The Hearing on the Merits - ECtHR

The hearing of the Yukos Oil Company v Russian Federation, took place on 4 March 2010 in Strasbourg, at 2.30pm. That the Court accepted to hear Yukos was testament to the legitimacy of the grievance expressed by the Yukos Oil Company, especially in light of the fact that thousands of applications are turned down by the European Court of Human Rights every year.

Piers Gardner, Barrister of Monckton Chambers, was the sole lawyer representing Yukos at the hearing. This was a notable contrast to the large team of lawyers representing the Russian Federation, which included Georgy Matyushkin and the English QC Michael Swainston. The two sides made their statements and answered questions from the judges during the hearing, which lasted more than four-hours and which was conducted in English and Russian. 

In his 90-minute statement, Gardner gave a detailed history of the lead up to the sham bankruptcy which eventually brought Yukos to its knees and urged the judges to acknowledge the discriminatory treatment of Yukos under the Russian judiciary system. 

“Yukos fulfilled its responsibilities as any other tax payer would between the years of 2000 to 2004”, said Gardner, recapping his argument at a press conference held after the hearing. “At the very end of 2003, virtually out of the clear blue skies, everything changed. There are political elements to that change, but the factual elements are that until that time, the tax ministry had always accepted what Yukos had filed by way of taxes and it was comparable with the levels of contributions to taxes by oil majors in Russia. So it was certainly an unexpected development, to put it at its lowest, that the additional liabilities should be raised.” 

Gardner continued: “The second point made today was to underscore the speed and the ferocity with which those enforcement proceedings were taken. An injunction freezing all Yukos assets was imposed on day one and that froze assets which were later sold for more than EUR 33 billion. Whatever their true value was, that was the price ultimately realised for them – but the tax claim was only EUR 2.8 billion. There is a very big difference between those figures, yet Yukos’ assets remained frozen for four years, until in fact Yukos was dissolved as a result of the bankruptcy. “

Asked at the Strasbourg press conference why Yukos was at the European Courts of Human Rights, the former CEO of Yukos, Steven Theede, responded that: “It was becoming apparent that it was going to be difficult to get fair judgements within the Russian legal system. It was our ambition to find a way to have the Yukos case presented in a fair legal environment, which is why we went to the European Court.”

Piers Gardner stated that the hearing “...was a conspicuously fair opportunity for both sides."

He said: "Both sides were given a short opportunity to have their last words to the Court before the European Courts decide.”

Gardner praised the respectability and fairness of the European Court of Human Rights, which he asserted had really grappled with the issues of the case. 

All of the Yukos Oil Company representatives reiterated their delight at the opportunity to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights and emphasised their optimism.

Theede concluded : “This is the culmination of 6 years of hard work on a lot of peoples’ part. I am very pleased that the European Court of Human Rights agreed to admit our case for hearing and very pleased that the hearing occurred today. It’s really our first chance to have the Yukos saga heard in a completely independent and fair judicial environment and so we very much look forward to the judgement that the European Courts will ultimately come out with and are very hopeful that it rules in our favour."

Yukos Hearing in the European Court of Human Rights

The Hearing on the Merits at the ECtHR in Strasbourg took place on the morning of 4 March 2010.

A webcast of the session is available on the ECtHR website here:
http://www.echr.coe.int/echr/Homepage_EN

A press conference was held afterwards in Strasbourg, with former Yukos Oil Company officials participating via satellite from Houston and London.

Video of Strasbourg Press Conference 4 March 2010
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Audio of Strasbourg Press Conference 4 March 2010

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An online video stream of the press conference is available here.
Please click here for the footage of the press conference.

Photos from the Hearing and Press Conference in Strasbourg, 4 March 2010.

Piers Gardner, Barrister at Monckton Chambers, who presented the case for Yukos Oil Company

The press conference held after the hearing, with Mr. Gardner and Steven Theede and Bruce Misamore in Houston, and Yuri Beilin in London.