The former CEO of Yukos oil giant faces a new sentence to fourteen years of settlement. the last day of his second trial, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has engaged in a fierce critic of the Russian regime. Already sentenced to eight years in penal colony for tax evasion, the former CEO of Yukos oil giant faces a new sentence, more severe, and presents itself as a political prisoner.
Behind the bulletproof glass of the box, the sobriety of the accused, black shirt and jacket, thin rimless glasses, matched only by the virulence of his remarks. Cursed rival Vladimir Putin, he bluntly blames his arrest and imprisonment in the fall of 2003: "I was informed that President Putin had decided to make me eat the gruel for eight years."
Seven years of Siberian colony pounds of oatmeal later, the former oil magnate refused to reconsider the merits of this second case. "Nobody seriously expects that I plead guilty," he exclaims, sweeping huge burdens that weigh against him and his former associate, Platon Lebedev, accused of embezzling 200 million tons of oil between 1996 and 2003, virtually all of Yukos' oil production over this period. The prosecution requested fourteen years of settlement.
Political Testament
Pending the trial, which will be released December 15, Khodorkovsky prefers "to speak of hope" and make his final plea a political testament. Because despite "the shame for this State who lies, torture, hostage taking," he maintains "the hope that Russia becomes a state of liberty and law (...), a state where human rights do not depend Besides the mood of the Tsar, good or bad. "
crammed into the small courtroom, his mother and some former employees of Yukos cry in silence. He looks at length, before challenging the judge: "I do not want to die in prison. But my beliefs are worth risking my life. In this court is played not only my destiny but that of every citizen of this country. "The applause burst forth. "Svoboda", "" Freedom! ".
At the time of the first trial, the majority of Russians saw Khodorkovsky as a greedy tycoon, enriched on the smoking ruins of the USSR.
But for twenty months that drags this second trial, he seems to have earned his stripes as a political prisoner. According to the latest survey by the independent Levada, 42% say that the trial be held "in the corridors of power."
Present at the hearing, Mikhail Kasyanov, prime minister during Putin's first presidential term, calls on top of the executive: "This man did nothing. We must free him. Unfortunately this is not Dmitry Medvedev, but Putin will decide. "
By Madeleine Leroyer
