1. On 20 March 2007 the Basmanny district court in Moscow adopted
an impeccably argued decision that it was unlawful to conduct the preliminary investigation in Chita. The Prosecutor General's office was instructed to make good its infringements of procedural norms, i.e. Yury Chaika and his department should bring Khodorkovsky and Lebedev back to Moscow. Platon Lebedev’s attorney Yelena Liptser announced that the Basmanny court “had recognised that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev’s constitutional right to defence has been violated.”
2. The Prosecutor General's office appealed against the decision of the Basmanny court. On 16 April the defence teams of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev’s lawyers enjoyed
a resounding victory when the appeals tribunal of the Moscow City Court again pronounced unlawful and unfounded the decree by deputy prosecutor general Grin, establishing Chita as the location for the preliminary investigation. From that moment the decision of the Basmanny court acquired legal force. The lawyers of the two defendants said that now the Prosecutor General's office simply had to transfer Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to Moscow.
In the subsequent seven and a half months, however, the Prosecutor General's office demonstratively ignored a court decision that had gained the power of law. This position found support among the courts of the Chita Region which, time after time, prolonged custody of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev in the Chita city pre-trial detention centre. (The latest petition for extension, as it so happens, will be heard on 12 December in Chita, the very day when the Supreme Court, several thousand kilometres away in Moscow, is due to examine the supervisory motion of the Prosecutor General's office.)
3. Trying at all costs to secure the rejection of the Basmanny court decision, the Prosecutor General's office began the procedure for launching supervisory proceedings. The supervisory motion submitted to the Moscow City Court by deputy prosecutor general Grin did not attain this objective, however. In her ruling of 13 June
Judge Vodopyanova of the Moscow City Court wrote, “the court decisions issued in respect of M.B. Khodorkovsky and P.L. Lebedev should be considered lawful and well-founded and the arguments for over-ruling them, as presented in the supervisory motion, unsubstantiated.” The judge, therefore, rejected the application of the Prosecutor General's office for launching supervisory proceedings.
4. Deputy prosecutor general Grin was dissatisfied with this decision and he appealed to the chair of the Moscow City Court. In her
ruling of 4 July the court chairwoman Olga Yegorova again wrote that the arguments of the supervisory motion were unsubstantiated. Once again the application to launch supervisory proceedings was turned down.
5. After this setback the Prosecutor General's office turned to the Supreme Court. There Judge Stepalin found that there were grounds in the supervisory motion of the Prosecutor General's office for launching supervisory proceedings. The case was then passed for review in substance to the presidium of the Moscow City Court. On 13 September the presidium of the Moscow City Court turned down the supervisory motion of the Prosecutor General's office. After the court hearing Khodorkovsky and Lebedev’s lawyers expressed doubts whether
this would have any effect on the Prosecutor General's office.
6. The defence team’s apprehension was justified. Yet again the Prosecutor General's office applied to the Supreme Court for the launching of supervisory proceedings. On 22 November the ruling they sought was issued by the self-same Supreme Court Judge Stepalin.
On Wednesday 12 December, therefore, the fate of the Basmanny court decision will be decided by the Supreme Court’s judicial collegium for criminal cases. If the Prosecutor General's office is not satisfied with the outcome of that hearing then the instance of final appeal will be the presidium of the Russian Federation Supreme Court.
7. On 12 December the Supreme Court’s Criminal Judicial Division conducted its first hearing to consider the review submission of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The defence attorneys requested that their clients should participate in the hearing personally but the court permitted Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to take part only via video conference. The hearing was adjourned.
On 20 December the Supreme Court decided to postpone consideration of the case. (Platon Lebedev took part in this brief hearing by video link.)
On 25 December Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev were able to observe as the Criminal Judicial Division of the Supreme Court, with Judge Stepalin presiding, overturned the ruling of the Basmanny District Court and all other previous rulings in the case. The defence team’s appeal against the ruling of Deputy Public Prosecutor Grin was referred back to the Basmanny District Court for consideration by a different judge.
8. On 30 January 2008 Basmanny Judge N.E. Mushnikova decided not to grant the defence team’s appeal. In the process she went against the opinion of every judicial instance which had previously considered the case by concluding that the directive of Deputy Public Prosecutor Grin did not violate the constitutional rights of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, and that consequently there were no grounds for appeal.
9. On 7 April the bench of the Moscow City Court, considering the defence team’s appeal on a point of law against
Judge Mushnikova’s decision, resolved not to vary the Basmanny Court’s latest decision and disallowed the appeals of the attorneys and Platon Lebedev.