title: Self-immolation

text: During the Great Schism of the Russian Church, entire villages of Old Believers burned themselves to death in an act known as "fire baptism" (self-burners: "sozhigateli"). Scattered instances of self-immolation have also been recorded by the Jesuit priests of France in the early 17th century. However, their practice of this was not intended to be fatal: they would burn certain parts of their bodies (limbs such as the forearm or the thigh) to symbolise the pain Jesus endured while upon the cross. A 1973 study by a prison doctor suggested that people who choose self-immolation as a form of suicide are more likely to be in a "disturbed state of consciousness", such as epilepsy.


title: Self-immolation

text: As a form of political protest, the 14th Dalai Lama explained in 2013 and 2015 the act of self-immolation:


title: Self-immolation

text: Self-immolations are often public and political statements that are often reported by the news media. They can be seen by others as a type of altruistic suicide for a collective cause, and are not intended to inflict physical harm on others or cause material damage. They attract attention to a specific cause and those who undergo the act may be seen as martyrs. Self-immolation does not guarantee death for the burned; self-immolation survivors suffer from severe disfigurements from resulting burns.


title: Self-immolation

text: The Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam saw the persecution of the country's majority religion under the administration of Catholic president Ngô Đình Diệm. Several Buddhist monks, including the most famous case of Thích Quảng Đức, immolated themselves in protest.


title: Self-immolation

text: The example set by self-immolators in the mid 20th century did spark numerous similar acts between 1963 and 1971, most of which occurred in Asia and the United States in conjunction with protests opposing the Vietnam War. Researchers counted almost 100 self-immolations covered by "The New York Times" and "The Times".


title: Self-immolation

text: In 1968, the practice spread to the Soviet bloc with the self-immolation of Polish accountant and Armia Krajowa veteran Ryszard Siwiec, as well as those of two Czech students, Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc, and of toolmaker Evžen Plocek, in protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. As a protest against Soviet rule in Lithuania, 19-year-old Romas Kalanta set himself on fire in Kaunas in 1972. In 1978, Ukrainian dissident and former political prisoner Oleksa Hirnyk burnt himself near the tomb of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko protesting against the russification of Ukraine under Soviet rule. On 2 March 1989, Liviu Cornel Babeș set himself on fire on the Bradu ski slope at Poiana Brașov as a sign of protest against the communist regime. He left the message: "Stop Mörder! Brașov = Auschwitz." He was taken to the Brașov county hospital, where he died two hours later.


title: Self-immolation

text: In 2020, the practice resumed when Russian journalist Irina Slavina burned herself in Nizhny Novgorod after her last post on Facebook, in which she wrote: "I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death".


title: Self-immolation

text: Also, cases of self-immolation as a form of political protest were recorded in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa, Izhevsk, Kemerovo and other cities of the Russian Federation. Most of the cases were fatal.


title: Self-immolation

text: The practice continues, notably in India: as many as 1,451 and 1,584 self-immolations were reported there in 2000 and 2001, respectively. A particularly high wave of self-immolation in India was recorded in 1990 protesting the system of Reservation. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of self-immolations in India to date.


title: Self-immolation

text: In Iran, most self-immolations have been performed by citizens protesting the tempestuous changes brought upon after the Iranian Revolution. Many of these instances have gone largely unreported by regime authority, but have been discussed and documented by established witnesses. Provinces that were involved more intensively in postwar problems feature higher rates of self-immolation. These undocumented demonstrations of protest are deliberated upon worldwide, by professionals such as Iranian historians who appear on international broadcasts such as Voice of America, and use the immolations as propaganda to direct criticism towards the Censorship in Iran. One specifically well documented self-immolation transpired in 1993, 14 years after the revolution, and was performed by Homa Darabi, a self-proclaimed political activist affiliated with the Nation Party of Iran. Darabi is known for her political self-immolation in protest to the compulsory hijab. Self-immolation protests continue to take place against the regime to this day. Most recently accounted for is the September 2019 death of Sahar Khodayari, protesting a possible sentence of six months in prison for having tried to enter a public stadium to watch a football game, against the national ban against women at such events. One month after her death, Iranian women were allowed to attend a football match in Iran for the first time in 40 years.


title: Self-immolation

text: In 2009, the monk Tapey at Kirti Monastery in Amdo self-immolated in protest of the Chinese Government's restrictions placed against an important ceremony.


title: Self-immolation

text: A wave of self-immolations began in 2011, after another monk, Phuntsok, also from Kirti Monastery self-immolated. The wave continued until 2019 and resumed again in 2022. As of April 2022, there were 161 confirmed events in Tibet and 10 others made in solidarity outside of Tibet. With the self-immolations by Tibetans, most of these protests (some 80%) end in death, while eyewitness reports state many of the protestors have been shot and beaten while burning, and then arrested by Chinese authorities, before disappearing.


title: Self-immolation

text: The 14th Dalai Lama has spoken with respect and compassion for those who engage in self-immolation, and blamed the self-immolations on "cultural genocide" by the Chinese. The Chinese government claims that he and the exiled Tibetan government are inciting these acts. In 2013, the Dalai Lama questioned the effectiveness of self-immolation as a demonstration tactic. He has also expressed that the Tibetans are acting of their own free will and stated that he cannot influence them to stop carrying out immolation as a form of protest.


title: Self-immolation

text: A wave of self-immolation suicides occurred in conjunction with the Arab Spring protests in the Middle East and North Africa, with at least 14 recorded incidents. These suicides assisted in inciting the Arab Spring, including the 2010–2011 Tunisian revolution, the main catalyst of which was the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, the 2011 Algerian protests (including many self-immolations in Algeria), and the 2011 Egyptian revolution. There have also been suicide protests in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Syria.


title: Self-immolation

text: On 1 January 2022, an Australian man self-immolated to protest the COVID-19 vaccine mandates and vaccine IDs. He was later taken to the hospital.


title: Self-immolation

text: On 14 April 2018, David Buckel self immolated in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Shortly before lighting himself on fire he sent an email to several news outlets which included the statement "Most humans on the planet now breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result—my early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves."


title: Self-immolation

text: Wynn Bruce, a climate activist from Boulder, Colorado self-immolated on the steps of the Supreme Court of the United States on Earth Day, 22 April 2022. On 28 March 2022, he made a Facebook post stating “This is not humor. It is all about breathing” followed by “Clean air matters.”


title: Self-immolation

text: On 21 September 2022, a man believed to be in his 70s set himself on fire near the Japanese prime minister's office (Kantei). The man was expressing his disapproval for the planned state funeral for former prime minister Shinzo Abe.


title: Self-immolation

text: On January 13, 2018, a 38-year-old man burned himself in front of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara, stating that he had been jobless for 5 years, and asked for help from the government.


title: Tina Majorino

text: Albertina Marie Majorino (; born February 7, 1985) is an American film and television actress. She started her career as a child actor, starring in films such as "Andre", "When a Man Loves a Woman", "Waterworld", and "Corrina, Corrina".


title: Tina Majorino

text: After her early success as a child actor, she returned to acting at age 18 as the character Deb in the 2004 film "Napoleon Dynamite." From 2004 to 2007, she portrayed Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie on "Veronica Mars", and reprised the character in the 2014 spinoff film; she was offered the chance to play the character once again in the eight-episode fourth season in 2019, but turned it down. She has also appeared in the TV series "Big Love", "True Blood" and "Grey's Anatomy". She has played the part of Maggie Harris on the television series "Legends". She later appeared in the recurring role of Florence in the television series "Scorpion".


title: Tina Majorino

text: Majorino was born in the Westlake village neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, to Sarah and Bob Majorino. She has Italian ancestry on her paternal side. Majorino has an older brother, Kevin, with whom she has formed a rock band, The AM Project.


title: Tina Majorino

text: Majorino began her acting career in a 1992 sitcom called "Camp Wilder". Her first film role was in 1994's "When a Man Loves a Woman". She subsequently starred in leading roles in the family films "Corrina, Corrina" and "Andre", both of which were released in August 1994. Her next film was the 1995 action film "Waterworld", playing a child named Enola.


title: Tina Majorino

text: She played the title role in the 1999 television film "Alice in Wonderland". After "Alice", she took time off from show business, later saying that she stopped acting so she would not miss out on her childhood: "I wanted to experience the things that a little kid can experience and get to know myself so when I came back I could be tough enough and strong enough to keep a good attitude, keep my head on straight and make the right decisions for myself and my family." She did not appear in another film until the 2004 cult film "Napoleon Dynamite". From 2004 onward, she played a recurring role on UPN's series, "Veronica Mars", as the computer-savvy Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie. She first appeared in the show's eighth episode, "Like a Virgin", and continued until the show's series finale, "The Bitch is Back". Show creator Rob Thomas created the role with her in mind. She had met Thomas while interviewing him for a report on one of his books. Majorino became a series regular in the show's third and final season. During her time on "Veronica Mars", she also started appearing in a recurring role on the cable television series "Big Love" with "Waterworld" costar Jeanne Tripplehorn and fellow "Veronica Mars" cast members Amanda Seyfried and Kyle Gallner. In 2005, she appeared in the music video for the song "Blind" by rock group Lifehouse.


title: Tina Majorino

text: She started filming for "The Deep End", a television show for ABC in 2009. She played the role of Addy Fisher, a meek, insecure first-year associate at a high-profile law firm. The show was canceled after only six episodes were aired.


title: Tina Majorino

text: She returned to television in 2011 playing the recurring role of Special Agent Genny Shaw on "Bones". She also starred in the music video for "Fuckin' Perfect" by Pink.


title: Tina Majorino

text: In 2012, she reprised her role as Deb in the animated TV version of "Napoleon Dynamite". She was also seen playing the role of the vampire Molly in Season 5 of the HBO television series "True Blood", an uncredited role as a pregnant woman in the Fox show, "Raising Hope", in an episode titled "Tarot Cards," and the role of intern Dr. Heather Brooks in Season 9 of the ABC series "Grey's Anatomy", with her character being killed off in the two-part premiere of Season 10. In 2014 she appeared in the "Veronica Mars" film as her character Mac, a project financed by fans through Kickstarter. Majorino was approached to reprise the role of Mac when "Veronica Mars" was renewed for a fourth season by Hulu in 2019, but turned it down upon learning the role was essentially a cameo.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: Lee Jun-ho (; born January 25, 1990), known mononymously as Junho, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, dancer, composer and actor. He is a member of the South Korean boy band 2PM.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2013, Junho debuted as an actor in the Korean movie "Cold Eyes". Junho is most known for his roles in "Good Manager" (2017), "Rain or Shine" (2017–18), and "The Red Sleeve" (2021).


