Russia drops charges against doctor in Magnitsky case

Agence France Presse

Russia on Monday said it had dropped charges against one of two doctors implicated in the death in prison of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, citing the statute of limitations.

“The Investigative Committee has decided to drop the criminal case against doctor and laboratory assistant at the pre-trial detention centre, Larisa Litvinova,” the statement said.

It cited “the elapsing of the statute limitations”, saying a new law had come into force since the investigation began.

Magnitsky died in 2009 at the age of 37 from untreated medical conditions including acute pancreatitis after being held in a notoriously squalid prison during a fraud probe against US investment firm Hermitage Capital.

Litvinova was one of only two people, both prison doctors, to be charged after a long-running and high-profile investigation which has not yet gone to trial.

Litvinova was charged in July with causing death by negligence, while her boss, the detention centre’s deputy medical chief Dmitry Kratov, was charged with negligence.

The Investigative Committee said that the case against Kratov had not been dropped.

Magnitsky’s employers, investment firm Hermitage Capital, which has led a campaign to get his death investigated, in a statement Monday accused the Russian government of “reluctance … to hold anyone accountable for Sergei Magnitsky’s death”.

“It’s clear from their behaviour that there is no intention of administering justice in the Magnitsky case, William Browder, the head of the fund, said in an email to AFP.

Magnitsky’s death in November 2009 prompted President Dmitry Medvedev to say that “people should not die in prison” and to introduce new legislation to stop those accused of financial crimes being held behind bars.

Russian investigators have however called for the fraud probe against Magnitsky to continue despite his death.

Prior to his detention Magnitsky was working at what was once Russia’s largest Western investment fund and claimed to have uncovered a scheme used by police officials to reclaim about $235 million in taxes paid by his employer.

But instead officials charged Magnitsky with fraud and put him in Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina jail, later transferring him to the most infamous prison in the city, Butyrka.

He was moved back to Matrosskaya Tishina days before his death and a report by the Kremlin’s human rights council last year found that he was handcuffed and left in isolation for an hour before he died. hairy woman unshaven girl www.zp-pdl.com https://www.zp-pdl.com займ срочно без отказов и проверок