Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Investor seeks justice at Davos for attorney killed in Russian prison

Fox News

Each year, the Russian presence at the World Economic Forum seems to grow, with government and business delegations courting investment, as well as the press.

And each year, Bill Browder of Hermitage Capital, comes to Davos to, among other things, seek justice for his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who he claims was killed in a Russian prison while investigating tax fraud.

Browder, who with the late Edmund Safra founded founded the investment firm which specializes in Russian markets, does not mince words.

“The Russian government plays this silly game,” Browder said. “They wash up, dress up, come to Davos and pretend they are normal, Western business people looking to attract investment, and in my opinion, they shouldn’t be allowed to behave like criminals at home and then dine at our tables with white tablecloths when they come to Davos.”

Browder claims Magnitsky, who was 37, when he died in 2007, was tortured, and ultimately denied medical care in jail. Browder, who had been the biggest foreign portfolio investor in Russia, claims $230 million he paid in taxes to the Russian government was stolen by people with ties to the government. Magnitsky had been looking for the money.

The Russians are defiant about the case, and have not convicted anyone.

But Browder has succeeded in lobbying Washington to pass legislation that places asset freezes and visa bans on the 60-some people he says were in some way involved or complicit in Magnitsky’s death. The law, which carries various sanctions for human rights abusers, is believed to have prompted Russia to ban adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans in retaliation, according to reports.