In a resolution issued on February 17, European deputies expressed concern over the guilty sentence in the second case against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, and called upon the Russian government to do everything necessary to establish a judicial system that corresponds with the promises of Russia’s president to create just and transparent courts. The resolution referred to opposition activists, including Solidarity co-leader Boris Nemtsov, who were sentenced to jail after participating in a sanctioned rally in Moscow.

“Several judicial processes and lawsuits of the past several years have cast doubt upon the independence and impartiality of judicial institutions in the Russian Federation,” reads the document.

The deputies also said Russia must respect human rights and the supremacy of law in the North Caucasus.

Russia was called upon to solve the murders of numerous Russian journalists and human rights activists and bring their perpetrators to justice. The deputies cited such victims as Natalya Estemirova, Andrei Kulagin, Zamera Sadulaeva, Alik Dzhabrailov, Maksharip Aushev, Stanislav Markelov, Anastasia Baburova and Anna Politkovskaya. The resolution also noted the situation with the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow pretrial detention facility.

“It’s a very good, very concrete resolution that shows the European Parliament knows what’s happening in Russia.” Moscow Helsinki Group leader Lyudmila Alexeyeva told Kasparov.ru. “It’s impossible to enumerate all of our problems, but the ones that are included in the resolution are significant.”

According to Yevgeny Ikhlov of the Movement for Human Rights, the resolution shows that Western Europe sees Russia exactly the same way Russia’s liberal opposition does. “This was clear before, thanks to diplomatic correspondence published on Wikileaks, but now they’ve said it officially,” he said.

In contrast to previous resolutions, this one is complex and is dedicated to the complete collapse of the “Medvedev thaw,” said Ikhlov. “Western Europe feels that, after three years of Dmitri Medvedev’s rule, the country still has no rights, is mafia-like, and the exact same persecution of innocent and political opponents that was happening under Putinism is still going on. There hasn’t been any thaw, all of it has been talk. It’s not, of course, Belarus, but it’s next on the list. In terms of a lack of democracy, Russia takes second place for Europe,” he concluded.

According to Ikhlov, who first heard the news from Ponomarev’s wife, the assailants silently approached Ponomarev and started kicking him.  It was not clear whether there had been any attempt at a robbery.

A report by the Kasparov.ru online newspaper said an ambulance and police were called to the scene.

Ponomarev’s family and colleagues connected the attack with Ponomarev’s decades-long human rights work and activism.   According to the Kasparov.ru, Ponomarev became aware that he was under surveillance late last year.

Ponomarev was returning from a meeting with Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a representative from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).  The German delegate, who works extensively with human rights issues, was in Moscow to conduct research for a report on political repressions in Russia.  Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger earlier worked as the PACE special rapporteur on the case against executives from the YUKOS oil company.

Citing Moscow police, Interfax reports that the attack took place near Ponomarev’s home in Novogireevo.  “According to preliminary findings, the human rights activist was attacked by two unknown persons,” a police spokesman said.  “We have not yet been able to identify the attackers.”

Lev Ponomarev is one of Russia’s best known human rights activists, and has been involved in countless rights cases and organizations over an extensive career.  Ponomarev was a founder of the Memorial human rights society, and serves as a member of its operational board.  He also founded the Common Action rights group, and serves as a federal board member of the Solidarity opposition movement.  He has been critical of the Russian prison system and what he called the roll-back of rights under former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Ponomarev joins a long list of civil activists and members of the political opposition who have been attacked or killed in recent years.  The attackers are rarely found, and most of the crimes remain unsolved.

(alternate spelling: Lev Ponomaryov)