Independent Findings regarding Magnitsky’s Arrest

Torture > Independent findings regarding Sergei’s arrest and diary.

Lyudmila Alekseeva, Head of Moscow Helsinki Commission

• Independent findings regarding Sergei’s arrest, his torture in pre-trial detention, and his murder
  • Petition of Ludmila Alekseyeva, Head of the Moscow Helsinki Group – a leading Russian human rights organization, to open a murder investigation against Interior Ministry officers for the torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky (26 March 2010)
  • Report of the Moscow Prison Watchdog – Public Oversight Commission for Human Rights Observance in Moscow Detentions Centers – into the repression, torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky (28 December 2009)
  • Article about Sergei Magnitsky’s death by a member of the Moscow Prison Watchdog (14 May 2010)
  • Article about the “intentional death” and “murder” of Sergei Magnitsky citing members of the Moscow Prison Watchdog in The Wall Street Journal (29 December 2009)
  • Report of the US Department of State 2009 on Human Rights in Russia highlighting the arrest on trumped-up charges and torture of Sergei Magnitsky (March 2010)
  • Report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemning the politically-motivated persecution of Sergei Magnitsky and his client (August 2009)

Complaint of Ludmila Alekseyeva (26 March 2010)
Petition of Ludmila Alekseyeva, Head of the Moscow Helsinki Group (Russia’s oldest independent human rights organization), stating that Sergei Magnitsky was falsely arrested and systematically tortured to death by the Interior Ministry officers whom he had testified against and calling for a murder investigation to be opened against the Interior Ministry officers who are responsible.
[Download this document in PDF]

Valery Borschev, Moscow Prison Watchdog

Moscow Prison Watchdog Report into the death of Sergei Magnitsky (28 December 2009)
This report was published in late 2009 by the Public Oversight Commission for Human Rights Observance in Moscow Detention Centers. Following an exhaustive investigation and numerous interviews with the state officials, prison wardens, doctors and others, the report concludes that Sergei Magnitsky’s “right to life” was violated in prison. The report further finds that Sergei was subjected to physical and psychological pressure, torture and inhuman conditions for the duration of his incarceration and deprived of urgent life-saving medical care by Interior Ministry investigators. The Committee also notes the conflicting statements given by the numerous prison officials casts significant doubts on the truthfulness of their accounts.
[Download this document in PDF]

Zoya Svetova, Human Rights Activist

Article about Sergei Magnitsky’s death by a member of the Moscow Prison Watchdog (14 May 2010)
Article about Sergei’s death by a member of the Moscow Public Oversight Commission explaining how employees of the detention center – the managers, doctors and medical assistants – lied and how their actions created lethal conditions for Sergei.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/zoya-svetova/prison-as-death-sentence

Report of the US Department of State on Human Rights in Russia (March 2010)
In March 2010 the U.S. State Department published its annual summary of human rights observance in Russia. The 2010 report condemns Sergei’s illegal arrest, imprisonment and death and notes the extreme human rights violations Sergei endured while in detention. In particular, the report confirms how “a number of human rights activists believed Magnitsky’s death to have been either deliberate or the result of an attempt to pressure him to change his testimony against Kuznetsov and Karpov.” The report further notes to date how no one has been prosecuted for the crimes committed against Sergei Magnitsky.

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eur/136054.htm

[Download this document in PDF]

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrrenberger, The Special Rapporteur

The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Report (August 2009)
[Download this document in PDF]
The Special Rapporteur for the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrrenberger, issued this report in August 2009. Approved by a unanimous vote by the Parliamentary Assembly, the report describes how the Hermitage case, and the imprisonment of Sergei Magnitsky as a hostage, is emblematic of the politically-motivated abuses of the Russian justice system. In addition, it summarizes the attacks and intimidation against Sergei and the other lawyers acting for HSBC/Hermitage in Russia through the use of police searches, questioning, arrest and imprisonment. The Rapporteur concludes that she “cannot help suspecting that this coordinated attack [against Hermitage] must have the support of senior officials.”

See in particular, page 29 (paragraphs 87-91) with notes at the bottom of page 29 and pages 34-36 (paragraphs 108-112).