The following by-lined article by Robert Amsterdam was published in the latest edition of The Diplomat magazine, pages 23-24.  Download a PDF here.

A Trial that Should Not Be Happening

International lawyer Robert Amsterdam on his defence of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in one of the most high-profile trials in modern Russian history

When the Russian authorities first decided in 2003 to detain the country’s most successful businessman, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, on charges of tax evasion and money laundering, special attention was paid to the importance of public spectacle. In a scene reminiscent of a Hollywood action film, dozens of armed men laid siege to Khodorkovsky’s private jet on an isolated and snowy Siberian runway, as though their target were a dangerous terrorist rather than a mild-mannered entrepreneur on his way to give a university speech. The theatrics intensified during subsequent months as the first trial of Khodorkovsky mounted, with prosecutors doing their best to portray the former chairman of Yukos (once Russia’s largest oil producer) as the original Bernard Madoff, thus tapping into the Russian public’s widespread distrust of success and wealth.

In the end the efforts to frame Khodorkovsky failed, thanks in no small part to a series of highly discriminatory and selective actions undertaken by the state prosecution which carried the case beyond any plausible legal explanation, transforming this Kremlin fantasy of the ultimate white collar criminal into the country’s most well-known political prisoner. Now, with Khodorkovsky about to face fresh charges at a second trial, his case is widely seen as the most high-profile example of both the degeneration of Russia’s legal system and a continuing erosion of the state’s commitment to democratic values.