Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Panels probe Yukos and Magnitsky cases

The Voice of Russia

The cases of Yukos and Magnitsky came into the public focus again over the week as experts of the European Court of Human Rights discussed the trials of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev and Russia’s Prosecutor-General probed the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. And a panel at the Russian president’s Human Rights Commission is currently working on a report to shed more light on these high-profile cases.

According to a report published by the European Court of Human Rights, the trial against former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky was not politically motivated.

In 2005 Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement and tax evasion. In spring 2009 they faced another trial on charges of stealing oil and money-laundering. In December 2010, they were sentenced to 13.5 years in prison but the term was cut by one year later. In accordance with the court’s final sentence, the two will get out of prison in 2016.