Report on Lawyer’s Death Provides a Chance for Medvedev to Redeem Himself

TOL

Russia’s president needs to do far more than just listen to the damning findings on the case of Sergei Magnitsky.

Even by the dubious standards of the Russian system of justice, the Sergei Magnitsky case is an outrage. Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison in November 2009 after 11 months in custody. He was arrested by senior police officials who had fraudulently seized control of assets of the U.K.-based Hermitage investment fund and had thereby secured a $230 million tax refund – the largest in Russian history. Magnitsky, an attorney, was working on behalf of Hermitage to recover the assets. In an appalling reversal of fate, Magnitsky himself was accused of tax fraud.

On 5 July President Dmitry Medvedev heard a report from his Council on Civil Society and Human Rights. The report covered a broad range of topics, from terrorism in the North Caucasus to children’s rights. Buried in the middle of the report, which was orally presented to Medvedev by council members, were their findings on the Magnitsky case. Their material was explosive. Not only did they confirm that Magnitsky had been illegally detained and denied medical treatment, they also revealed that immediately before his death he had been beaten by eight guards in the medical facility to which he had been transferred – and where he had again been denied medical treatment. This final tragic detail had not previously been known. It is an almost unbelievably cruel footnote to an already horrific tale.

Initial Western media reports of Tuesday’s meeting suggested that Medvedev responded positively to the report, and held out the prospect of future corrective action. The basis for these upbeat stories, which sustain the image of Medvedev as a liberal, pushing his reformist agenda against a recalcitrant pro-Putin establishment, is unclear. The president must have known of the report’s main findings at least since April, when the Russian press ran details of a preliminary text. The actual transcript of the meeting, posted on the presidential website Kremlin.ru, shows that Medvedev was in fact very reserved in his response. True, he approved the immediate publication of the report on the council’s website. But beyond that his remarks were not so encouraging. He laconically observed that it is bad for people to be dying in prison, and went on to remark that he would not want to see individual cases such as those of Magnitsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky being taken as somehow representative of the entire human rights situation in Russia.

So it remains unclear what happens next. In December 2009 Medvedev signed a law forbidding the jailing while under investigation of persons suspected of tax crimes. Some 20 prison officials were dismissed or transferred in the wake of the Magnitsky case, but late last year prosecutors said they would not be filing any charges in the case. The new information led to suggestions that prosecutions of the medical professionals who denied Magnitsky treatment in his final hours may be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, outrage about the case outside Russia continues to gather steam. William Browder, the founder of Hermitage Capital, has been active in raising the profile of the case, including the release of well-made video reports on the expensive assets acquired by some of the police officials involved (under the title “Russia’s Untouchables”). The European and Dutch parliaments have passed measures condemning the treatment of Magnitsky and opening the door to sanctions on named individuals involved in his persecution. A similar bill is working its way through the U.S. Congress, with a list of 60 people who could be denied visas to visit the U.S. and whose assets could be subject to seizure.

Russian officials, including Medvedev, have responded with predictable but unconvincing umbrage at such steps, which they condemn as interference in Russia’s internal affairs and a violation of the integrity of the Russian judicial process. If Moscow wants to be taken seriously as a responsible member of the international community, capable of living up to its obligations as a member of the Council of Europe and signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, then they have to do something about the Magnitsky case. If the Russian leadership wants to line up as a “sovereign” nation alongside China, Myanmar, and Syria, then that is their choice.

But in that case, they should save their money and stop spending hundreds of millions on lobbying firms and Russia Today TV in a pointless effort to burnish Russia’s image as a modern, “normal” democracy. They can also forget about a flood of Western investment, which is urgently needed to exploit the new offshore oil and gas fields, and to modernize the economy. News of official persecution in cases such as those of Khodorkovsky and Magnitsky adds to Russia’s risk premium, pushing up the rates of return expected by Western investors. If the Kremlin cannot understand the logic of justice, they can surely understand the logic of the bottom line. срочный займ на карту займ на карту срочно без отказа https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php www.zp-pdl.com payday loan