Andrew Meier has penned an epic, wide ranging profile of the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in The New York Times Magazine, which captures a sense of the courtroom, the personalities, and the historical context of the affair.  For readers of this blog it is unlikely to have new information, but it represents an important item of reference for those who want to learn about the case. Moscow would soon grow famous for operatic oligarchs and Byzantine intrigues, but Khodorkovsky never got caught in a compromising position -- never snared at an Alpine resort, a Moscow casino or on a Riviera yacht. Girls, power, even the money, seemed to hold no magic. Where others basked in pomp, he was shy and painfully soft-spoken; ...

From Robert Amsterdam's latest in the Huffington Post:

But it is clear to those of us who have watched and listened to Khodorkovsky over these years that his beliefs, spirit and convictions have only deepened. When he first became a political prisoner, he was recognized as a symbol of Russia being on the wrong track: the disappearance of rule of law, corporate raiding and state theft, authoritarian drift, and the Kremlin's first taste of using stolen assets as an energy weapon. Today, after six long years of injustice, he is emerging as an important political voice and a sign of Russian moral conscience.

These statements have been building over past months, most recently highlighted by an article he

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Here's a peculiar story from the Moscow Times:

Sergei Kuznetsov Content Group, one of the biggest Russian web studios, has opened a contest called "Drawing the Court" that invites anyone to submit drawings of Khodorkovsky's trial, which started in March in Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court.

There is only one rule: The artist must draw the artwork in court.(...)

The contest aims to raise interest in Russian court processes and provide a showcase for courtroom art, an obscure genre in Russia, according to the contest's web site, Risuemsud.ru.

The first drawings have been posted on the web site and include three pencil sketches by Svetlana Sorokina, a former liberal commentator with NTV television. One sketch, titled "Tired," shows a prosecutor with closed eyes and a drooping mouth sitting at his table in

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Today the defense team for Mikhail Khodorkovsky is running a letter, bearing the signature of Robert Amsterdam, in the global edition of the Financial Times.  The story has been covered by Dow Jones and some other news outlets.  Below is the full text of the letter.An open letter to the boards of directors, management, auditors, and shareholders of Rosneft, Gazprom, Eni, Enel, and other purchasers of Yukos assets.

RE: Russia's obligation to seize your assets?

Beginning in December 2004 with the sham tax auction of Yukos's main production subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz, management and lawyers and shareholder representatives for major oil companies as well as private investors have had to evaluate the risk of purchasing Yukos assets and, subsequently, the oil produced by one of the prior production subsidiaries. This dilemma continued during the illegitimate Yukos bankruptcy where the receiver

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The news is already being reported by AFP, the AP, and the BBC.  Below is his full statement to the court, as well as some of the slides he presented which show that the charges brought by the prosecutors fail to demonstrate any criminal act.  Read more about today's events in court at khodorkovskycenter.com.

To the Khamovnichesky District Court of the city of Moscow to Federal Judge V.N. Danilkin from M.B. Khodorkovsky

STATEMENT (in relation to guilt under the charges that have been brought)

I will formulate how I have understood them after all the indistinct explanations. If I make a mistake, - I ask the court to correct it.

The charge of theft

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