Vasilyeva's moment on stage

JUST when the curtain had almost fallen on the second show-trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former tycoon who is Russia's most celebrated political prisoner, an extra has emerged with explosive effect. Natalia Vasilyeva, an assistant to Judge Viktor Danilkin, who found Mr Khodorkovsky guilty, has said the judge's verdict was imposed on him from above after the first draft was rejected.

Throughout the trial Mr Danilkin had to consult the higher-ranking Moscow City Court, said Ms Vasilyeva, who also works as a press secretary in Mr Danilkin's court. “The verdict was brought from the Moscow City Court, I know it for sure,” she said. The end, including the sentencing of Mr Khodorkovsky to 14 years in jail, was brought to Mr Danilkin after he began reading the verdict, Ms Vasilyeva added in her taped interview.

Mr Danilkin promptly rejected his assistant's statement. But human-rights activists and members of a civic council patronised by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, have called for an investigation. And Ms Vasilyeva has complained of intimidation.

The content of her statement did not surprise those who watched the trial. As she put it, “everyone in the judicial community understands perfectly that this is a rigged case, a fixed trial.” Mr Khodorkovsky's defence team claimed to have evidence that Mr Danilkin was acting under pressure. In a democracy all this would have led to investigations and perhaps resignations. In Russia the main intrigue is why Ms Vasilyeva, who got her legal qualifications only in 2009 after working as a cook (among other jobs), chose to spill the beans.

An obvious explanation—that she acted of her own volition because she was disillusioned with the system—seemed too implausible for the conspiracy-laden world of Russian politics. Most observers agreed that the 16-minute interview must be part of some larger game. One theory is that it was part of a rebellion by judges against Olga Yegorova, head of the Moscow City Court, who oversaw the first trial of Mr Khodorkovsky. She is a notorious figure in the Russian judicial system, who has been accused of putting pressure on district judges. Mr Khodorkovsky's verdict will take effect only after an appeal is heard by the Moscow City Court.

Another theory is that it could help Mr Medvedev to find a politically acceptable solution to the Khodorkovsky case. At the Davos World Economic Forum, he stressed that the sentence had not yet come into force and admitted that his own “high-ranking colleagues” had discussed the case with him. Earlier this month he agreed that a group of independent legal experts should review it.

On February 15th 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 Mr Khodorkovsky's case, nine years. Since he has been in jail since October 2003, this would mean releasing him in October 2012—a few months after the next presidential election.

Whatever Ms Vasilyeva's motive, the response to her confession says something about Russia. Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, who pre-empted the verdict by calling Mr Khodorkovsky a thief who belonged in jail, thought Russians would swallow it. But the second Khodorkovsky trial has proved less digestible than he had hoped.