Cautious optimism over former Yukos partner’s reduced prison sentence

Platon Lebedev

(Interfax Moscow, 1 November) Vladimir Ryzhkov, co-chairman of RPR-PARNAS (Republican Party of Russia – Party of People’s Freedom), has said that he has mixed feelings after hearing the news that the Velsk Town Court in Arkhangelsk Region on Thursday (1 November) reduced the prison sentence of Platon Lebedev, former MFO Menatep head (and business partner of jailed former Yukos oil company chief Mikhail Khodorkovskiy), to 10 years, making him eligible for release in July 2013.

“Of course, this court decision is better than nothing, but I am convinced that the only fair decision would have been to release Lebedev from the courtroom immediately,” Ryzhkov told Interfax.

“For me and for millions of other people, it is absolutely clear that both Lebedev and Mikhail Khodorkovskiy have already spent many years in prison on absurd charges that are entirely politically motivated. Their criminal cases were fabricated, and this was done in the crudest of manners,” Ryzhkov said.

He noted that Lebedev was suffering from serious health problems. “One of the reasons why I cannot be happy about today’s court decision is that Lebedev is set to remain behind bars for another long eight months,” Ryzhkov said.

For his part, another RPR-PARNAS co-chairman, Boris Nemtsov, has said that it is still early to be pleased about the decision of the Velsk Town Court.

“Given all the earlier bad court decisions on the case of Platon Lebedev and Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, this one can be considered good, but I fear that the petty and vengeful Russian authorities will order the prosecutors to appeal against the court decision, which has not yet taken legal force and which a higher court can simply throw out,” Nemtsov told Interfax.

He noted that, while Lebedev’s lawyers had said that they would not be appealing against today’s decision by the Velsk Town Court, a representative of the prosecutor’s office had said that he could not answer the question whether or not the state prosecution would appeal against the court decision.

It was reported earlier that the Velsk Town Court in Arkhangelsk Region on Thursday reduced Lebedev’s prison sentence (from 13) to 10 years. This means that he is due for release in July 2013.

(In a later report, Interfax quoted Russian human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin as saying that both Lebedev and Khodorkovskiy should be released immediately. “These people have served far more than what would have been fit for even an outrageous crime. I am leaving aside the essence of the case and the rest. They should have been freed on parole or pardoned a long time ago,” Lukin said. (Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1327 gmt 1 Nov 12)

In yet another report, Interfax carried remarks by Svetlana Bakhmina, a former Yukos lawyer who was imprisoned between December 2004 and April 2009 on embezzlement and tax evasion charges. She said that “the situation with Mikhail Borisovich (Khodorkovskiy) is somewhat different” from Lebedev’s and that she did not expect the Russian authorities to treat Khodorkovskiy the same way as Lebedev. (Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1348 gmt 1 Nov 12))

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