On May 31, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that former Russian oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky failed to prove that his prosecution for tax evasion and fraud were politically motivated, but did find that his detention violated human rights standards. These standards included the conditions of his detention, the speed and circumstances under which charges were brought against him and the length of his continued detention pending the investigation and trial. A Moscow court had upheld fraud convictions against Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, but reduced their eight year sentences to seven years. Khodorkovsky strongly criticized the ruling, as did US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The European Court of Human Rights

Learn more about the Khodorkovsky trial from the JURIST news archive.

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