In 2003, the Russian Government launched a massive and historic assault against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yukos. At the time, Mr. Khodorkovsky was one of the richest businessmen in Russia and Yukos was his highly successful oil company.
The Russian authorities arbitrarily detained Mr. Khodorkovsky, illegally seized his oil company and set out to destroy his reputation. The case drew worldwide attention.
Dean’s firm defended Mr. Khodorkovsky over an eight-year time span- from the onset of the assault in 2003 until 2010. The firm instituted a prominent and influential public defense of Mr. Khodorkovsky. It made the case in the international “court of public opinion” that Mr. Khodorkovsky was the victim of a sham legal process trumped up by the Russian authorities. The media campaign put forward one basic message: the Russian process was a legal pretext for seizing Yukos’ valuable energy assets and silencing Mr. Khodorkovsky as a vocal opponent of President Putin’s regime.
The public campaign was run in tandem with a parallel political outreach to the EU Commission, the EU Parliament, political leaders in the EU member states and leading NGO’s. At the same time, Dean led a separate initiative at the Council of Europe, the European body dedicated to the protection of fundamental human rights. The parliamentary arm of the Council ultimately appointed a special investigator to examine the circumstances surrounding the matter. The appointee was a well-respected parliamentary member and Germany’s former Deputy Minister of Justice. The investigator’s report ultimately validated the legitimacy of the message behind the public campaign and the political outreach. The report became so persuasive that the investigator was frequently called as an expert witness in subsequent legal proceedings before national courts in Europe.
Throughout the engagement, Dean co-managed a multi-disciplinary team of specialists in such varied fields as law, political science, government relations, public relations and international relations. The group provided the support required to carry out the public campaign and political outreach.
Dean was mandated to oversee the first legal action instituted at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in relation to the Khodorkovsky/Yukos matter. This legal action began with an emergency motion for interim remedial action. As part of his ECHR mandate, Dean sought out and collaborated with some of the most highly respected human rights jurists in Europe. During this period, Dean also worked closely in Moscow with the leading advocates for human rights in Russia.
Dean was responsible for the development of a body of expert testimony that supported Mr. Khodorkovsky’s primary defense. To this end, he selected and regularly conferred with acknowledged specialists in the fields of Russian political science, Russian law and international law. Many of these specialists eventually appeared as expert witnesses in multiple legal proceedings before international tribunals and national courts throughout Europe.
Today, it is widely acknowledged that the attack against Mr. Khodorkovsky has been a blatant form of political persecution perpetrated by powerful political elites and competitors.