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Russia lower house approves bill to ban pre-trial detention for financial crimes

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Russian State Duma on Wednesday approved a bill to ban pre-trial detention for suspects accused of economic crimes. The legislation would allow those charged with financial crimes to be bailed out of jail at any time during legal proceedings for a minimum bail charge of 100,000 rubles (USD $3,300), and 500,000 rubles (USD $16,600) for serious crimes. The bill was introduced earlier this month by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who said that the measure would help cut the prison population and would also prevent prison from being used to pressure businessmen. The bill's introduction was welcomed by the lawyer for Yukos Oil founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was denied bail in 2003. The bill must now be approved by the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council. Khodorkovsky recently criticized the Russian justice system as an "assembly line" that inevitably finds the government's political enemies to be guilty. Both he and former business partner Platon Lebedev are serving time on tax evasion and fraud charges, but Lebedev successfully challenged the legality of his arrest and was awarded USD $14,300 in damages and legal fees by the European Court of Human Rights. The two are currently on trial on additional related charges of money laundering and embezzlement, to which they have pleaded not guilty. Some critics of the Russian government have argued that the charges against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are politically motivated due to Khodorkovsky's opposition to former Russian president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 25, 2010 (boomark / email).