EDITORIAL: Khordorkovsky's trials

Russia's "difference" from the rest of the world is a cause for concern.

At the end of last year, a Russian court slapped a lengthy extension on the original prison term of Mikhail Khordorkovsky, a jailed former oil magnate.

Khordorkovsky was arrested in 2003 on charges including tax evasion that allegedly allowed him to accumulate a fortune in the turbulent years following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But because his arrest occurred immediately after he made campaign donations to an opposition party challenging then-President Vladimir Putin in the State Duma (lower house) election that year, Moscow came under fire for political retaliation. His sentence was to have been completed in October this year.

Sentenced this time for charges including embezzlement from his own oil company, Khordorkovsky will remain in prison until 2017. For continuing to speak out against Moscow from behind bars, he has become a symbol of dissent. It appears Moscow wants to keep him out of the way for the Duma election at the end of this year and the presidential election next year.

During his trial, the validity of the charges were questioned. Witnesses for the defense, who included a former Russian prime minister from the time Khordorkovsky allegedly committed his crimes, testified to the weakness of the prosecution's case.

But shortly before last week's sentencing, Putin said that "a thief belongs in prison." And that's where Khordorkovsky will remain for another six years.

The international community was swift to condemn the verdict. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded that Russia respect the independence of the judiciary, and noted that the conviction "raises serious questions about selective prosecution and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political considerations."

During the eight years of Putin's presidency, the Russian economy grew rapidly thanks to high prices for its mainstay products--oil and natural gas. But Putin's critics say progress was stymied by Moscow's ruthless crackdowns on opposition parties and the media, excessive interference in the economy and the judiciary, and rampant corruption in high places.

President Dmitry Medvedev, Putin's successor, promised to build Russia into a healthy democracy by bringing the economy up to speed, strengthening the rule of law and making the judiciary an independent branch of government. But the Khordorkovsky trial proved that Medvedev's words were worthless, and that Russia is still being ruled by Putin's style of politics that is alien to Western democracies.

Medvedev's goals have remained virtually unfulfilled. This has aggravated Russia's investment environment, and the economy has taken a hit from a massive capital drain of $30 billion last year.

Russia's difference from the rest of the world is growing conspicuous in foreign relations, too. Although Russia signed a strategic arms reduction treaty with the United States last year, it will not hesitate to start a new arms race should the United States proceed with missile defense.

On the dispute with Japan over the four northern islands off Hokkaido, Medvedev declared the islands Russian territory. Even though Russia and Japan ratified a treaty concerning the return of Habomai and Shikotan under a Japan-Soviet declaration, Medvedev is virtually ignoring this treaty, which raises serious questions about what "the rule of law" means to him.

So long as Russia continues these questionable policies, it will be difficult to establish genuine cooperation with the rest of the world. Russia must reform itself.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 5