No defendant and no lawyers in Sergei Magnitsky trial farce

Evening Standard

The Russian trial of a dead whistleblower was hit by new farce today as state-appointed lawyers failed to show up on day one of the case.

Sergei Magnitsky is being tried posthumously for tax evasion, a move that has led to international criticism of the Moscow authorities.

Before his death aged 37 while in detention in 2009 — which his family and friends believe was murder — he uncovered alleged £154 million corruption among the same senior interior ministry officials who ordered his arrest. The trial has already been dubbed “farcical” and “Stalinist”.

Lawyers appointed by the Russian state failed to appear. They are representing the dead man and his co-accused, William Browder, the London-based head of Hermitage Capital Investment who is being tried in his absence.

The lawyers sent a petition to the court demanding more time to prepare the defence of Mr Magnitsky. They claimed they would need until May to read 60 volumes of “evidence” against the men. The judge ruled the trial would go ahead on March 22 despite objections from lawyers representing the Russian authorities.

Mr Magnitsky’s family and Mr Browder are refusing to take part. Mr Magnitsky’s widow Natalia Zharikova said: “I see this trial as desecration of the memory of my husband. I think this trial has no legal foundation.”

Mr Browder has warned that the trial shows Russian justice sinking to an “entirely new level of depravity”. It has already led to a cooling in relations between Moscow and Washington. срочный займ на карту займ на карту онлайн www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php займ срочно без отказов и проверок