New White Paper Details Broader Implications of Khodorkovsky Affair

New White Paper Details Broader Implications of Khodorkovsky Affair

February 09, 2007

    LONDON, Feb. 9 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- "Abuse of
State Authority in the Russian Federation," a new
White Paper issued yesterday by Robert Amsterdam, Mikhail
Khodorkovsky's international defense counsel, says the
United States and Western European governments have failed
to effectively protect and advance their own values and
foreign policy interests in Russia, willfully ignoring the
Russian government's increasing repression at home and its
use of energy resources as a weapon against its neighbors.

    "The Russian authorities' campaign against Mr.
Khodorkovsky and Yukos cannot be regarded as a purely
internal Russian matter," the White Paper says.
"The campaign has played out in the context of
deepening authoritarianism in Russia. The Russian political
system is mutating rapidly, with serious implications for
the rule of law in Russia, jeopardising the protection of
human rights and legal guarantees of private property,
including foreign investments."

    Yet the White Paper says Western governments have so
far "shied away from anything more than tepid
expressions of concern over the Khodorkovsky case...a
shocking surrender to sinister forces within the Russian
leadership, and an overt signal to them that their
belligerent authoritarianism will be tolerated -- in
exchange for preferential treatment in energy relations.
This is a dangerous signal to send to a regime that has
taken to wielding power with recurring disregard for both
Russian and international law."

    Released just three days after new charges were brought
against Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon
Lebedev, in Chita, Siberia, the White Paper accuses the
Kremlin leadership of using Russia's courts to silence
Khodorkovsky and other dissidents, and to justify the
re-nationalisation of what remains of Yukos, once Russia's
most efficient and most profitable energy company.

    "A new cast of wealthy and influential property
owners has emerged in Russia, and they operate within
President Putin's entourage," the White Papers says,
adding that Khodorkovsky will never receive a fair trial in
Russia as long as the Kremlin leadership has a direct and
personal financial interest in the outcome.

    "The timing of the new charges is not accidental.
Russia's image abroad has been badly tarnished by a series
of highly publicised murders, both in Moscow and in London,
while there is intense behind the scenes jockeying for
favour and power inside the Kremlin as the 2008 change in
presidential leadership nears," the White Paper
states. "The Kremlin may hope that the continued
persecution of Mr. Khodorkovsky will divert attention from
Russia's international and domestic problems."

    The 75-page White Paper provides cogent analysis --
buttressed by massive documentation of facts -- to
underscore its principal contention that the Khodorkovsky
Affair is not an isolated example of the dangerous
economic, political and foreign policy developments which
are now apparent in Russia. "In the name of justice
and as a clear signal of their concern," the White
Paper says, "foreign governments and human rights
organisations should support freedom for Mr. Khodorkovsky
and other Yukos executives or employees who have been
wrongfully incarcerated."

    The full text of the White Paper can be downloaded from
Robert Amsterdam's blog:

    http://www.robertamsterdam.com/   


    For more information, please contact: 

     Robert Amsterdam
     Email:  [e-mail]

     Charles Krause
     Tel:    [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail] 


SOURCE  Amsterdam and Peroff