The YUKOS case: give at least three hundred thousand!
The gentlemen sitting in the Council of Europe do not like the “failure” by the Kremlin of the well-known decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. The ones that concern Yukos are expressed in billions. Gentlemen of the jury realized that billions did not wait, and they are now asking hundreds of thousands.
The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers criticized Moscow’s failure to comply with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights concerning Yukos cases, its former head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and A. Pichugin, the former head of the economic security department of this company. As the newspaper notes Kommersant, the most pressing issue today remains sanctioned by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of Moscow’s refusal to pay the former shareholders of Yukos 1,9 billion euros of compensation awarded by the ECHR.
Now it comes to a much smaller amount: the Council of Europe believes that Russia will pay Yukos representatives at least 300 thousand euros (legal fees).
The resolution of the EU Committee of Ministers noted that the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which banned the payment of compensation in the Yukos case, “refrained from considering the question of reimbursement of court costs and expenses”, which the ECHR assessed at 300 thousand euros. Obviously, those in session found a clue in this moment. They believe that the corresponding payment can now be made by Moscow as a “legitimate compromise.”
The publication reports on another resolution of the CoE Council of Ministers. It is also devoted to the issue of payments related to Yukos. This document deals with the “concern” about the withdrawal from Yukos ex-head M. Khodorkovsky of compensation in 10 thousand euros paid to him by the authorities on the decision of the ECHR for violations of his rights during the investigation, trial and execution of punishment. The submission indicates that this money was transferred to the budget to repay debt in the amount of 17 billion. (unpaid taxes by YUKOS). In turn, the ECtHR considered the above amount “arbitrary and without legal basis” and urged Russia to abandon the relevant requirements.
The other person involved in the case, Aleksey Pichugin, convicted for life on charges of organizing murders, was returned by the authorities on the eve of the CE session the amount paid and arrested on his account 9,5 thousand euros (compensation for violation of his right to a fair trial). Earlier, his account, lawyer Pichugin Ksenia Kostromina told the publication, the bailiffs arrested in order to pay off the debt they had already paid for a civil suit of the victims in a criminal case.
The reason for the preservation of the arrest on the account, according to the bailiffs, is that the archives, which could indicate the repayment of the debt in 2007, were destroyed.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe does not consider that payment of compensation is sufficient: such compensation does not solve the problem of execution of the decision of the ECHR in terms of restoring the prisoner's right to a fair trial. Therefore, the committee calls on Russia to eliminate the consequences of violations, that is, to annul the sentence to Pichugin.
We will remind, earlier in the press the Yukos case was called “the eternal affair”. "Vedomosti" wrote that the case number 18-41 / 03 "seems immortal." Such an almost artistic definition is justified by the fact that if in the first years the investigation of the case “worked on the result”, then now the whole point is probably in the process itself, indicative of “its indefinite and dimensionless”.
Yukos gas station in Moscow. 2008 Source Photo
The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers criticized Moscow’s failure to comply with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights concerning Yukos cases, its former head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and A. Pichugin, the former head of the economic security department of this company. As the newspaper notes Kommersant, the most pressing issue today remains sanctioned by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of Moscow’s refusal to pay the former shareholders of Yukos 1,9 billion euros of compensation awarded by the ECHR.
Now it comes to a much smaller amount: the Council of Europe believes that Russia will pay Yukos representatives at least 300 thousand euros (legal fees).
The resolution of the EU Committee of Ministers noted that the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which banned the payment of compensation in the Yukos case, “refrained from considering the question of reimbursement of court costs and expenses”, which the ECHR assessed at 300 thousand euros. Obviously, those in session found a clue in this moment. They believe that the corresponding payment can now be made by Moscow as a “legitimate compromise.”
The publication reports on another resolution of the CoE Council of Ministers. It is also devoted to the issue of payments related to Yukos. This document deals with the “concern” about the withdrawal from Yukos ex-head M. Khodorkovsky of compensation in 10 thousand euros paid to him by the authorities on the decision of the ECHR for violations of his rights during the investigation, trial and execution of punishment. The submission indicates that this money was transferred to the budget to repay debt in the amount of 17 billion. (unpaid taxes by YUKOS). In turn, the ECtHR considered the above amount “arbitrary and without legal basis” and urged Russia to abandon the relevant requirements.
The other person involved in the case, Aleksey Pichugin, convicted for life on charges of organizing murders, was returned by the authorities on the eve of the CE session the amount paid and arrested on his account 9,5 thousand euros (compensation for violation of his right to a fair trial). Earlier, his account, lawyer Pichugin Ksenia Kostromina told the publication, the bailiffs arrested in order to pay off the debt they had already paid for a civil suit of the victims in a criminal case.
The reason for the preservation of the arrest on the account, according to the bailiffs, is that the archives, which could indicate the repayment of the debt in 2007, were destroyed.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe does not consider that payment of compensation is sufficient: such compensation does not solve the problem of execution of the decision of the ECHR in terms of restoring the prisoner's right to a fair trial. Therefore, the committee calls on Russia to eliminate the consequences of violations, that is, to annul the sentence to Pichugin.
We will remind, earlier in the press the Yukos case was called “the eternal affair”. "Vedomosti" wrote that the case number 18-41 / 03 "seems immortal." Such an almost artistic definition is justified by the fact that if in the first years the investigation of the case “worked on the result”, then now the whole point is probably in the process itself, indicative of “its indefinite and dimensionless”.
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