Khodorkovsky: Prosecution’s Demand of a 14 Year Jail Term a Blow Against Russia

Ariel Cohen / October 27, 2010

Last Friday, Russian prosecutors asked for a new, 14-year new prison term for the former YUKOS oil company CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev. The two are Russia’s most famous political prisoners. They have already spent seven years in jail for alleged tax violations, an accusation most legal expert find spurious.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, at one point the richest Russian according to Forbes, transformed the formerly state-owned YUKOS into an exemplary western-style corporation, importing Western technology and management. He invited American business executives to run YUKOS, while its stock skyrocketed 4,400 percent in four years. Indeed, YUKOS brought the Russian Treasury billions in taxes.

Khodorkovsky became a leader of modern Russian charity, funding his Open Russia Foundation, which promoted computer literacy and study abroad. He also made donations to the Library of Congress and hobnobbed with policy wonks at an Aspen Institute seminar. (more…)