As Mikhail Khodorkovsky is about to start his third year of imprisonment in a labour camp in Siberia, lawyer Yuri Schmidt, member of his defence team in Moscow, addressed the media in France today for the first time. Outlining the trial process, he stressed violations of both Russian and international law that require an open and fair trial. Supported by André Glucksmann, fellow panelist at the conference, Schmidt expressed his concerns about the weakening of Russia’s judicial system and called on the international community for their support.

The appeal procedure was, for Schmidt, the last step in a show trial, from the sentence, brought forward to prevent the registration of Khodorkovsky’s candidacy in an election, to the disproportionate decision taken in less than an hour despite 400 volumes of documents, to Khodorkovsky’s inability to meet with his representatives during the appeal process, to the resulting threats against the defence lawyers’ licenses to practice. Schmidt also outlined the conditions of Khodorkovsky’s imprisonment in Siberia: his client is detained in shacks alongside 160 people and is entitled to 4 private visits and 6 public visits lasting 2 hours each month. Schmidt is convinced that the choice of this labour camp, located in an area thought to be exposed to radioactive contamination, aims to poison Khodorkovsky. For this reason, he expects a strong reaction from the international organisations to demand political prisoner status for his client.

Patrick Klugman, lawyer and Vice President of SOS Racisme, today launched a support committee for Mikhail Khodorkovsky to obtain this status.

André Glucksmann, French philosopher and essayist, has already assured Schmidt and Patrick Klugman of his support. Speaking at Schmidt’s side, Glucksmann stated that Khodorkovsky is being used as an example to put the Russian elite down just as Chechnya is being used as an example to bring the Russian population under control. He defined the Yukos case as the cornerstone of a Russian policy aimed at seizing the power again in Europe through the use of energy as a weapon. Comparing Khodorkovsky to Andrei Sakharov, he stressed, as Schmidt did before him, how Khodorkovsky could become a leading opposition politician.

“The Yukos case is only just beginning,” underlined Schmidt. “We could not take action in Russia because justice is not respected, but we hope that the international community will impose sanctions on the Russian authorities in this affair.” An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights is in progress.