Committee-member Martin Mejstrik has announced that the Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Citizens’ Appeals Committee of the Czech Senate will hold hearings on the Khodorkovsky case on September 5, with Khodorkovsky’s Canadian lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, in attendance. The Czech senator said that once the Committee had finished its work the full Senate might decide to look into the case further. ‘The outcome of its investigation could be a resolution or an appeal to the Russian authorities for impartial justice and due application of Russian law’, says Senator Mejstrik. ‘Senators are unlikely to make immoderate accusations - not everyone, after all, wants to damage relations with Putin - and it’s possible that Khodorkovsky’s supporters will come in for criticism. However, if we are determined to build democracy, we must also defend human rights - even if we face problems in doing so’.

(From REGNUM, 04.09.2006)