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: Junho first gained public attention when he won "Superstar Survival" in 2006. The show started with twelve teenage competitors and, as the weeks went on, they were eliminated one by one until three were left. The process followed a similar style to that of reality show "Survivor". Junho signed a contract with JYP Entertainment after winning the contest, placing first out of 6,500 competitors. Future 2PM bandmates Taecyeon and Chansung had also competed.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: Junho took an undergraduate program at Howon University (Gunsan, South Korea) with his bandmates Chansung and Wooyoung. In addition, along with Chansung, he is continuing a master's degree of cinematography at Sejong University.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2008, he took part in Mnet's "Hot Blood Men" which follows the extreme training of 13 trainees in order to become a member of the boy band "One Day". "One Day" spawned two boy bands, 2AM and 2PM.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: Six months after "Hot Blood" was aired on TV, 2PM debuted with their first single "10점 만점에 10점" (""10 Points out of 10 Points"") from their first EP Hottest Time of the Day, but it wasn't until their second EP which skyrocketed their success in the Korean music industry. As of 2017, the group has released six studio albums in Korea and four studio albums in Japan.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: Junho debuted as a solo singer in Japan in 2013 with his first solo mini album, "Kimi no Koe", for which he produced, composed and wrote all the tracks. The album landed on no. 1 in Tower Records′ charts and no. 3 on Oricon's daily chart. On July 9, Junho began his first solo tour, "Junho 1st Solo Tour Kimi no Koe" which ended on August 29 in Tokyo.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: On July 9, 2014, Junho released his second self-composed Japanese mini-album, "FEEL". "FEEL" topped Oricon's daily album chart the day of its release. From July 3 to August 13, Junho embarked on his second solo tour in Japan titled " Junho Solo Tour 2014 - Feel" which traveled to five different Japanese cities.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: On July 15, 2015, Junho released his third Japanese mini-album, "SO GOOD". The album ranked third in Oricon's weekly music chart, and sold more than 40,000 albums in its first week. He embarked on his 2015 Japan tour "Last Night" in seven cities, which started July 7.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In September, he released his first album in Korea, a special compilation album titled "One". The album contained Korean version of 11 self-composed Japanese songs that were released in the past. He concluded his solo concert "Last Night" at Seoul which was held at the Olympic Hall in Olympic Park, Seoul, from September 19–20.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2016, Junho released his fourth Japanese mini-album, "DSMN". The album topped Oricon Daily Chart and also the daily sales rankings at Tower Records. Moreover, the pre-released single "DSMN" was also popular in Japan's ringtone website. He embarked on his fourth Japanese tour "Hyper" which concluded to a 20,000 audience in Tokyo on August 25.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: On the 3rd and 4 December Junho held a special Encore Concert "LAST HYPER NIGHT" in Nippon Budokan. For the 4th of December concert, there was a live viewing event throughout Japan.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2017, Junho released his fifth Japanese mini-album "2017 S/S" in Japan. The album achieved the best records for Junho thus far, peaking at number two on Oricon's weekly music chart. From July to August, Junho embarked on his fifth Japanese tour "2017 S/S".


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In the same year, his first Korean mini-album "Canvas" was released, marking his official debut in the Korean music industry as a solo artist.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In January 2018, Junho released the single, “Winter Sleep” in both Korean and Japanese. Starting from January 20 to February 24, Junho embarked on his first solo winter tour in Japan, the Winter Special Tour “冬の少年” which included nine stops in five cities.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: On July 11 of 2018, Junho released his seventh Japanese mini album "Imagination" (Souzou). On the daily album chart of Japan's largest music statistics-tracking company Oricon for July 10, the mini album took No. 1 with estimated sales of 27,270 units. His summer solo tour "Flashlight"' started in late June and continued until early September, with thirteen stops in five cities in Japan.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: On December 5 of the same year, Junho released a Japanese compilation album ‘Junho the Best‘, containing sixteen tracks. From December 6 to 8, Junho held his Last Concert "JUNHO THE BEST" in Nippon Budokan.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In January 2019, Junho released his second Korean compilation album titled "Two". Lee will hold a solo concert series titled “Junho the Best in Seoul” in March.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: On July 1, 2022, Lee held a fan meeting Lee Jun-ho 2022 Fan-Con 'Before Midnight' held on August 12–14 in Korea and August 20–21 in Japan.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: The first song Junho was credited for on a 2PM album was "Give it to Me" in 2011, on their second studio album Hands Up. Junho's first contribution to a Japanese release was "Kimi ga Ireba" (君がいれば; If You Are Here), released as part of 2PM's fourth Japanese single Beautiful on June 6, 2012, and which was also included on their second Japanese studio album, Legend of 2PM.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2012, Junho coupled with actress Kim So-eun on MBC's "Music and Lyrics" for the song "Sad Love", written by Kim So-eun and composed by Junho. The single was a hit and debuted at top 10 spots on various music charts, and was chosen as the theme song of MBC's weekend drama "Feast of the Gods". He also collaborated with Vanness Wu in the song "Undefeated" for Taiwanese drama "Ti Amo Chocolate" soundtrack.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: The song "Move On", written by Junho and fellow member Jang Wooyoung, which was included in 2PM's "2PM Best~ 2008-2011 in Korea" album, topped Japan's Recochoku Chart. In 2013, Junho participated as a composer for Wooyoung's Korean debut EP "23, Male, Single" with the song "Be With You". The song "Love Is True", which featured vocals from Junho and Nichkhun, was included in the bonus CD of 2PM's "Go Crazy!" Korean album released in 2014. In 2016, Junho wrote the song "Versus", which was recorded as a duet with Hwang Chan-sung and was released in the limited edition version D of 2PM's Japanese album "Galaxy of 2PM".


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: As of February 2019, Junho is credited with a hundred songs at the Korea Music Copyright Association, placing him on number 7 of the top ten idols with most copyrighted songs.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: Junho made his film debut in the action thriller "Cold Eyes", where he impressed viewers for his acting.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2015, Junho featured in martial arts period drama "Memories of the Sword". He next starred alongside Kim Woo-bin and Kang Ha-neul in the coming-of-age film "Twenty".


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2017, Junho starred in the hit office comedy drama "Good Manager". He was praised for his villainous acting in the drama as the arrogant director of finances. The same year, Junho landed his first lead role in JTBC's romantic melodrama series "Rain or Shine". He played a psychologically scarred survivor of a fatal incident.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2018, Junho was cast in his first Japanese movie "Rose and Tulip", written by popular manga artist "Akiko Higashimura", in which he played a double role. He was then cast in the SBS romance comedy drama "Wok of Love", playing a star chef. The same year, he was cast in the historical comedy film "Gibang Bachelor".


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In November 2021, he starred the historical romance drama "The Red Sleeve", playing the role of Crown Prince Yi San, alongside Lee Se-young as Royal Consort Uibin Seong. The drama became a success, sweeping 8 awards at the 2021 MBC Drama Awards, with him getting Top Excellence Award. Lee Junho was the first idol-actor to win Best Actor at 2022's Korea PD Awards, and also won the awards for Most Popular Actor and Best Actor – Television at the 58th Baeksang Arts Awards, becoming the first idol to win the latter. Lee Junho was also the first idol-actor to win Top Excellence Award, Actor in a miniseries in Apan Star Awards and first-idol actor to win Grand Prize (Daesang) for Actor of the year at 2022 Asia Artist Awards


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2012, Junho was appointed as the honorary ambassador of the 24 Hour Famine Program hosted by World Vision.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In the same year, along with the 2PM members, Junho participated in MBC's God of Victory, where they were pitted against the members of Shinhwa. Junho won the segment "Breaking Chopsticks With His Butt", as he was able to break 28 chopstick pairs with his rear end in under 15 seconds.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: In 2013, Junho's solo variety show titled "2PM Junho's SAY YES -Friendship-" was broadcast on Tokyo MX. The show features Junho travelling across different places in Japan to make friends along with invited Japanese celebrities.


