The judgment handed down on Tuesday by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the case of Khodorkovsky vs. Russia (Application 5829/04) represents a clear victory for the plaintiff, as the court ruled in their favor on 8 out of 15 claims, most critically declaring that Russia had violated Khodorkovsky’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights in several instances.  The court found that “the applicant’s continuous detention was not justified by compelling reasons outweighing the presumption of liberty” and as a result ordered Russia to pay out $35,000, which the legal team will donate to charity.

And yet, judging by the poor understanding of this legal decision by the media, you’d think that Putin and the gang scored a coup.  On one claim regarding the political motivation behind the trial, the court requested further “incontestable evidence” to be presented, while also noting that the court now held “reasonable suspicion,” paving the way for a future application.

There’s more patently false headlines than I can count.  Numerous media are describing the news as “a legal setback” or unfurling clueless headlines like “Court Finds No Politics” in the arrest of Khodorkovsky.  No need for them to bother to actually read the judgment, which at no point stated that there wasn’t “evidence” of politics guiding the case against them, but rather that they needed further documentation to be submitted (and given that this application was filed in 2004, there are copious stacks of new evidence of political persecution to submit in a subsequent filing).