Oral question for Question Time at the part-session in April 2007 pursuant to Rule 109 of the Rules of Procedure by MEP Justas Vincas Paleckis to the Council.

The question:

Preparations are currently being made in Russia for the reopening of the trial against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, who were convicted of tax evasion in 2005. Under Russian law, those convicted have the right to apply for remission of the sentence provided they have served half of it and have behaved in an exemplary fashion. This means there is hope that, when the decision is taken this autumn, shortly before the Russian parliamentary and presidential elections, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev could be freed.

The fact that new charges are, at this very moment, being made against the two men gives rise to reasonable suspicions that the trial, which has been politicised from the very beginning, could become nothing but a show.

Does the EU Council Presidency believe that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev will be guaranteed a fair and non-political trial? Has it been made clear to the Russian Federation that any deviation from the principles of the rule of law or violation of human rights will inevitably affect its relations with the EU?