The following is a translation from the website of Marieluise Beck, a German Member of Parliament who made herself available to attend hearings of the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky as an observer.  This memo summarizes her impressions of the process.

Khodorkovsky on trial: Impressions of a show trial

Marieluise Beck (Member of Parliament, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) travelled to Moscow to observe the second trial against Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former principal shareholder of the oil company Yukos, and his business partner Platon Lebedev. Each was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment in 2005 in a trial that on no account complied with constitutional standards and was obviously politically motivated. The second trial is on the verge of taking a similar course, particularly because the charge has absurd proportions and is completely contradictory to the first charge.

Read her impressions from the court room:

April 27th, 2009 A day in the county court Khamovniki in Moscow. The great “corporate criminal case” against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev is being heard; the sum in dispute amounts to $20 billion.

The court building is unimposing and the court room is small and shabby. Brawny policeman ‘secure’ the room. One would rather not get in their way.