On 31 May pickets will be held in Chita and Moscow on the third anniversary of the verdict against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.

Moscow

A picket will be held on Saturday from 2 to 3 pm in New Pushkin Square in the city centre. Its aim is to remind the public that it is three years since Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev were convicted at their trial in Moscow and express the conviction of rights activists in Russia that those convicted in politically motivated trials should be pardoned. The picket is organised by the Committee for Anti-War Actions and has received permission from the Moscow city authorities.

“Today all citizens of Russia who are capable of thinking for themselves understand that the conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky three years ago was one in a serious of blows struck against freedom, democracy and the principle of independent courts in our country,” says the declaration issued by the protest organisers.

“On the third anniversary of the verdict against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev we are demonstrating in support of all political prisoners, all those who have suffered for their beliefs and the right to be free people in their own country. We have not lost our belief that Russia will become a land of justice and of the law.”

Chita

On 30 May a picket will be held in Revolution Square, organised by the Public Support Committee of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. The aim of the protest, say its organisers, is “to aid the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev”.

The request to hold such an event on Lenin Square in the centre of Chita was submitted in good time but the city authorities proposed that it be held elsewhere, either on Revolution Square or Decembrists’ Square. The organisers decided to unfurl their banners and set up their stands next to the administrative building on Revolution Square where deputies from the Chita Region to the State Duma in Moscow have their offices.

Members of the Public Support Committee have drawn up a letter to those deputies, Victor Voitenko and Josif Kobzon, requesting them to support an amnesty and to help secure the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev.