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YUKOS OIL COMPANY WINS MAJOR RULING FROM THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Strasbourg 20 September 2011: The European Court of Human Rights today ruled in favor of YUKOS Oil Company in its complaints against the Russian Federation.

The court held that the company did not receive a fair trial and that the enforcement of the tax liabilities against YUKOS Oil Company, their speed and the selection of Yuganskneftegaz for sale for initial payment of taxes were inflexible and dealt a ‘fatal blow’ to the company and so were disproportionate.

The judgment vindicated YUKOS’ rights as an applicant although the company had been dissolved under Russian law in 2007.

For the full statement from Yukos Oil Company please click here

To watch the Yukos Press Conference please click here

Yukos went from a struggling and unprofitable state-owned company in 1995 to an internationally respected success story only five years later.

However, Yukos’ success and independence attracted the attention of the Russian authorities, who decided to reassert control over the now-strategic asset. This was achieved not through nationalisation, but by simple expropriation.

It is widely acknowledged that the expropriation campaign carried out by the Russian authorities involved bogus tax reassessments, a rigged auction of shares, and sham bankruptcy proceedings.

The Yukos Library documents historic and often ground-breaking legal cases surrounding the Yukos Affair, including the current case before the European Court of Human Rights.

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