title: Lee Jun-ho (entertainer)

text: On May 30, 2019, Junho began his military service as a public service worker. Due to a severe shoulder injury he suffered in 2010 during acrobatics practice and for which he underwent a large surgery in 2012, he was judged unfit for active duty. Junho was discharged on March 20, 2021.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 American road action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry. The directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham, the film follows Bo "Bandit" Darville (Reynolds) and Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Reed), two bootleggers attempting to illegally transport 400 cases of Coors beer from Texarkana to Atlanta. While the Snowman drives the truck carrying the beer, the Bandit drives a Pontiac Trans Am to distract law enforcement (called blocking) and keep the attention off the Snowman. During their run, they are pursued by Texas county sheriff Buford T. Justice (Gleason). "Smokey and the Bandit" was the second highest-grossing domestic film of 1977 in the United States. Sally Field and Burt Reynolds began a relationship after meeting on set.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Wealthy Texan Big Enos Burdette and his son Little Enos have sponsored a racer in Atlanta's Southern Classic and want to celebrate in style when he wins, so they are seeking a trucker willing to bootleg Coors Beer to Atlanta for their refreshment. They find local legend Bo "Bandit" Darville at a roadeo at Lakewood Fairgrounds and offer him to haul 400 cases of Coors from Texarkana (the closest place it could be legally sold at that time) to Atlanta in 28 hours. The Bandit takes the bet on the risky and unprecedented task, and recruits his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow to drive the truck, while Bandit drives a black Pontiac Trans Am bought in advance from the Burdettes as a "blocker" to divert attention away from the truck and its illegal cargo.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The pair arrive in Texarkana one hour early and load up the truck, but just as they head back, Carrie, a runaway bride, intercepts Bandit and jumps in his car, unwittingly making him an indirect target of Sheriff Buford T. Justice, a career Texas lawman whose witless son Junior was to have married Carrie. Buford, with Junior along, ignores his jurisdiction and doggedly chases Bandit all the way to Georgia to retrieve Carrie while various mishaps cause his cruiser to disintegrate on the way.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Bandit attracts more police attention across Dixie as Snowman barrels on toward Atlanta with the contraband beer, but they are helped en route by many colorful characters via CB radio. Neither Buford nor any other lawmen know of Snowman's illegal manifest, while Bandit is likewise unaware that Buford is chasing him because of Carrie, whose jumpiness inspires Bandit to give her the CB handle "Frog".


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Just after re-entering Georgia, Snowman is rescued by Bandit after being stopped by a Georgia State Patrol motorcycle trooper, and state and local police intensely pursue Bandit with roadblocks and a helicopter to track his movement. With four miles left, Bandit, discouraged by the unexpected mounting attention, is ready to give up, but Snowman, who initially thought they would fail, takes the lead and smashes through the roadblock at the fairgrounds' main entrance. They return one minute after their time limit, but instead of taking the payoff, Carrie and Bandit accept a double-or-nothing offer from Little Enos: a challenge to run up to Boston and bring back clam chowder in 18 hours. They quickly escape in one of Big Enos's 13 Cadillacs as police flood the racetrack.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: After passing Buford's badly damaged cruiser on the roadside, Bandit gets on the CB and initially directs him to the Burdettes, but then respectfully gives his real location—right behind Buford, who continues his chase leaving Junior behind, and with more parts falling off his cruiser as he limps off after Bandit.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Needham originally planned the film as a low-budget B movie with a production cost of $1 million, with Reed as the Bandit. Needham had great difficulty getting any studios or producers to take his project seriously, being better known in the film industry as a stuntman. He obtained the attention of studios and aimed the film at a more mainstream release after his friend Reynolds read the script and agreed to portray the Bandit, with Reed now portraying the Bandit's friend the Snowman. Reed would eventually play the Bandit in "Smokey and the Bandit Part 3", in which Reynolds only appeared in a cameo near the end. At the time, Reynolds was the top box office star in the world.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: In the original script, Carrie was called Kate while Big Enos and Little Enos were called Kyle and Dickey. The Bandit's car was a second-generation Trans Am and the prize for completing the run was a new truck rather than $80,000. Reynolds revealed in his autobiography that Needham had written the first draft script on legal pads. Upon showing it to his friend, Reynolds told Needham that it was the worst script he had ever read, but that he would still make the movie. Most of the dialogue was improvised on set.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Universal Studios bankrolled "Smokey and the Bandit" for $5.3 million, figuring it was a good risk. Just two days before production was to begin, Universal sent a "hatchet man" to Atlanta to inform Needham that the budget was being trimmed by $1 million. With Reynolds' salary at $1 million, Needham was left with only $3.3 million to make the film. Needham and assistant director David Hamburger spent 30 hours revising the shooting schedule.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: "Buford T. Justice" was the name of a real Florida Highway Patrolman known to Reynolds' father, who was once Police Chief of Riviera Beach, Florida. His father was also the inspiration for the word "sumbitch" used in the film, a variation of the phrase "son-of-a-bitch" that, according to Reynolds, he uttered quite often. Gleason was given free rein to ad-lib dialogue and make suggestions. It was his idea to have Junior alongside him throughout the film. In particular, the scene where Sheriff Justice unknowingly encounters the Bandit in the "choke and puke" (a roadside diner) was not in the original story but was rather Gleason's idea.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The film's theme song, "East Bound and Down", was written virtually overnight by Reed. He gave Needham a preview of the song and, getting no reaction, offered to rewrite it. In response, Needham told Reed that he liked the song so much that if Reed changed even a word or a note, Needham would "choke him". It would become one of Reed's biggest hits and his signature song.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The film features the custom clothing and costuming of Niver Western Wear of Fort Worth, Texas. Niver provided much of the western attire worn in the film, as well as the custom-made sheriff's uniforms (waist size 64") that Gleason wore throughout the film.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: While made to take advantage of the ongoing 1970s CB radio fad, the film added to the craze. Though the film "Moonrunners" (1975) is the precursor to the television series "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979–1985), from the same creator and with many identical settings and concepts, the popularity of "Smokey and the Bandit" and similar films helped get the "Dukes" series on the air. Three actors from the main cast of "The Dukes of Hazzard" appear in small uncredited roles in "Smokey and the Bandit": Ben Jones, John Schneider, and Sonny Shroyer (who played a police officer in both). In return, Reynolds portrayed Boss Hogg (originally portrayed by Sorrell Booke) in the film adaptation "The Dukes of Hazzard" (2005). Reynolds is referenced by name in several early episodes of the series.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Before Gleason was cast in the film, Richard Boone was originally considered for the role of Buford T. Justice. Sally Field only accepted the part after her agent advised her that she needed a big movie role on her résumé. Reynolds actively pushed for her casting after Universal initially resisted, claiming Field was not attractive enough. Field enjoyed making the film, but remembers that virtually the entire project was improvised.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Principal photography of the film began on August 30, 1976. The movie was primarily filmed in Georgia, in the cities of McDonough, Jonesboro, and Lithonia. The scenes set in Texarkana were filmed in Jonesboro and the surrounding area and many of the chase scenes were filmed in the surrounding areas on Highway 54 between Fayetteville and Jonesboro for a majority of the driving scenes, Mundy's Mill Road, Main Street in Jonesboro, Georgia State Route 400, I-85 (Pleasant Hill exit) and in McDonough. However, the scene where they drive through the Shell gas station was filmed in Ojai, California, on the corner of Ojai Avenue and El Paseo Road. Much of the surrounding scene comes from that immediate vicinity. The scene featuring the racetrack was filmed at Lakewood Speedway at the old Lakewood Fairgrounds on Atlanta's south side. The roller coaster in the movie was the Greyhound. It had not been used for some time and was repainted for the film. It was destroyed in "Smokey and the Bandit II" and in a flashback scene in "Part 3". The area around Helen, Georgia, was used for some locations. The scene where Sheriff Justice's car has the door knocked off by a passing semi-truck was shot on Georgia State Route 75, north of Helen. The tow truck driver was a local garage owner, Berlin Wike. Reynolds and Field began dating during the filming.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: According to an interview with Susie McIver Ewing on The RetroZest Podcast, she was picked to play the role of Hot Pants Hilliard after the dailies footage (shot in the Atlanta area) of the original actress playing the role was inadvertently destroyed on its way from Atlanta to Los Angeles. The new Hot Pants scene had to quickly be refilmed as a part of a second unit in the San Fernando Valley and was shot at a drive-in restaurant near Hansen Dam named Baby Beef Burgers, which has since been demolished. This same restaurant was used for a scene in the 1983 Stephen King Movie Christine, which was ultimately cut in the final film (it can be viewed as a deleted scene on the DVD release of the film).


