Press Release Holger Haibach, Deputy Head of the Human Rights Committee of the German Bundestag


In view of the recent statements of the Russian executive regarding the case of the oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is imprisoned since 2003, the CDU MP explains the following: “President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin will have to be assessed not by their words but by their actions.”

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was imprisoned under false accusations in 2003, and sentenced to eight years in a prison camp in Siberia. International observers described the trial as unfair and as a political process. It was Khodorkovsky’s undoing that his oil company Yukos maintained contacts to the West and he avowed himself as a political enemy of Putin.
According to Holger Haibach, President Medvedev and head of government, Putin, should therefore employ all their influence in order to improve the situation of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

„I am convinced that Chancellor Angela Merkel will use President Medvedev’s visit to address the case and urge for a release or at least for detention relief”, stated the CDU representative. “Unfortunately, the Russian judicial machinery still shows considerable deficits, thus the sentence could not have undergone an independent review and if necessary be revised. This also explains why the decision regarding changes for Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be taken in the Kremlin and not in a court room. Russia finally has to abandon its system of political justice and implement a jurisdiction which meets constitutional requirements.”

Holger Haibach hopes that he will be able to raise the issue with various Russian contacts during an official journey of the human rights committee of the German Bundestag to Moscow, that is planned for July and will be headed by him. "We have many topics that we would like to discuss with our Russian partners - Mikhail Khodorkovsky will certainly be one of these topics", Holger Haibach said.