Khodorkovsky: “Anyone Investing in Russia Shouldn’t Count on the Law”
In an interview with Les Echos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky explained by e-mail from his cell in Moscow what mistakes French investors should avoid making.
Khodorkovsky thanked French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Bernard Kouchner for monitoring his trial, which François Zimeray, France's human rights ambassador, pointed out when he attended one of the hearings in April.
He noted that the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum, which Sarkozy attended, is an excellent opportunity for their two countries to develop economic relations. However, he added: "French entrepreneurs should remember that their investments in Russia may make our corrupt bureaucracy cast a greedy eye on them." Khodorkovsky pointed to President Dmitry Medvedev's acknowledgement that justice in Russia is not independent. He said that the government must decide what it finds most important: attract investment or defend the interests of a corrupt bureaucracy.
His advice to French businessmen seeking to invest in Russia is "not to count on the law to uphold their rights" and to "be very careful". He warned: "In Russia, the current law is one thing; how it's applied is another." Khodorkovsky said that the main lesson to learn from his and YUKOS' experience is that "the lack of respect for private property law" in Russia.
Khodorkovsky said that the allegations against both he and Platon Lebedev "are ridiculous, so much so that even the prosecutor can't state them clearly". He said: "I will never plead guilty to a crime I have not committed." However, he also explained that attending his trial offers him "a rostrum where I can show society how power uses the judiciary and police to quell the opposition; how a court and prosecutors can commit crimes against justice and how the judiciary reform has become bogged down". And he remained optimistic that eventually this will change.