To the Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation
The Director of the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments

Letter of Appeal

Such professionals should not get lost behind bars

The sentence passed after conviction by the Moscow City Court on Mikhail Khodorkovsky, ex-manager of Yukos, condemning the entrepreneur to 8 years in prison, became effective on September 22.

The objectivity of the judges in the case must remain a matter for their own consciences. The disputes in Russia round the trial of the ex-Yukos manager, however, continue. And each of the parties to the dispute has the right to its own point of view.

Nobody, though, has any doubt regarding Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s professionalism and management skills. Every year, the Service for the Execution of Punishments experiences a shortfall in budgetary financing, which is especially acute in depressed regions like the Ulyanovsk Oblast.

In our opinion, the severity of the sentence passed upon Mikhail Khodorkovsky might be ameliorated by having him transferred to serve his punishment in a settled colony of the Ulyanovsk Oblast, to work in one of the facilities of the Service for the Execution of Punishments.

There could and should be organized some economic structure, wherein Mikhail Khodorkovsky could exercise and put into practice his professional knowledge and skills, the aim being the strengthening of the financial solvency of this facility of the Service for the Execution of Punishments.

We consider that this will promote the across-the-board participation of convicted persons in the production process, and will make it possible for them to be useful, even though imprisoned, to the UN (Department of the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments) and to society as a whole.

Knowing Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s skills as an economist and manager, one can predict the effective development of any economic structure at all that functions on the basis of the Service for the Execution of Punishments’ facility. The economic solvency of the given structure will make it possible for the facility to obtain income from the production activity of prisoners and to transfer additional funds for the functioning and development of the Service’s system.

In this connection, we request the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments and the Russian Ministry of Justice to transfer Mikhail Khodorkovsky to serve his term in a settled colony on the territory of Ulyanovsk Oblast.

Chairman of the Ulyanovsk youth civil society organization of Zelenoye Yabloko, Alexandr Bragin

Please, support our appeal
http://www.minjust.ru/modules.php?name=Feedback and send your appeal after filling in the form provided on the site of the Russian Ministry of Justice .
The address of the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments is:
119991, Moscow, ul. Zhitnaya, d. 14

The address of the main office of the Russian Ministry of Justice is:
109830, GSP, Zh-28, Moscow, ul. Vorontsovo pole, d. 4
Fax: 916-29-03
E-Mail: cos@minjust.ru

Yours respectfully, Alexandr Bragin,
Chairman of the Ulyanovsk youth civil-society organization Zelenoye Yabloko
8-902-244-1519, (8422) 41-32-29
City of Ulyanovsk, ul. Sovetskaya, d.8, room 231
E-mail: green_yabloko@front.ru