In the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, we’ve seen a long record of witness harassment, threats, and intimidation – including the medical blackmail against Vasily Aleksanyan to procure false testimony, and the story of torture against Antonio Valdez-Garcia.  Beyond the Yukos case, instances of witness interference are rife.  Today in the Los Angeles Times, Megan K. Stack has a story about the witness Vera Bobryakova, and other victims of Russia’s corrupt judicial system:

When Medvedev took office and launched his campaign against the legal chaos, the organized-crime division was broken into two units: a “division to combat extremism” and what is now the witness protection program.

These changes were accompanied by a hearty propaganda push. Eager to drum up confidence in the witness protection effort, state news has held up Vera Bobryakova as a success story.

The short-order cook’s troubles began when gangsters hired her husband to drive a car freighted with stolen gold to the restive province of Ingushetia. On his way south, he absconded with his cargo, went into hiding and stopped answering his phone.