Amnesty legislation in Russia offers a glimmer of hope for entrepreneurs jailed by what they see as a corrupt and flawed legal system.
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| Businessman Sergei Bobylyov poses in 2009 at his office in Moscow. |
His wife and daughters hope though that a six-month amnesty for jailed entrepreneurs, ordered by President Vladimir Putin and signed into law by Parliament last week, will set him free.
"We hope very much that the amnesty gives us a chance to free Sergei," said Bobylyov's wife, Oksana. "The amnesty will work for only six months. It is a very short period."
More than 100,000 businessmen, many of whom are innocent, are in prison or face criminal proceedings, according to Boris Titov, hired in 2012 by Putin to protect entrepreneurs' rights.
Under the amnesty, between 3,000 and 10,000 people may be freed, according to official and lobby group estimates.
Critics point out that the amnesty fails to address corruption or tackle flaws in the legal system. Lengthy jail terms are too often handed down in cases that should be settled by civil suits and judges are too easily bought, with some publishing verdicts direct from the prosecutor's charge sheet — including spelling mistakes, they say.
They also say Putin tailored the amnesty to keep political opponents, former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in particular, behind bars.
Calling it "an act of humanity," Putin announced the amnesty to applause from investors at an investor conference in St. Petersburg last month, saying it was vital to create a more business-friendly environment in Russia.
The hostile legal environment has made it hard to succeed in business, legitimately, in Russia. A recent poll by the Levada Center, an independent opinion research group, said 38 percent of entrepreneurs want to emigrate.
ROTTEN CORE
At the center of the problem is a legal system in which the collusion of law enforcement and justice officials is widely available, at a price.
"Someone needs to think about the law and the system of law enforcement, prosecutors and judges and change it from the bottom up," said Yana Yakovleva of Business Solidarity, a business rights campaigner.
Russia jails more of its population than any other country apart from the U.S. and Rwanda, international prison statistics show.
As well as long jail terms, business crimes often attract long pre-trial detentions. Asset grabs, even before those accused are convicted, are commonplace.
TARGET: ENTREPRENEURS
Trumped-up charges pressed by corrupt investigators and blessed by judges, hark back to repressive Soviet era justice.
"A lot of people were sentenced because someone wanted their property or their money in corruption schemes," said Titov.
The ombudsman, who led calls for the amnesty, says that more than 13,000 people are locked up under such charges, but that includes real fraudsters behind crimes such as pyramid schemes.
"Many may be innocent," said a second lawyer, who also declined to be named. "Even if they weren't, they were operating in a system where laws were being applied selectively."
While widely applauded by the business community, the amnesty is unlikely to free Khodorkovsky, leading to suspicions it is commercially-inspired political window dressing.
The amnesty would only apply to those who have been convicted once and agree to repay damages. Khodorkovsky was convicted twice - of fraud in 2005 and again in 2010. He is due for release next year, but activity by Russian investigators has stoked speculation that he may face a third prosecution.
OPTIMISM BEHIND BARS
For Oksana Bobylyov, fighting the legal system has become a full-time job.
"It's very hard because we don't have money or an ability to work," she said in an interview. "I was a photographer but I lost the studio. Before I photographed children and happy families — now I can't. Now, I try and help my husband."
Sergei Bobylyov was charged in April 2010 with fraud for failing to pay suppliers and is serving his sentence close to the Belarus border, where he sees his wife every three months.
In a 2010 article he wrote for Forbes magazine, Bobylyov said the case was pursued because rivals wanted his business, which at its peak had annual sales of $800 million.
Bobylyov is charged under an article of the criminal code that is not covered in the amnesty, his wife said, but hopes his case will be reclassified to make him eligible for release.
"My father's an optimist, he hopes he will get out of it," said his 20-year-old daughter Alina.
