The conviction and sentencing of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former robber-baron-like petro-billionaire who has transfigured himself into a dignified human-rights martyr, comes at a time when Russia is increasingly worried about its chilly investment climate - more particularly, its difficulties in attracting either foreign or domestic investment.
President Dmitry Medvedev is very unlikely to grant a pardon, and it would be almost miraculous if Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were to let go of his enmity toward Mr. Khodorkovsky. But both Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin have expressed their concern about the loss of confidence about investment in Russia - the former of the two, repeatedly - as have some of the country's leading business people. One of the main causes is the tenuousness of the rule of the law in the country. In Mr. Khodorkovsky's heyday, he was far from a model of corporate governance, but the recent charges against him do not add up.
According to data from the Russian central bank, net private capital outflows rose as high as $3.9-billion in one week in November. Though Russia is often grouped with Brazil, India and China as an emerging great economic power, it is the only BRIC nation that does not have to deal with abundant, even excessive, capital inflows.
One of Mr. Khodorkovsky's sins in the eyes of the Russian government was his attempt in 2003 to sell part of the Yukos oil company to either ExxonMobil Corp. or Chevron Corp. Now, the shortage of foreign direct investment is recognized as a weakness of a national economy that is too dependent on petroleum. Mr. Khodorkovsky stays in prison, but Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev are digging themselves deeper into a hole.