On the 3rd of July 2003, the former CEO of the group Menatep, who had a 61% holding in Yukos, Platon Lebedev was imprisoned. In May 2005 he was convicted along with Mikhail B. Khodorkovski on grounds of alleged fiscal fraud in a show trial. The sentence of nine years of prison camp was "attenuated" to eight years in the appeals procedure.

On the occasion of the third anniversary of his imprisonment and in the light of the G8 summit in St Petersburg from 15-17 July, Marieluise Beck, Member of the Bundestag (1), and MEP Milan Horacek (2), both members of the German Green Party, emphasise the importance of monitoring and denouncing the deficiencies in the judicial system and in the area of human rights in Russia.

According to Green MEP Milan Horáèek:

"It is nothing short of a disgrace that Russia holds the presidency of the Council of Europe, the institution in Europe that should represent and safeguard democracy and human rights as fundamental, universal and indivisible values of our societies. How a country that persists with political show trials and inhumane treatment of prisoners can have the chair of a human rights institution is boggling. A prime example of this is the case of Platon Lebedev, imprisoned in the Arctic Circle, which was even illegal under Russian law. He has been denied both independent assessment and effective judicial support."

Commenting on the meeting of the G8 leaders, Green Member of the Bundestag Marieluise Beck stated:

"The G8 cannot just turn a blind eye to the growing infringements on the independence of the judiciary in one of its members, namely Russia. The poor human rights situation in Russia should not be ignored merely because we depend on its energy exports or and because of the importance of the economical and political partnership with Russia. Russia is clearly straying from the path of democracy. The EU must ensure the people in Russia are not deprived of fundamental democratic rights in exchange for European economic interests."


(1) Marieluise Beck has been a member of the committee on foreign affairs of the Bundestag since 2005 and is also a member of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe. Her focus is human rights issues in Eastern and Central Europe.

(2) Milan Horacek is member of the subcommittee on human rights and substitute member of the committee on foreign affairs of the European Parliament. He was present in Moscow during the sentencing of Platon Lebedev.

Press Service of the Greens/EFA Group
in the European Parliament

(Strasbourg, 3 July 2006)