- Mikhail Khodorkovsky
- Platon Lebedev
"I’m for a strong state in Russia... I’m for an active industrial policy, a social state."
- Current Legal Status: Petitions for Parole
- Incarcerated: Chita Detention Center
- Latest Statement: Global Perestroika, November 2008
Khodorkovsky is known to the world for his commitment to transparency and corporate governance in business as well as his contributions to the development of civil society in Russia. He is Russia's most famous political prisoner.
"I believe in Russia's future, and this also includes Russia's judicial system. I try to help the judicial system to become qualified, independent and impartial... We have an opportunity to set things right so that no one will ever feel ashamed of our country."
- Current Legal Status: Case Under Ongoing Investigation
- Incarcerated: Chita Detention Center
- Latest Statement: An Appeal , March 2007
Platon Lebedev, was Director of Group MENATEP Limited, the holding company for YUKOS. Trained as an industrial economist, Lebedev pioneered modern business practices.
News & Recent Developments
Breaking News
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Chita turns down investigation appeal in Lebedev case
"The Ingodinsky district court of Chita has turned down an appeal of the investigation that intended to cut the time of study of criminal case materials for Platon Lebedev and his defence lawyers by December 15, 2008... because during the court meeting no signs of dragging out of the process of study of criminal case materials by the ex-head of MENATEP and his lawyers have been found."
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Court invalidates two penalties imposed on Khodorkovsky
Interfax reports that the Ingoda District Court in Chita has invalidated and cancelled two penalties imposed on Mikhail Khodorkovsky by the Chita pre-trial detention centre’s administration. The penalties include three days in solitary confinement for not reporting on the number of people in the cell to the pre-trial detention centre head and a reprimand for a dirty cap of the fresh water tank.
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Court upholds ex-Yukos head's complaint against prison administration
RIA Novosti reports that Chita's Ingodinskiy District Court upheld a complaint filed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and ruled that the decision by the head of the Chita pre-trail detention centre to reprimand Khodorkovsky and to put him in a punishment isolation cell was unlawful. The judge is quoted as saying that “The decision of the pre-trial detention centre has been deemed unlawful and declared void. The court ruling can be contested within the next 10 days.”
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Khodorkovsky put in Solitary Confinement
Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sent into solitary confinement for 12 days after giving a written interview to Esquire magazine.
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Chita Court examines the appeal of Platon Lebedev and announced pause until 4 December
"The Chita Oblast Court has paused until 4 December 2008 the examination of the cassation appeal of Platon Lebedev, against the decision of Chita Ingodinsky Court of July 2008."
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Court says Khodorkovsky interview to Esquire is legal
"Friday Chita's Ingodinsky court ruled illegal Khodorkovky's dungeon restraint. Former YUKOS Head was sent into dungeon for 12 days after an interview with a famous Russian writer Boris Akunin for the Esquire magazine. "
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A Turn to the Left - 3: Global Perestroika
Vedomosti publishes an article by Khodorkovsky in which he uses the word perestroika in discussing the future course of the Obama administration.
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Russia claims victory in Nato’s Georgia climbdown
"Russia has said that a Nato decision to rule out near-term membership for Ukraine and Georgia showed that the US-led military alliance is shying away from interfering with the Russian sphere of influence."
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Nato to discuss ties with Russia
Foreign ministers from Nato countries are meeting in Brussels to discuss resuming co-operation with Russia. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that she broadly backs efforts to improve relations but that some areas remain "problematic".
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Russia, EU restart long-delayed partnership talks
"Russia and the European Union have resumed talks on a comprehensive cooperation treaty three months after they were suspended over the Georgia conflict. No end date has been set for the talks, which will cover a wide range of issues including energy, trade, security, immigration, and human rights."
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Assets change hands in Russia. All major decisions are made by Premier Vladimir Putin
"The Kremlin’s elite are willing to go to extreme lengths to ensure they achieve their desired outcomes. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was an example of this as the powers-that-be in Russia had to go to unprecedented lengths and brace them for a grandiose international scandal in order to bring him down."
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The Long Arm of the State
"The Russian government has failed to use the good times to diversify the economy, clean up its banking system, reform capital markets, strengthen property rights and establish the rule of law. As long as the oil price was going up, nothing that Russia did—from the overt expropriation of Yukos to forcing foreign oil companies out of production-sharing agreements—seemed to stop the flow of money into the Russian stock market."
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An Optimistic Activist
“Being the president of Russia, Putin genuinely lobbied for Abramovich’s interests when he sold his oil company “Sibneft” to the government, to Gazprom, to be precise. Thanks to this friendship, Abramovich received $7 billion from the Russian budget. Putin helped him to avoid the sort of predicament that brought YUKOS down on its knees. When YUKOS officials were arrested, 20 percent of Sibneft’s funds were also seized because the two companies were merging into one oil empire. All the confiscated property was sold.”
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Human Rights Community Briefing
Lawyers for Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev were in New York in October, 2008 speaking to the human rights community at a briefing and dinner hosted by the International League for Human Rights.
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Mikhail Khodorkovsky: Russia's Political Prisoner
Watch a brief video about the unjust trial, imprisonment and human rights violations of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
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Statement in Response to New Charges
Khodorkovsky asks the “investigative group not to humiliate itself and the country with knowingly absurd assertions.”
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Plea for Parole
“I am submitting this parole application to you because I believe that the positive decision on this issue will be just and lawful in all respects: for the society, for which I can do much more good if I am free than if I am in jail, for my family, and for myself.”
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Statement in Response to Treatment of Vasiliy Aleksanyan
“[Russian authorities] are killing [Aleksanyan] in prison because he, as a courageous and honest man, refuses to lie and slander.”
About the Center
The Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center Web site was developed by the international legal team of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev to tell the story of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev to raise awareness of their status in Russia as political prisoners.
What Others are Saying
“The conduct of the cases against Khodorkovskiy and his associates has eroded Russia's reputation and public confidence in Russian legal and judicial institutions.” Robert Wood, U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman
The Bigger Picture
Events in Russia have always been important to the United States and the European Union, and it is clear that the relationship between these nations is strained. Learn more »
“The Kremlin runs the risk of destroying its petroleum sector rather than building an envied national champion.” J Robinson West, Financial Times
The Bigger Picture
Investors and businesses interpreted the attack on YUKOS and arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2003 to be an attack on property rights, inflicting billions of dollars of damage to the Russian economy. Learn more »
“I think that any person becomes a political prisoner if the law is applied to him selectively, and this is an absolutely clear case to me. This is a glaringly lawless action.” Elena Bonner, The Andrei Sakharov Foundation
The Bigger Picture
Khodorkovsky was a well-known critic of corruption in government. His politically motivated arrest was a severe setback for the development of civil society in Russia. Learn more »