Russia’s Ridiculous and Disproportionate Treatment of Lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina

The story of Svetlana Bakhmina, a former lawyer for Yukos who has been arrested and held in jail for more than six years for doing nothing more than perform her job, is one of the saddest in a long history of judicial travesties surrounding the persecution of Mikhail Khodorkovsky (the medical blackmail of Alexanian is probably a close second). Today Reuters reports that that she has been denied her request for parole, despite her condition as a pregnant mother-of-two. It is outrageous, tragic, and incomprehensibly disproportionate and cruel what these gangsters who call themselves officials have done to this poor woman in the name of intimidation. We get the message already, OK, siloviki? When one tries to defend their rightful and legitimate interests through the courts in Russia, they will be criminalized. Her unlawful imprisonment has already served its purpose, so let this deserving mother go home to her children. From Reuters:

Yevgeny Kuzmin, judge at the court in the Zubovo-Polyansky district of the Mordovia region in central Russia where Bakhmina is being held in a penal colony, said he had heard her parole application on September 10. “She was denied release,” Kuzmin told Reuters by telephone. “The reason for the denial is in the court’s resolution, but this resolution is only available to parties in the case.”

Supporters of 38-year-old Bakhmina say she was the victim of an indiscriminate campaign to jail YUKOS employees and that the judge who sentenced her did not take into account the fact she was raising two young sons.Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, is serving an eight-year sentence in eastern Siberia for fraud and tax evasion. His oil company was bankrupted by tax claims and its key assets acquired at auction by state-owned firms.Khodorkovsky says the charges were fabricated to punish him for challenging the Kremlin’s political dominance. Officials say he is a criminal who received a fair trial.Bakhmina has two sons under the age of 11 and is also six months pregnant, according to court documents seen by Reuters. Russian prisons allow conjugal visits for some inmates.The district court in Mordovia had already turned down a parole request from Bakhmina in May, citing the fact that she had been reprimanded for misdemeanours in prison.Mordovia’s Supreme Court in July overturned the earlier ruling and ordered that the parole request be considered again.The Supreme Court said in its ruling, seen by Reuters, that the lower court had failed to take into account Bakhmina’s good overall behaviour and positive reports from prison officials, factors it said could have influenced the court’s decision.Last month a court in eastern Siberia rejected an application from Khodorkovsky for early release, saying he had not shown sufficient willingness to reform.