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Needham saw an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and knew right away that would be the Bandit's car, or, as Needham referred to it, a character in the movie. He contacted Pontiac and an agreement was made that four 1977 Trans Ams and two Pontiac LeMans four-door sedans would be provided for the movie. The Trans Ams were actually 1976-model cars with 1977 front ends (from 1970 to 1976, both the Firebird/Trans Am and Chevrolet Camaro have two round headlights and in 1977, the Firebird/Trans Am was changed to four rectangular headlights, and the Camaro remained unchanged). The decals were changed to 1977-style units, as evidenced by the engine size callouts on the hood scoop being in liters rather than cubic inches, as had been the case in 1976. The hood scoop on these cars says "6.6 LITRE", which, in 1977, would have denoted an Oldsmobile 403-equipped car or a non-W-72, 180 hp version of the 400 Pontiac engine.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The cars were 1976 models, the engines fitted to them were 455ci powerplants, the last year these engines were offered for sale before withdrawal. All four of the cars were badly damaged during production, one of which was all but destroyed during the jump over the dismantled Mulberry bridge. The Trans Am used for said jump was equipped with a booster rocket, the same type that was used by Evel Knievel during his failed Snake River Canyon jump. Needham served as the driver for the stunt (in place of Reynolds), while Lada St. Edmund was in the same car (in place of Field). By the film's ending, the final surviving Trans Am and LeMans were both barely running and the other cars had become parts donors to keep them running. This gives rise to various continuity errors with Justice's patrol car, which during some chase sequences is shown with a black rear fender, which then reverts to the car's bronze color again in later scenes. When it is finally torn off along with the car's roof in the impact with the girder, the missing fender still reappears later on in the film. The Burdettes' car is a 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible painted in a "Candy Red" color scheme and is seen briefly at the beginning of the movie and in the final scene as the Bandit, the Snowman, Fred the dog, and Frog use it to make their escape. Three Kenworth W900A short-frame semi trucks, driven by Reed, were each equipped with 38-inch sleepers. Two units were 1974 models, as evidenced by standard silver Kenworth emblems on the truck grille, and one unit was a 1973 model, as evidenced by the gold-painted Kenworth emblem on the truck's grille, signifying Kenworth's 50 years in business. The paint code for each truck was coffee brown with gold trims and the mural trailer used was manufactured by Hobbs Trailers in Texas with a non-operational Thermo King Refrigeration unit. This is obvious, because there is no fuel tank on the underside of the trailer to power the refrigeration unit, and the unit is never heard running.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: In 1977, Coors was unavailable for sale east of Oklahoma. Its lack of additives and preservatives meant that Coors could spoil in one week without refrigeration, explaining the film's 28-hour deadline. A 1974 "Time" magazine article explains that Coors was so coveted for its lack of stabilizers and preservatives, and Coors Banquet Beer had a brief renaissance. Future President Gerald Ford, after a trip to Colorado, hid it in his luggage to take it back to Washington, D.C. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a steady supply airlifted by the Air Force to Washington. Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox would bring several cases after playing on the West Coast, by stashing them in the equipment trunks on the team's plane. Frederick Amon smuggled it from Colorado to North Carolina and sold it for four times the retail price.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Coors is still brewed just outside Denver, Colorado. It is now sold in all states as Coors ships it in refrigerated train cars and bottled locally and sold in different parts of the country including the eastern US states.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The theme music "East Bound and Down" was sung and co-written by Reed (credited under his birth name, Jerry Hubbard) and Dick Feller. It became Reed's signature song and is on multiple albums, including "Country Legends" and his live album "Jerry Reed "Live!" (Still)". In 1991, it was arranged for orchestra by Crafton Beck and recorded by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra for their album "Down on the Farm". Several other groups, such as the U.S. rock band Tonic and U.K.-based country cover band We Be Ploughin' have also covered it. Reed also penned and performed the song for the opening credits, entitled "The Legend", which tells of some of the Bandit's escapades before the events of the film, and the ballad "The Bandit", which is in several versions in the movie and on the soundtrack. Bill Justis is the first name on the credits for the soundtrack, as he composed and arranged original music throughout the film. Musicians such as Beegie Adair and George Tidwell played on the soundtrack. Five-string banjo player Bobby Thompson is prominent toward the end of "East Bound and Down". The soundtrack album was released in 1977 on vinyl, cassette, and 8-track through MCA Records.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: "Smokey and the Bandit" was a sleeper hit. It premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where it performed badly. It then opened in just the South of the United States over the Memorial Day weekend and grossed $2,689,851 in 386 theaters. By the end of June, it had played in major Southern markets, including Charlotte, Atlanta, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, and Oklahoma City, grossing $11.9 million. It opened in other Northern states at the end of July. With an original budget of $5.3 million (cut to $4.3 million two days before initial production), the film eventually grossed $126,737,428 in North America, making it the second-highest-grossing movie of 1977 (only "Star Wars" earned more, with $221.3 million). The worldwide gross is estimated at over $300 million. Reynolds said in 2015 that he most enjoyed this film, and had the most fun making it, of his career.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film a good rating (3 stars out of a possible 4) and characterized it as "about as subtle as "The Three Stooges", but a classic compared to the sequels and countless rip-offs which followed". In his review in the "Chicago Tribune", Gene Siskel gave the film two stars and complained that the film failed to tell the audience when the clock started on the beer run, thus reducing suspense. He claimed that the Bandit is never made aware of Frog's leaving Junior at the altar, which is why the Bandit continually asks why a Texas sheriff is chasing him. However, this is inaccurate; within seconds of Bandit picking her up, Frog tells him "there is a wedding in search of a bride" and goes on to explain her ill-advised romance with Junior, as the Bandit holds up the CB mic for the Snowman to hear. The film's editors, Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 78% rating based on 32 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Not much in the head but plenty beneath the hood, "Smokey and the Bandit" is infectious fun with plenty of car wrecks to keep your eyes glued". Alfred Hitchcock claimed that the film was one of his favorites. Upon meeting Reynolds, Billy Bob Thornton told him that the South considers the film to be less cinema and more documentary. "Smokey and the Bandit" was released in the United Kingdom on August 28 and was a success there, garnering positive reviews.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: After the debut of the film, the Pontiac Trans Am became wildly popular, with sales almost doubling within two years of the film's release. It outsold its Chevrolet Camaro counterpart for the first time. Reynolds was given the 1977 vehicle used during promotion of the film as a gift, though the car itself never actually appeared in the film. Because of the popularity of the film and the sales success of the Trans Am, the president of Pontiac Alex Mair promised to supply Reynolds with a Trans Am each year. Due to his financial difficulties in 2014, Reynolds put his vast collection of artwork and memorabilia up for auction, including the Trans Am. High estimates for the car were up to $80,000, but the actual sale price was $450,000. Also up for auction was a go-kart replica of the car, which sold for nearly $14,000. In 2015 a Florida-based automobile customization company built 77 Trans Ams modeled after the car that Reynolds drove in the film. These new models were built off the same Camaro platform, came with the Pontiac arrowhead, flaming bird, and Bandit logos, and the instrument panels, center consoles, and hood scoops emulating their 1977 counterparts, and were signed by Reynolds. Some differences included the use of a supercharged 454-CID (7.4-liter) Chevrolet-sourced engine that put out 840 HP, and four round headlights, which appeared on the 1967–69 Firebirds/Trans Ams only; the actual 1977–81 models had rectangular headlights.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The "diablo sandwich" ordered by Sheriff Justice in the Arkansas barbecue restaurant scene has entered popular culture as a minor reference to the film. Though no authoritative source identifies the composition of the sandwich, there are several possibilities. A segment of the CMT program "Reel Eats" used a sloppy joe-style recipe consisting of seasoned ground beef, corn, and sour cream. Another proposal, based more closely on images from the film and the shooting location of the scene (at an Old Hickory House restaurant in Georgia), is pulled pork and hot sauce on a hamburger bun. Other sources in East Texas (from whence Sheriff Justice hails) are familiar with the popular regional delicacy known as the Diablo Sandwich. It consists of any of the various Louisiana-style hot sauces on Texas toast-style bread alongside the fourth most famous product of Pittsburg, Texas (behind Pilgrim's Pride, Cavender's, and Carroll Shelby)Pittsburg Hot Links.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The first run in 2007 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the movie, The Bandit Run was the brainchild of Dave Hall, owner of Restore A Muscle Car. A group of Trans Am owners and fans of the movie take part in an annual road trip from Texarkana to Jonesboro, recreating the route taken by the characters in the film. The Bandit Run quickly became a fixture, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the movie with a special 2017 screening of the film attended by Reynolds and a recreation of the jump undertaken by the Bandit and Frog across a river.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: In 2014, petroleum company Mobil 1 produced television commercials, featuring then-NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, closely based on the film. Called "Smoke is the Bandit" and playing on Stewart's nickname, the commercials featured him as the Bandit opposite commentators Darrell Waltrip as the Snowman and Jeff Hammond as Buford T. Justice. The story replaced the Coors beer with Mobil 1 products. The advertisements lampoon the film and feature a Pontiac Trans Am and a cover version of the song "East Bound and Down". The commercials were produced after Stewart mentioned that the movie was one of his favorites.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: When "Smokey and the Bandit" first aired on American network television in the early 1980s, censors were faced with the challenge of toning down the raw language of the original film. For this purpose, they overdubbed dialogue deemed offensive, which was common practice. The most noted change made for network broadcast was the replacing of Buford's often-spoken phrase "sumbitch" (a contraction of "son of a bitch"; usually in reference to the Bandit) with the phrase "scum bum". This phrase achieved a level of popularity with children and the 2007 "Hot Wheels" release of the 1970s Firebird Trans Am has "scum bum" emblazoned on its tail.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: Except for Gleason, the original actors mostly redubbed their lines for the television version. Actor Henry Corden, who voiced Fred Flintstone after original performer Alan Reed died the same year the film was released, was used to replace a considerable amount of Sheriff Justice's dialogue. In the U.K., the heavily dubbed version was shown for several years, particularly by the BBC. However, in more recent years, the original version has been shown (on ITV, a commercial channel), usually with the stronger language edited out, often quite awkwardly. The theatrical release has a few lines deleted, including an edit in which Sheriff Justice tells a state trooper to "fuck off" after the sheriff called his vehicle "a piece of crap". His expletive is obscured when a passing big rig sounds its horn. At the time, using "fuck" would immediately require an R rating and this self-censorship allowed the film to avoid this rating and reach a much larger audience. However, the scene and the obscured expletive were played for comedy value and written as such, with the passing truck being the gag of the scene more than a way to avoid the censors.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: In 2006, a DVD re-release was issued of "Smokey and the Bandit" featuring a digitally remastered audio track with 5.1 Dolby-compatible surround sound. Many of the film's original sounds were replaced. For instance, the diesel engine start and run-up sequence in the opening sequence of the film were completely dubbed over with a new sound. A few other examples of sound effect replacement occur when the Bandit takes off after getting the reluctant Cledus involved in the bet, the Bandit comes to a screeching halt on a roadway moments before picking up Carrie, and when Buford's car top comes off. Some of the original sound effects (such as Cledus's dog Fred barking) and music (such as the final chase to the Southern Classic) were removed and not replaced. Earlier DVD releases and the 40th Anniversary Blu-ray of the film have the original soundtrack intact. Major portions of the audio background have been modified with different engine sounds or tire squeals from the original film. The updated version of the film features sound inaccurate for what would be produced by the Trans Am or the numerous other Pontiac vehicles in the film. The original film had correct sounds that were usually recorded live as the action took place.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The film was followed by two sequels: "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980) and "Smokey and the Bandit Part 3" (1983). The second film was a modest box office success, earning $66.1 million against a $17 million budget.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: The third film – which had no involvement from either Hal Needham or Sally Field and contained only a short cameo appearance by Burt Reynolds – revolved entirely around Jackie Gleason's character, was panned by critics, and was a box office bomb, earning only $7 million against a $9 million budget.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: A series of four made-for-TV spin-off films ("Bandit Goes Country", "Bandit Bandit", "Beauty and the Bandit", and "Bandit's Silver Angel") were produced in 1994 for Universal Television's "Action Pack" with actor Brian Bloom playing a younger version of the Bandit. The three original films introduced two generations of the Pontiac Trans Am and the Dodge Stealth in the television movies.


