Robert Amsterdam [Counsel for Mikhail Khodorkovsky]: "On January 27, 2009, Mikhail Khodorkovsky's defense team filed a stay motion to halt the unconscionable and illegal activities of prosecutors intent on bringing fresh charges against the imprisoned former CEO of Yukos Oil Company. The motion cataloged a series of abuses by Russian investigators and prosecutors in clear violation of both domestic and international law.

The defense team underlined the authorities' responsibility to recognize these abuses as irremediable, and to fulfill their legal obligation to halt the proceedings.

As detailed throughout the motion, in the authorities' haste and zeal to push forward with a new indictment, they have tortured, blackmailed, threatened and jailed potential witnesses; held secret trials; refused to admit any evidence that could prove Khodorkovsky's innocence; brushed aside requests for explanations of the allegations; harassed and disdainfully treated defense counsel making it difficult or impossible for them to do their jobs; conducted searches and seizures without court approval; ignored the presumption of innocence; slandered reputations; kept Khodorkovsky unapprised of critical procedural developments; concealed and manipulated key evidence; and isolated Khodorkovsky in the far reaches of Siberia.

Clearly exploiting and abusing the Russian criminal justice system for political and mercantile ends, those behind the ongoing persecution of Khodorkovsky are not relenting in their efforts to sully his reputation, deny him any active role in Russian society, and legitimize the seizure of the Yukos Oil Company by state-backed individuals.

As with efforts by the defense to submit exculpatory evidence and to call witnesses for interrogation, the stay motion has been unsuccessful. On February 16, the prosecutors finalized their indictment, which implausibly accuses Khodorkovsky of stealing the entire proceeds of oil production from Yukos subsidiaries over a six-year period. The case has been assigned to a Moscow court and a trial will commence within weeks.

Khodorkovsky has been eligible to apply for parole since October 2007, having served more than half his sentence. When he applied for parole in August 2008, his request was rejected, ostensibly because he failed to show enthusiasm to learn how to operate sewing machines in the Siberian labor camp where he was previously being held.

With Khodorkovsky eligible for parole after serving more than half his sentence, and lacking valid legal pretexts to keep him in prison, the prosecutors are intent on pushing forward with another show trial based once again on baseless, politically motivated charges. Beyond the outrageous behavior of the investigators and the prosecutor's office in breaking so many procedural rules, the new allegations themselves are legally void and factually erroneous, so much so that they should be a source of shame and embarrassment for those who drafted them.

Interested observers worldwide should not limit themselves to calling for fair treatment in the pending trial, since this entails an implicit recognition of the ongoing investigatory processes to date as valid. The new indictment ought to be condemned from the start as inherently defective due to the undeniable violations on record to date.

Khodorkovsky would like to believe that the Moscow court that hears his case will act impartially, as some Russian courts have acted in striking down unlawful disciplinary reprimands that prison officials tried to accumulate on Khodorkovsky's record in order to have a pretext to deny his parole.

President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev has publicly spoken in favor of supporting the rule of law and ending what he calls "legal nihilism" in Russia. The treatment of Khodorkovsky this year will show whether this is rhetoric or reality."