Brief Background : Michail khodorkovsky was the undisputed oligarch in Russia only 2 years back. With billions of dollars in his privately owned company Yukos, he represented the new and emerging Russia to capitalistic West. Not for long, yesterday he was handed a nine year sentence for tax evation. Essentially Kremlin doesnt like anyone challenging its authority and will ruthlessly clamp down upon them like a criminal gang. From what I have read, this seems to be more a case of vendetta justice than justice for the poor people. With all the bad things people have to say about US, I think it has a far fairer justice system than any in the world. No dont even bother to talk about India, if ever your case gets heard in Supreme Court, there is a chance. However SC cannot move on its own and must act upon the evidence presented in front of it. And this is where the culptits can manipulate their way to a scot free life.
http://www.mosnews.com/commentary/2005/05/31/khodorkovsky.shtml
Recently I have been following another story on the sentence to former Australian beautician held in Indonesia for drug smuggling. While the normal sentence for those having smuggled much higher quantities was 0-5 years, in this case thanks to the jingoism displayed by the Australian media about the quality of Indonesian justice system, Schapelle Corby was given a very harsh 20 year sentence. Its best to avoid these poor nations which dont have a real concept of democracy or fairness.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15481770%255E2702,00.html
The latest update on this has been that the Indonesian embassy has attacked by bio terror, very shameful for both countries if true.
