving a group of renowned Russian and international experts. The inquiry identified serious and widespread violations of the law, finding that there was no valid legal basis or evidence supporting the guilty verdict in the second Khodorkovsky-Lebedev trial, which ran from March 2009 to December 2010, and that the proceedings were severely marred by violations of fundamental human rights. More broadly, the inquiry found that the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev case highlighted widespread systemic problems in Russia’s law enforcement practices and judiciary. The inquiry prompted calls for an annulment of the “illegal” guilty verdict and the release of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, and also for a series of reforms to address the systemic problems illustrated by this case. The inquiry was conducted under the aegis of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Civil Society and Human Rights. All quotes in this executive summary are from the Council’s published findings and recommendations.

Presidential Human Rights Council Report – SUMMARY by mikhailkhodorkovsky