The following is a press release being distributed today on behalf of the Mikhail Khodorkovsky defense team:
OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF ITALIAN PARLIAMENT
VOTE TO SUPPORT MIKHAIL KHORDOKOVSKY
Rome, September 23, 2009 - The Italian parliament today voted in favour of a motion urging the Italian Government "to activate all diplomatic channels, together with other European partners, to guarantee the respect for human rights and the right of defence for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev and for all Russian citizens". The motion, presented at the Lower Chamber by Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of the Christian Democrat Party (UDC), received overwhelming support: out of 478 MPs attending the plenary session, 430 voted in favour. During the debate, Alfredo Mantica, Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed support for the motion on behalf of the Government and called for unanimous adoption by all political groups. This builds on the statement of support made in May this year by Minister for Foreign Affairs and former EU Commissioner, Franco Frattini.
Italy has important ties with Russia: it is Russia's third largest trading partner and Prime Ministers Berlusconi and Putin have a close friendship. Commenting on the vote, Robert Amsterdam, Mr. Khodorkovsky's international legal counsel, said "This endorsement by the Italian parliament is a further sign of how Western governments are reacting to the second show trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The West is saying enough is enough."
At the beginning of July the German Bundestag already adopted a motion on rule of law in Russia. The bi-partisan motion, which was backed by Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, the Liberal Party as well as the Greens, named the trial against Mikhail Khodorkovsky a "test case of the Russian justice system's credibility, as demanded by President Medvedev, and the respect of Council of Europe standards" and called for EU supervision of the trial.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, arrested on politically-motivated charges in 2003 for which they have passed the last six years in prison, are now facing a second trial and the prospect of a twenty-two year sentence if convicted. According to the defence and many international observers, the new charges are even more absurd and ridiculous than the first set of charges.
The trial of both men is now widely seen as the crucial test of President Medvedev's pledge to end "legal nihilism" in Russia.