title: Smokey and the Bandit

text: In October 2020, a "Smokey and the Bandit" TV series was revealed to be in development, with a pilot written by David Gordon Green and Brian Sides and also executive produced with his Rough House confederates Jody Hill, Danny McBride and Brandon James and Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins of Fuzzy Door.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (, ; born 26 June 1963), sometimes known by his initials MBK, is an exiled Russian businessman and opposition activist, now residing in London. In 2003, Khodorkovsky was believed to be the wealthiest man in Russia, with a fortune estimated to be worth $15billion, and was ranked 16th on "Forbes" list of billionaires. He had worked his way up the Komsomol apparatus, during the Soviet years, and started several businesses during the period of "glasnost" and "perestroika" in the late 1980s. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in the mid-1990s, he accumulated considerable wealth by obtaining control of a number of Siberian oil fields unified under the name Yukos, one of the major companies to emerge from the privatization of state assets during the 1990s (a scheme known as "Loans for Shares").


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In 2001, Khodorkovsky founded Open Russia, a reform-minded organization intending to "build and strengthen civil society" in the country. In October 2003, he was arrested by Russian authorities and charged with fraud. The government under Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, then froze shares of Yukos shortly thereafter on tax charges. Putin's government took further actions against Yukos, leading to a collapse of the company's share price and the evaporation of much of Khodorkovsky's wealth. In May 2005, he was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison. In December 2010, while he was still serving his sentence, Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were further charged with and found guilty of embezzlement and money laundering, Khodorkovsky's prison sentence was extended to 2014. After Hans-Dietrich Genscher lobbied for his release, Putin pardoned Khodorkovsky, releasing him from jail on 20 December 2013.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: There was widespread concern internationally that the trials and sentencing were politically motivated. The trial was criticized abroad for the lack of due process. Khodorkovsky lodged several applications with the European Court of Human Rights, seeking redress for alleged violations by Russia of his human rights. In response to his first application, which concerned events from 2003 to 2005, the court found that several violations were committed by the Russian authorities in their treatment of Khodorkovsky. Despite these findings, the court ultimately ruled that the trial was not politically motivated, but rather "that the charges against him were grounded in 'reasonable suspicion'". He was considered to be a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On being pardoned by Putin and released from prison at the end of 2013, Khodorkovsky immediately left Russia and was granted residency in Switzerland. At the end of 2013, his personal estate was believed to be worth, as a rough estimate, $100–250 million. At the end of 2014, he was said to be worth about $500 million. In 2015, he moved to London. In December 2016, the Dublin District Court unfroze $100m of Khodorkovsky's assets that had been held in the Republic of Ireland.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In 2014, Khodorkovsky re-launched Open Russia to promote several reforms to Russian civil society, including free and fair elections, political education, protection of journalists and activists, endorsing the rule of law, and ensuring media independence. He was described by "The Economist" as "the Kremlin's leading critic-in-exile".


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky's parents, Boris and Marina Khodorkovsky, were engineers at a factory making measuring instruments in Moscow. Khodorkovsky's father was Jewish, and his mother was Russian Orthodox (Christian). They were both opponents of Communism, though they kept this from their son, who was born in 1963. Having experienced a rise in state anti-Semitism and the death of Stalin, the Khodorkovskys were part of a generation of well-educated Soviets who were silently supportive of dissidents.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The family were moderately well off, living in a two-room flat in a concrete block in the suburbs of Moscow. Masha Gessen wrote that they faced a dilemma raising Mikhail: “Speak your mind about the Soviet Union and risk making your child miserable, with the constant need for doublethink and doublespeak, or try to raise a contented conformist. They chose the second path, with results that far exceeded their expectations. Mikhail became a fervent Communist and Soviet patriot, a member of a species that had seemed all but extinct."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The young Khodorkovsky was ambitious and received excellent grades. He became deputy head of Komsomol (the Communist Youth League) at his university, the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, from which he graduated with a degree in chemical engineering in 1986.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: While in college, Khodorkovsky married a fellow student, Yelena. They had a son, Pavel. In 1986, he met an 18-year-old, Inna, a student at the Mendeleev Institute who was a colleague of Khodorkovsky's at the Komsomol organization. He courted her and slept in his car until she took him in. They had a daughter and twin sons. He and his first wife remained on good terms, and she would later take an active part in the campaign for his release from prison.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: After his graduation in 1986, Khodorkovsky began to work full-time for the Komsomol, which was a typical way of entering upon a Soviet political career. "After several years of working mostly to collect Komsomol dues from fellow students", noted Gessen, "he could expect to be appointed to a junior position in city management someplace far from the capital."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: But instead of following this path, he exploited "quasi-official and often extra-legal business opportunities" and began to make a business career for himself. With partners from Komsomol, and technically operating under its authority, Khodorkovsky opened his first business in 1986, a private café. The enterprise was made possible by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's programme of perestroika and glasnost.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The introduction of perestroika enabled Khodorkovsky to use his connections within the communist structures to gain a foothold in the developing free market. With the help of some powerful people, he started his business activities under the cover of Komsomol. Friendship with another Komsomol leader, Alexey Golubovich, had a significant impact on his growing success, since Golubovich's parents held top positions in Gosbank, the State Bank of the USSR. Among the businesses in which Khodorkovsky "tried his hand" were "importing personal computers and, according to some sources, counterfeit alcohol." In addition, he "ventured into finance, devising ways to squeeze cash out of the Soviet planned-economy behemoth."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In 1987, Khodorkovsky and his partners opened a Center for Scientific and Technical Creativity of the Youth. In addition to importing and reselling computers, the "scientific" center was involved in trading a wide range of other products. The opening of the center eventually made possible the founding of Bank Menatep.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Employees of the Bank of New York, which was closely associated with Bruce Rappaport, worked very closely with his Menatep helping Menatep to list its stock in the United States. Natasha Gurfinkel Kagalovskaya, who is married to a former senior executive at Bank Menatep Konstantin Kagalovsky, supervised the Bank of New York's Eastern European business beginning in 1992. She had been a banker with Irving Trust since 1986 which was acquired by the Bank of New York in 1988. or "Mickey" Galitzine had previously headed the Eastern European business at the Bank of New York and travelled for the first time to Russia in 1990.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: He and his partners obtained a banking license, supposedly from money made from selling secondhand computers, to create Bank Menatep in 1989. As one of Russia's first privately owned banks, Menatep expanded quickly, by using most of the deposits raised to finance Khodorkovsky's import-export operations, which is a questionable


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: practice in itself. Moreover, the government granted Bank Menatep the right to manage funds allocated for the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Khodorkovsky said:


