CREES Noon Lecture. “New Revelations on the Second Conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev.”

Jeffrey Kahn (JD Law ’02), associate professor of law, Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. <br>Sponsors: CREES, WCED.

Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets and recently-declared candidate for the Russian presidency, announced that his first act if elected would be to release Mikhail Khodorkovsky from prison. In response, Vladimir Putin told reporters, “One fisherman can spot another from far away. One oligarch will free another, there’s nothing strange here.” Why is this case so important? Is it a mirror reflecting the state of legal reform in Russia or is it simply high politics masquerading as a criminal case? What is this case about and what is likely to happen next?

Last April, President Medvedev’s Council on Civil Society and Human Rights asked Southern Methodist University law professor Jeffrey Kahn to write a report on the case. The report was submitted to the Council in October and, along with the reports of experts from Russia, Germany, and the Netherlands, was presented to President Medvedev in December. Professor Kahn will discuss the report and the implications of the Khodorkovsky case for the future of human rights and the rule of law in Russia. ( Click here to view Kahn's report.)

A 2002 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Jeffrey Kahn joined the SMU Law faculty in 2006. An award-winning professor, he teaches and writes on American constitutional law, Russian law, human rights, and counterterrorism. He is also a member of the founding Advisory Board for the SMU Human Rights Education Program. Professor Kahn's current research focuses on the right to travel and national security. His book on the U.S. Government's No Fly List will be published by the University of Michigan Press in 2012. Professor Kahn served as a trial attorney in the Civil Division, United States Department of Justice from October 2003 until April 2006. In 2005, he was briefly detailed to the Criminal Division to conduct research in Russia on Russian criminal procedure for the Justice Department's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training.