MOSCOW - German ambassador to Russia Ulrich Brandenburg decorated a lawyer of Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Yury Schmidt, with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on Friday.
"In the late 1990s Yury Schmidt became known primarily as the lawyer of Captain Alexander Nikitin who was a member of Bellona environmentalist group. In 2003, he assumed the defense of Mikhail Khodorkovsky," a press release of the German Embassy received by Interfax says.
"Promoting the observance of human rights, the norms of a law-governed state and democracy is a key foreign policy objective of Germany. The efforts of Yury Schmidt are contributions to this objective. His decoration with the Commander’s Cross is recognition of his merits," a press release says.
It says that for many years Schmidt has been fighting for the practical enforcement of the norms of a law-governed state and the independence of justice.
"Thanks to his courage and staunchness Yury Schmidt has become known in the context of numerous high-profile court cases in which he acted as the attorney for the defense. His efforts in the sphere of human rights have won him broad international attention and recognition," the report of the German Embassy says.
The Order of Merit is the supreme award in Germany instituted in 1951. It has eight classes with the Commander’s Cross belonging to the sixth class.
