Russian oil tycoon sentenced to nine years behind bars
The declaration of guilt and sentence came in day 12 of the laborious verdict-reading process in the most closely watched trial of post-Soviet Russia.
Khodorkovsky, the former head of the Yukos oil company and once estimated to be Russia’s richest man, has already spent 583 days in jail, meaning he would serve about another seven and a half years in prison.
Khodorkovsky looked straight ahead as the sentence was pronounced. In a statement later read outside the court by defence attorney Anton Drel, Khodorkovsky said he would not harshly criticise the judge, noting “the pressure she has come under from the initiators of the case when preparing the verdict.”
“Judicial power has been turned into a blunt weapon of the authorities,” he said in the statement.
His co-defendant Platon Lebedev, found guilty of the same charges and given the same sentence, said: “There’s not a sane person who can understand what you have said.”
The judge then read his sentence again. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev also were ordered to pay over 497 million in taxes and penalties.
Supporters have claimed that Khodokovsky’s trial was part of a Kremlin-driven campaign to punish him for funding opposition parties and to stifle his own political ambitions. The sentence would keep him in prison well past the 2008 presidential elections and potentially during the 2012 elections as well.
A third defendant in the case, Andrei Krainov, was given a five and a half year suspended sentence.
The court did not sentence them on a charge regarding Apatit, a fertiliser component company in which Khodorkovsky and Lebedev allegedly acquired a large stake by rigging a privatisation auction.
Although the court considered them guilty, the statue of limitations on the 1994 matter had expired, according to prosecutors.
Khodorkovsky’s lawyers are expected to appeal a guilty verdict and sentence in the 10-day period allotted under Russian law. The Prosecutor-General’s office meanwhile reiterated yesterday that new criminal charges against Khodorkovsky are being prepared.
Khodorkovsky is one of the so-called oligarchs who became enormously wealthy during the murky post-Soviet privatisation of state industries in the 1990s.
Such tycoons are widely resented by ordinary Russians and demonstrators denouncing Khodorkovsky have been a daily fixture outside the courthouse during the weeks of verdict-reading.
But there have also been gatherings of Khodorkovsky supporters, who say the trial was revenge for his funding of opposition parties and who say the proceedings raised substantial doubt about Russia’s commitment to rule of law.
The verdict “shows that in Russia there is no independent court, in Russia there is only the all-powerful Prosecutor-General,” liberal politician Irina Khakamada said.
Demonstrators’ chants of “Shame, shame!” could be heard even inside the courtroom as the proceedings continued after the sentencing.
Concerns about Russia’s observance of legal propriety and respect for shareholders’ rights have spooked many foreign investors.
“It does make people concerned, leery about an environment they don’t understand,” US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told Russian and US business representatives in Moscow yesterday.
“Any time the business community sees something that impacts business and doesn’t really understand why, then that’s a setback because then businesses will not want to invest.”