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Many years later I talked with people and asked them, why didn't you start doing the same thing? Why didn't you go into it? Because any head of an institute had more possibilities than I had, by an order of magnitude. They explained that they had all gone through the period when the same system was allowed. And then, at best, people were unable to succeed in their career and, at worst, found themselves in jail. They were all sure that would be the case this time, and that is why they did not go into it. And I...I did not remember this! I was too young! And I went for it."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: It was during this period that Khodorkovsky acquired the Yukos oil company for about $300 million through a rigged auction. Khodorkovsky subsequently went on a campaign to raise investment funds abroad, borrowing hundreds of millions. When the 1998 financial crisis struck Russia, Khodorkovsky defaulted on some of his foreign debt and took his Yukos shares offshore to protect them from creditors.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky also served as an economic adviser to the first government of Boris Yeltsin. "During the failed 1991 coup by Communist hard-liners", Gessen wrote, "he was on the barricades in front of Moscow's White House, helping to defend the government." Shortly thereafter, having lost his faith in Communism, he and his business associate Leonid Nevzlin wrote a "capitalist manifesto" entitled "The Man with the Ruble", which stated in part: "It is time to stop living according to Lenin! ... Our guiding light is Profit, acquired in a strictly legal way. Our Lord is His Majesty, Money, for it is only He who can lead us to wealth as the norm in life."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In 1992, Khodorkovsky was appointed chairman of the Investment Promotion Fund of the fuel and power industry. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia in March 1993. In 1996, Menatep acquired a major Russian oil producer, Yukos, which had debts exceeding $3.5 billion, for $309 million.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In the 1990s, noted Gessen, "Khodorkovsky made millions in currency trading. He also bought up privatization vouchers—documents distributed to every Russian citizen and entitling them to a share of the national wealth—which many Russians were happy to unload at a discount for ready cash. Khodorkovsky eventually acquired controlling stakes in some 30 companies. When Russia staged its greatest property giveaway ever, in 1995, Khodorkovsky was poised to take advantage of that too." As Gessen explained, the Russian government, after the fall of Communism, "still nominally controlled Russia's largest companies, though they had been variously re-structured, abandoned, or looted by their own executives." A dozen men, the "new oligarchs", including Khodorkovsky, hit upon the stratagem of lending the government money against collateral consisting of blocks of stock that amounted to controlling interests in those companies. The oligarchs and government both knew that the government would eventually default and that the firms would thus pass into the oligarchs' hands. "By this maneuver", wrote Gessen, "the Yeltsin administration privatized oil, gas, minerals, and other enterprises without parliamentary approval." This was how Khodorkovsky came to own Yukos.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: When he came into possession of Yukos, a conglomerate consisting of over 20 firms, most of them were "in terrible condition", and he enjoyed the job of turning them into well-functioning units. According to Gellin, Khodorkovsky was "the most reticent among the oligarchs", choosing not to "buy yachts or villas on the Côte d’Azur" or to become a fixture of "the Moscow playboy scene". To be sure, he did buy "a gated compound of seven houses on 50 forested acres about half an hour outside Moscow" in the late 1990s, calling it Apple Orchard and housing Yukos's leading executives, who lived together as "one large happy family". His social life consisted mostly of "Barbecuing for fellow Yukos managers". At nights he would stay up and "read until two". He later wrote that during this period "I saw business as a game. ... It was a game in which you wanted to win but losing was also an option. It was a game in which hundreds of thousands of people came to work in the morning to play with me."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Nevzlin told Gessen about a time when Khodorkovsky was in Poland on business and the Soviet economic-crimes unit began harassing Nevzlin, who feared arrest under Soviet-era laws. He found the situation "terrifying", but when Khodorkovsky returned from Poland he said, "Let me go home, take a shower, get some sleep, and we'll talk about it tomorrow morning." Nevzlin told Gessen: "There was just no way to shake him, ever." Nevzlin described Khodorkovsky as a "data addict", a man with "an iron will," and "someone dependent on human stimulus for information and ideas." Although Khodorkovsky "has strong emotions," Nevzlin said, he is capable of turning them off.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: For one week in 1994, he was the director of an online internet bank known as the European Union Bank based in Antigua after which it collapsed. Numerous banking regulators claimed it was a scam.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: By 1998, Khodorkovsky had built an import-export business with an annual turnover of 80 million rubles (about $10 million USD). In the 1998 Russian crash, however, his bank went under and Yukos had serious problems owing to a drop in the price of oil. Realizing that "business could no longer be just a game" and that "capitalism could make people not only rich and happy but also poor and powerless", he "swore off his absolute faith in wealth just as he had sworn off his absolute faith in Communism." After the price of oil began to rise again, he established a foundation, Open Russia, in 2001. It was based at Somerset House in London with Henry Kissinger as its trustee.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The Foundation's mission statement declared: "The motivation for the establishment of the Open Russia Foundation is the wish to foster enhanced openness, understanding and integration between the people of Russia and the rest of the world." The following year it had its United States launch in Washington, D.C.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In addition to founding Open Russia, Khodorkovsky "funded Internet cafés in the provinces, to get people to talk to one another. He funded training sessions for journalists all over the country. [In 1994] He established a boarding school for disadvantaged children and pulled his own parents out of retirement to run it. By some estimates, he was supporting half of all non-governmental organizations in Russia, by others, he was funding 80 percent of them. In 2003, Yukos pledged $100 million over 10 years to the Russian State Humanities University, the best liberal-arts school in the country—the first time a private company had contributed a significant amount of money to a Russian educational institution."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: He also founded internet-training centres for teachers, a forum for the discussion by journalists of reform and democracy, and foundations which finance archaeological digs, cultural exchanges, summer camps for children and a boarding school for orphans.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In April 2003, Khodorkovsky announced that Yukos would merge with Sibneft, creating an oil company with reserves equal to those of Western petroleum multinationals. Khodorkovsky had been reported to be involved in negotiations with ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco to sell one or the other of them a large stake in Yukos. Sibneft was created in 1995, at the suggestion of Boris Berezovsky, comprising some of the most valuable assets of a state-owned oil company. In a controversial auction process, Berezovsky acquired 50% of the company at what most agree was a very low price.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: When Berezovsky had a confrontation with Putin, and felt compelled to leave Russia for London (where he was granted asylum), he assigned his shares in Sibneft to Roman Abramovich. Abramovich subsequently agreed to the merger. With 19.5 billion barrels (3 km³) of oil and gas, the merged entity would have owned the second-largest oil and gas reserves in the world after ExxonMobil and would have been the fourth largest in the world in terms of production, pumping 2.3 million barrels (370,000 m³) of crude a day. The combination of the companies closed in October 2003, just prior to the arrest of Khodorkovsky, but through a series of questionable legal maneuvers, the former Sibneft shareholders were able to get the transaction negated.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky also hired McKinsey & Company to reform Yukos's management structure, and Pricewaterhouse to establish an accounting system. Thanks partly to the rising oil prices, partly to modernized operations, and partly to its "new transparency", Yukos thrived. "By 2003, Khodorkovsky was the richest man in Russia, and potentially on his way to becoming the richest man in the world. In 2004, Forbes placed him 16th on its list of the world's wealthiest people, with a fortune estimated at $16 billion."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky is openly critical of what he refers to as "managed democracy" within Russia. Careful normally not to criticise the current leadership, he says the military and security services exercise too much authority. He told "The Times":"It is the Singapore model, it is a term that people understand in Russia these days. It means that theoretically you have a free press, but in practice there is self-censorship. Theoretically you have courts, in practice the courts adopt decisions dictated from above. Theoretically there are civil rights enshrined in the constitution; in practice you are not able to exercise some of these rights."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky promoted social programs through Yukos in regions where the company operated, one example being "New Civilization", in Angarsk, which promoted student government to young adults. The scout program incorporated aspects of student government. Participants from throughout the country spent their holidays organizing student-governed bodies at summer camps.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Masha Gessen, writing in 2012, recalled meeting Khodorkovsky in 2002, "when he met with a group of young authors to try out what would become his stump speech as he traveled the country, urging the creation of a new kind of economy in Russia, one based on intellectual rather than mineral resources."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: "At the root of the conflict between Putin and Khodorkovsky", stated writer and activist Masha Gessen in April 2012, "lies a basic difference in character. Putin rarely says what he means and even less frequently trusts that others are saying what they mean. Khodorkovsky, in contrast, seems to have always taken himself and others at face value—he has constructed his identity in accordance with his convictions and his life in accordance with his identity. That is what landed him in prison and what has kept him there."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In February 2003, at a televised meeting at the Kremlin, Khodorkovsky argued with Putin about corruption. He implied that major government officials were accepting millions in bribes. In early 2012, prior to the Russian presidential election, Khodorkovsky and Putin were said to have both underestimated each other.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: After being convicted for tax evasion, money-laundering, and embezzlement, Khodorkovsky maintained his innocence and said that his conviction was "retribution for financing political parties that opposed Putin".


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 20 December 2013, Putin signed a pardon freeing Khodorkovsky. Following his release, Khodorkovsky addressed the media at a news conference in Berlin, Germany. He referred to himself as a "political prisoner", and stated he would not re-enter business or politics.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky stated in a December 2014 interview that he was not violating his promise to Putin to avoid politics, but was only engaged in "civil society work... politics is in essence a battle to get yourself elected, personally. I'm not interested in this. But to the question, are you ready to go through to the very end: yes, I am. I see this as my civic duty." He said he was "offering myself as a crisis manager. Because that's what I am."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In early July 2003, Platon Lebedev, Khodorkovsky's partner and the fourth largest shareholder in Yukos, was arrested on suspicion of illegally acquiring a stake in the state-owned fertilizer firm Apatit in 1994. The arrest was followed by purported investigations into taxation returns filed by Yukos, and a delay in the antitrust commission's approval of its merger with Sibneft.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On the morning of 25 October 2003, Khodorkovsky was arrested at Novosibirsk airport. He was taken to Moscow and charged with fraud, tax evasion, and other economic crimes. Gessen describes the trial as a "travesty" and "a Kafka-esque procedure", with the government spending months "on an incoherent account of alleged violations that were criminalized after they were committed, or that were in fact legal activities." In preparing the case, the government called in Yukos employees for questioning. Pavel Ivlev, a tax lawyer who went along as their attorney, later explained that officials had illegally interrogated him and threatened to arrest him. After leaving the prosecutor's office, he immediately flew out of the country. He and his family ended up settling in the U.S.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Initially news of Khodorkovsky's arrest had a significant effect on the share price of Yukos. The Moscow stock market was closed for the first time ever for an hour to ensure stable trading as prices collapsed. Russia's currency, the ruble, was also hit as some foreign investors questioned the stability of the Russian market. Media reaction in Moscow was almost universally negative in blanket coverage, some of the more enthusiastic pro-business press discussed the end of capitalism, while even the government-owned press criticised the "absurd" method of Khodorkovsky's arrest.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Yukos moved quickly to replace Khodorkovsky with a Russian-born U.S. citizen, Simon Kukes. Kukes, who became the CEO of Yukos, was already an experienced oil executive.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The U.S. State Department said Khodorkovsky's arrest "raised a number of concerns over the arbitrary use of the judicial system" and was likely to be very damaging to foreign investment in Russia, as it appeared there were "selective" prosecutions occurring against Yukos officials but not against others.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: A week after the arrest, the Prosecutor-General froze Khodorkovsky's shares in Yukos to prevent Khodorkovsky from selling his shares although he retained all the shares' voting rights and received dividends. In 2003, Khodorkovsky's shares in Yukos passed to Jacob Rothschild under a deal that they had concluded prior to Khodorkovsky's arrest.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The charges against Khodorkovsky and his associates were that, in 1994, while chairman of Menatep, he "created an organized group of individuals with the intention of taking control of the shares in Russian companies during the privatisation process through deceit." This was with particular reference to supposedly "illegal actions" he had taken in the privatisation of the State-owned mining and fertiliser company Apatit.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky's longtime business partner, Platon Lebedev, was arrested on 2 July 2003, and they were put on trial together. A few weeks later, Yukos's security head Alexei Pichugin was arrested and became the subject of a separate prosecution. Leonid Nevzlin of Menatep reportedly suggested at this moment that he and Khodorkovsky should


