Robert Amsterdam gave an interview a few months ago to the Romanian magazine Cadran Politic, published today, about the Mikhail Khodorkovsky case. Excerpt:
1700 days in prison for MBK so far. Despite you and your lawyers’ efforts team, human rights NGO’s representatives appropaches and K sustainers’ demontrations nothing was to change his condition. What news you have concerning your well-known client? Well, first of all, to understand why things are the way you said, you need to put this case into the context of state corruption and influence over the legal process. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was singled out for selective persecution on baseless charges not only because of his support of democracy and civil society groups, but also because certain high-ranking officials conspired to steal the assets of Yukos. What followed his conviction was to prove that thing. If Russia is serious about building rule of law and joining the international community as a responsible state, the courts must be protected from the influence of these parties, and Khodorkovsky must be released. This is the only way things will move intro the right direction.