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: "leave the country and try to bargain from a position of freedom. We should take our money out and start a new business and a new life."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Nevzlin did just that and moved to Israel. Khodorkovsky remained in Russia. "In his value system, fleeing the country once Lebedev was in jail would have been immoral", Gessen wrote, "regardless of whether he could do anything to help his friend." Instead, Khodorkovsky began to give speeches arguing that Russia must modernize socially and espouse an open and transparent economy, promoting technology over purely natural resources.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky was defended in court by an experienced team led by Yury Schmidt and including Karinna Moskalenko. The prosecutors claimed they were operating independently of the presidential administration. The Prosecutor-General, Vladimir Ustinov, was appointed by the former President Boris Yeltsin. He was not seen as particularly close to Putin, who had once tried to remove him. However, he was politically ambitious and prosecuting Russia's most prominent and successful tycoon was perceived as a boost to his political career and intended candidacy for the Duma.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The first Khodorkovsky-Lebedev trial lasted 10 months. There were few defense witnesses, noted Gessen, "not only because the court turned down most of its motions but also because the prosecution's case seemed so flimsy." Also, it was perceived as risky to testify for the defense. "Ten people affiliated with Yukos, including two lawyers, had already been arrested. Nine more had evaded arrest only by fleeing the country."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were both declared guilty and sentenced to nine years in penal colonies. The verdict of the trial, repeating the prosecutors' indictments almost verbatim, was 662 pages long. As is customary in Russian trials, the judges read the verdict aloud, beginning on 16 May 2005 and finishing on 31 May. Khodorkovsky's lawyers alleged that it was read as slowly as possible to minimize public attention.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky received support from independent third parties who believed that he was a victim of a politicized judicial system. On 29 November 2004, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights published a report, which concluded, "the circumstances of the arrest and prosecution of leading Yukos executives suggest that the interest of the State's action in these cases goes beyond the mere pursuit of criminal justice, to include such elements as to weaken an outspoken political opponent, to intimidate other wealthy individuals and to regain control of strategic economic assets."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In addition, Khodorkovsky has received admiration and support from members of the UK parliament who have noted the decline of human rights in Russia.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In June 2009, the Council of Europe published a report which criticized the Russian government's handling of the Yukos case, entitled "Allegations of Politically Motivated Abuses of the Criminal Justice System in Council of Europe Member States":


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: "The Yukos affair epitomises this authoritarian abuse of the system. I wish to recall here the excellent work done by Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, in her two reports on this subject. I do not intend to comment on the ins and outs of this case which saw Yukos, a privately owned oil company, made bankrupt and broken up for the benefit of the state owned company Rosneft. The assets were bought at auction by a rather obscure financial group, Baikalfinansgroup, for almost €7 billion. It is still not known who is behind this financial group. A number of experts believe that the state-owned company Gazprom had a hand in the matter. The former heads of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, were sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for fraud and tax evasion. Vasiliy Aleksanyan, former vice-chairman of the company, who is suffering from Aids, was released on bail in January 2009 after being held in inhuman conditions condemned by the European Court of Human Rights.3 Lastly, Svetlana Bakhmina, deputy head of Yukos's legal department, who was sentenced in 2005 to six and a half years' imprisonment for tax fraud, saw her application for early release turned down in October 2008, even though she had served half of her sentence, had expressed "remorse" and was seven months pregnant. Thanks to the support of thousands of people around the world and the personal intervention of the United States President, George W. Bush, she was released in April 2009 after giving birth to a girl on 28 November 2008."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Statements of support for Khodorkovsky and criticism of the state's persecution have been passed by the Italian Parliament, the German Bundestag, and the U.S. House of Representatives, among many other official bodies.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In June 2010, Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and human rights activist, began a campaign to raise awareness of Khodorkovsky's trial and advocate for his release.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In November 2010, Amnesty International Germany began a petition campaign demanding that President Medvedev get an independent review of all criminal charges against Khodorkovsky, to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights. On 24 May 2011, Amnesty International criticized Lebedev and Khodorkovsky's second trial, named them prisoners of conscience, and called for their release on the expiry of their initial sentences.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Yelena Bonner, the widow of Andrei Sakharov, never stopped defending Khodorkhovsky: "I think that any person becomes a political prisoner if the law is applied to him selectively, and this is an absolutely clear case. This is a glaringly lawless action."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In May 2014, Khodorkovsky was praised by former Polish president Lech Wałęsa and received an award for his efforts to reform Russian civil society.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: A cartoonist present at the trial created a cartoon series depicting the events. These cartoons compared Khodorkovsky's trial to the trial of Franz Kafka's "The Trial". As of August 2015, these cartoons are on display at the Dox Gallery of Prague.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 30 May 2005, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in a medium security prison. At the time, he was detained at Matrosskaya Tishina, a prison in Moscow. On 1 August 2005, a political essay written by Khodorkovsky in his prison cell, titled "Left Turn", was published in "Vedomosti", calling for a turn to a more socially responsible state. He stated:


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: "The next Russian administration will have to include the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Motherland Party, or the historical successors to these parties. The left-wing liberals, including Yabloko, and right-wing Ryzhkov, Khakamada and others should decide whether to join the broad social-democratic coalition or to remain grumpy and without relevance on the political sidelines. In my opinion, they have to join because only the broadest composition of a coalition in which liberal-socialist (social-democratic) views will play the key role can save us from the emergence, in the process of this turn to the left turn, from a new ultra-authoritarian regime. The new Russian authorities will have to address a left-wing agenda and meet an irrepressible demand by the people for justice. This will mean in the first instance the problems of legalizing privatization and restoring paternalistic programs and approaches in several areas."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 19 August 2005, Khodorkovsky announced that he was on a hunger strike in protest against his friend and associate Platon Lebedev's placement in the "punishment cell" of the jail. According to Khodorkovsky, Lebedev had diabetes mellitus and heart problems, and keeping him in the punishment cell would be equivalent to murder.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 31 August 2005, he announced that he would run for parliament. This initiative was made possible by the legal loophole: a convicted felon cannot vote or stand for a parliament, but if his case is lodged with the Court of Appeal he still enjoys all electoral rights. Usually it takes around a year for an appeal to make its way through the Appeal Court, so there should have been enough time for Khodorkovsky to be elected. For a member of Russian parliament to be imprisoned, the parliament needs to vote to lift his or her immunity. Thus he had a hope of avoiding prosecution. But the Court of Appeal, unusually, took only a couple of weeks to process Khodorkovsky's appeal, reducing his sentence by one year and invalidating any electoral plans on his part until the end of his sentence.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: As reported on 20 October 2005, Khodorkovsky was delivered to the labor camp YaG-14/10 (Исправительное учреждение общего режима ЯГ-14/10) in the town of Krasnokamensk near Chita. The labor camp is adjacent to a uranium mine, which it once served. Khodorkovsky was put to work in the colony's mitten factory. He slept in a barracks and often spent his days in a cold solitary cell in retribution for his supposed violating of various rules.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The second part of Khodorkovsky's essay "Left Turn" was published in "Kommersant" on 11 November 2005, in which he expressed social democratic views.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 13 April 2006, Khodorkovsky was attacked by prison inmate Alexander Kuchma while he was asleep after a heated conversation. Kuchma cut Khodorkovsky's face with a knife and said that it was a response to sexual advances by the businessman. Western media accused the Russian authorities of trying to play down the incident. In January 2009, the same prisoner filed a lawsuit for 500,000 rubles (about $15,000) against Khodorkovsky, accusing him of homosexual harassment. Kuchma said in an interview that he was compelled to attack Khodorkovsky by two officers, beaten and threatened with death to commit the attack. In 2011, Kuchma admitted that he had been told to attack Khodorkovsky "by unknown persons who had come to the prison colony and beaten and threatened him."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 5 February 2007, new charges of embezzlement and money laundering were brought against both Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Khodorkovsky's supporters pointed out that the charges came just months before Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were to become eligible for parole, as well as a year before the next Russian presidential election.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 28 January 2008, Khodorkovsky began a hunger strike to help his associate Vasily Aleksanyan, who is ill and was held in jail and who was denied the medical treatment he needed. Aleksanyan was transferred from a pre-trial prison to an oncological hospital on 8 February 2008, after which Khodorkovsky called off his strike.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: "No single cause has done more than Khodorkovsky's to inspire Russian speakers everywhere", Gessen wrote in 2012. "Three of Russia's best-selling writers have published their correspondence with Khodorkovsky; composers have dedicated symphonies to him, a dozen artists attended his trial and put together an exhibition of courtroom drawings." Gessen noted that "a group of Soviet-born classical musicians traveled to Strasbourg to mount a concert in honor of Khodorkovsky." While Khodorkovsky was imprisoned, Arvo Pärt, the Estonian composer, wrote his Symphony no. 4, and dedicated it to him. The symphony had its premiere on 10 January 2009 in Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky spent more than half of his prison time in the Matrosskaya Tishina Detention Facility in Moscow, where, according to Gessen, "living conditions are far more punishing than those in a distant penal colony." Yet, Gessen noted, he "declined to describe" in any detail the conditions under which he was imprisoned, "arguing that he is no different from other inmates."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In prison, Khodorkovsky announced that he would research and write a PhD dissertation on the topic of Russian oil policy. The third part of Khodorkovsky's essay/thesis "Left Turn" with the subheading "Global Perestroika" was published in "Vedomosti" on 7 November 2008. In it he stated:


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: "Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential elections is not simply the latest change of power in one individual country, albeit a superpower. We are standing on the threshold of a change in the paradigm of world development. The era whose foundations were laid by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher three decades ago is ending. Unconditionally including myself in that part of society that has liberal views, I see: ahead – is a Turn to the Left."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In May 2010, Khodorkovsky went on a two-day hunger-strike to protest what he said was a violation of the recent law against imprisonment of persons accused of financial crimes. The law was pushed by President Medvedev after the death of Sergei Magnitsky who died in pre-trial detention in a Moscow prison in 2009.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On appeal, Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev's sentences were reduced from 11 years to 10 years and 10 months meaning they could be released in August 2014 and May 2014, respectively. Khodorkovsky's appeal read: "In this case, the usual mantra that everything is legal and well-grounded just won't do."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: He wrote a book, "My Fellow Prisoners", detailing his time incarcerated. Khodorkovsky has spoken about how his incarceration has changed his "value system" in life, and that there are now, for an example, more important things for him than business pursuits.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: "The Economist" asserted in April 2010 that after six years in prison, Khodorkovsky had politically transformed from an oligarch into a political prisoner and freedom fighter: "He speaks with the authority of a chief executive of what was once Russia's largest oil company. He explains how Yukos and Russia's oil industry functioned, but he goes beyond business matters. What he is defending is not his long-lost business, but his human rights. The transformation of Mr. Khodorkovsky from a ruthless oligarch, operating in a virtually lawless climate, into a political prisoner and freedom fighter is one of the more intriguing tales in post-communist Russia."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky asserts his political transformation in many of his own writings from prison. On 26 October 2009, he published a response to Dmitri Medvedev's "Forward, Russia!" article in "Vedomosti", arguing that "authoritarianism in its current Russian form does not meet many key humanitarian requirements customary for any country that wishes to consider itself modern and European."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In a 28 January 2010, op-ed for the" New York Times" and "International Herald Tribune", Khodorkovsky argued that "Russia must make a historic choice. Either we turn back from the dead end toward which we have been heading in recent years – and we do it soon – or else we continue in this direction and Russia in its current form simply ceases to exist."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 3 March 2010, Khodorkovsky published an article in "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" about the "conveyor belt" of Russian justice. In this article, he states that the "siloviki conveyor belt, which has undermined justice is truly the gravedigger of modern Russian statehood. Because it turns many thousands of the country's most active, sensible and independent citizens against this statehood – with enviable regularity."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In conclusion, "The Economist" opined, "any talk by the Kremlin of the rule of law or about modernisation will be puffery so long as Mr Khodorkovsky remains in jail."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky became eligible for parole after having served half of his original sentence, however, in February 2007, state prosecutors began to prepare new charges of embezzlement, leading up to a second trial which began in March 2009.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Prosecutors filed new charges against Khodorkovsky, alleging that he stole 350 million tons of oil, charges which "Kommersant" described as "Compared with the previous version, only stylistic inaccuracy has been improved, and some of the paragraphs have been swapped." Others pointed out that the new charges were impossible given that he was previously convicted on tax evasion of the same allegedly stolen oil. According to Khodorkovsky's lawyer Karinna Moskalenko, "The position of the prosecutors is also self-contradictory. ... Khodorkovsky is now serving a sentence for tax evasion, and if they are asserting that he stole all the oil his company produced, what did he go to prison for the first time if there was nothing to be taxed?"


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: "If the first set of charges was thin, the second was absurd", Gessen later wrote. "Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were now accused of having stolen all the oil that Yukos had produced in the years 1998 to 2003." At the end of the trial, in December 2010, both defendants were sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. Gessen cited leading Russian lawyers as saying that Russian laws had been "passed specifically to enable [Khodorkovsky's] persecution, or adjusted retroactively to sustain it." Many former Yukos employees were arrested and imprisoned and were therefore unemployable after their release, and Khodorkovsky "tried to provide financial support to those who have not found a way to make a living."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: Khodorkovsky delivered his own summation at his second trial. He spoke of his countrymen's hopes "that Russia will finally become a land of freedom and the law, and the law will be more important than the bureaucrats", a country where "human rights will no longer be contingent on the whim of the czar, whether he be kind or mean. Where the government will be accountable to the people and the courts will be accountable only to God and the law." He said, "I am not an ideal man, far from it. But I am a man of ideas. Like anyone, I have a hard time living in prison and I do not want to die here. But I will, if I need to, without a second thought."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: During a visit to Moscow in July 2009, President Barack Obama said: "it does seem odd to me that these new charges, which appear to be a repackaging of the old charges, should be surfacing now, years after these two individuals have been in prison and as they become eligible for parole."


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: The verdict was originally scheduled for 15 December, but was delayed without explanation until 27 December. Just a few days before the verdict was read by the judge before the court, Vladimir Putin made public comments with regard to his opinion of Khodorkovsky's guilt, saying "a thief should sit in jail".


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 27 December 2010, Judge Viktor Danilkin handed down a guilty verdict, convicting Khodorkovsky and Lebedev of stealing the full 350 million tons of oil, instead of the reduced 218 million tons as requested by the prosecutors. The judge sentenced them to 13.5 years in prison, later reduced to 12 years, one year less than the maximum sentence, which, when combined with time already served, will keep them in jail until 2017.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 14 January 2020, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia violated Article 6, Article 7 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 14 February 2011, Natalya Vasilyeva, an assistant to Judge Viktor Danilkin, said that the judge did not write the verdict, and had read it against his will. Essentially, Natalya Vasilyeva said the judge's verdict was "brought from the Moscow City Court".


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In her statement she also noted that "everyone in the judicial community understands perfectly that this is a rigged case, a fixed trial". On 24 February Vasilyeva underwent a polygraph test, which indicated that she likely believes that Danilkin acted under pressure. Judge Danilkin responded that "the assertion by Natalya Vasilyeva was nothing more than slander".


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 24 May 2011, Khodorkovsky's appeal hearing was held, and Judge Danilkin rejected the challenge. Following the rejection of the appeal, the human rights group Amnesty International declared Khodorkovsky and Lebedev as "prisoners of conscience", remarking in a statement that "Whatever the rights and wrongs of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev's first convictions there can no longer be any doubt that their second trial was deeply flawed and politically motivated." On 25 October 2013, the Berlin International Literature Festival held a worldwide reading in solidarity with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev and all political prisoners in Russia.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In June 2011, Khodorkovsky was sent to prison colony No. 7 of Segezha, in the northern region of Karelia near the Finnish border.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: According to his official site, Khodorkovsky would have been eligible for early release, but an alleged conspiracy involving jail guards and a cellmate resulted in a statement that he had violated one of the prison rules. This was sufficient for him to forfeit his rights, once the statement was logged in his file.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: It was predicted that he might be released by the middle of 2011, although Khodorkovsky was found guilty on 27 December 2010 of fresh charges of embezzlement and money laundering, which had the potential of leading to a new sentence of up to 22.5 years. "The second as well as the first case were organized by Igor Sechin", he said in an interview with "The Sunday Times" from a remand prison in the Siberian city of Chita, east of Moscow.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 22 August 2008, he was denied parole by Judge Igor Faliliyev, at the Ingodinsky district court in Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai. The basis for this was in part because Khodorkovsky "refused to attend jail sewing classes".


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In the second trial, the prosecutors asked the judge for a 14-year sentence, which was just one year less than the maximum. The judge, Danilkin, handed down the verdict on 30 December 2010 in which he upheld the prosecutors' statements. Taking into account the time already served, Khodorkovsky was to be released in 2017. U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned or expressed concern over Khodorkovsky's extended sentence. The White House said it brought Russia's legal system into question.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 15 February 2011, Vyacheslav Lebedev, chairman of Russia's Supreme Court, suggested reviving an old Soviet practice under which a maximum sentence for a person charged with different crimes should not exceed the sentence attached to the most serious charge: in Khodorkovsky's case, nine years. Since he has been in jail since October 2003, this would have meant releasing him in October 2012, which did not happen.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: On 5 March 2012, the day after Putin won his third term as president of Russia, President Medvedev ordered a review of Khodorkovsky's sentence.


title: Mikhail Khodorkovsky

text: In December 2012, a Moscow court reduced Khodorkovsky's prison sentence by two years, so that he was due to be released in 2014. In the same court case Khodorkovsky's business partner Platon Lebedev had his prison sentence reduced by two years. The 2010 case would have had them released 13 years after the day of their arrests in 2003.