Posts Tagged ‘butyrka’
Russian prison doctor pleads not guilty on negligence charges in lawyer Magnitsky’s death
A prison doctor charged with negligence in the death of a lawyer who reported a multi-million tax fraud by Russian officials has pleaded not guilty.
Dmitry Kratov, formerly a doctor in Moscow’s Butyrka prison, is the first official charged in the death of Sergey Magnitsky. The trial started at Moscow’s Tverskoy court Thursday.
Kratov’s attorney Roman Kuchin said that his client denied the charges against him because he could not ensure medical care for Magnitsky due to a shortage of staff.
Magnitsky, who had accused Interior Ministry officials of using false tax documents to steal $230 million from the state, died in custody from untreated pancreatitis. A private investigation concluded Magnitsky was severely beaten and denied medical treatment, and it accused the government of failing to prosecute those responsible.
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UK refuses mutual legal assistance to Russia in the posthumous prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky
International Criminal Law Bureau
In the land where everything seems possible, the Russian Interior Ministry has reported that the UK has refused Russia’s mutual legal assistance request in the case of the posthumous prosecution of whistleblowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died on 16 November 2009 in Butyrka prison in Moscow and the in-absentia prosecution of his client William Browder, CEO and co-founder of the Hermitage Capital Management investment fund.
Commenting on the refusal by the UK to extradite Mr Browder to Russia, the Russian Interior Ministry stated: “this fact does not pose an obstacle for sending the case to court, because Russian investigators have followed juridical formalities in full.” The position by the Interior Ministry, that “juridical formalities have been followed in full” is curiously also applied to their prosecution of the late Mr Magnitsky, the first ever posthumous prosecution known in history.
While prosecuting dead people might well comply with the Russian law, in practice, certain procedures may prove challenging. The Prosecution may struggle somewhat to find out if the defendant would want to plead guilty or not guilty. Cross examination could prove difficult. Bail conditions should be easier to tackle, though.
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Hopes Raised As Court Frees Entrepreneur
The country’s courts may finally be heeding orders from the Kremlin to end a crackdown on the business community, judging by the recent surprise ruling to not jail gravely ill entrepreneur Natalya Gulevich after her conviction on fraud charges.
The judiciary has come under increasing pressure from rights activists, the media and the government to cease its harsh treatment of business owners after a string of high-profile deaths in pretrial detention — most notably that of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009.
Many courts around the country have stubbornly resisted, but Gulevich’s unexpected release suggests that change may finally be under way. Still, many other ill suspects remain under arrest, and it is unclear whether they will receive the softer treatment that President Dmitry Medvedev has promised.
Gulevich was convicted of large-scale fraud late Monday by Moscow’s Tagansky District Court.
While the verdict was widely expected, the sentence was decidedly less so. Gulevich got off with a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of 1 million rubles ($32,000), as well as an order to pay back a bank loan of 590 million rubles ($26.5 million at the time) that sparked the case in 2008.
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Magnitsky death: Falling ill in a Russian jail
The ongoing dispute over the death in custody of Russian corporate lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has drawn attention to the Moscow remand prison where he was being held.
The gates of Butyrka, one of Russia’s oldest prisons, could well be in a museum. Made of oak and hand-wrought steel, they were installed when the prison was built 240 years ago.
Colonel Sergei Telyatnikov, the prison’s director, says it is time for the old gates to go, but he is fond of the metal.
“The original stuff,” he says. “When we do repairs to doors and grills we discover it’s much better than the modern steel.”
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Sergei Magnitsky’s mother vows to continue fight for justice in Russia
Two years after the Russian whistleblower died in custody, Natalia Magnitskaya says many people were behind his death.
Natalia Magnitskaya speaks in whispers, her tired eyes looking down at fingers that twist and turn from anxiety. She barely slept last night, as with most nights in the two years since her son died within the walls of one of Russia’s most notorious prisons.
Sergei Magnitsky was 37 when he died in November 2009 of multiple ailments he developed after being arrested a year earlier. The charges against him, of fraud and tax evasion, were designed to pressure the young lawyer into backing off on an investigation into an alleged attempt by corrupt state officials to steal $230m (£143m) in fake tax refunds, his supporters say.
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A Lone Voice Tries To Reform Russia’s Prisons From Within
Senior Lieutenant Aleksei Kozlov has a difficult, thankless job. He is in charge of educational work among prisoners at Moscow’s notorious Butyrka remand prison (SIZO).
He informs prisoners of their rights and responsibilities and fields their complaints. He writes reports that are requested by lawyers, prosecutors, and lawmakers about conditions in the prison.
For nearly two years now, Kozlov has filed his reports and urged reform from within a system that seems stonily impervious to change. “I haven’t met with understanding on the part of [Butyrka’s] administration,” he says. “The violations are perfectly evident to anyone, but no one is doing anything about them.”
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Activists vow to ensure full inquiry into Magnitsky death
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Magnitsky case probed by same investigators – Hermitage
Interfax
The Russian Interior Ministry’s Investigative Department has not found grounds for replacing investigators in the reopened criminal inquiry against Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitisky who died in a Moscow jail in 2009, Hermitage Capital said.
“In his reply of October 7, 2011, to a complaint from the Magnitsky family, head of department P.V. Lapshov from the Russian Interior Ministry’s Investigative Department says, “Under Article 67 part two of the Russian Penal Code, previous participation of the investigator in the preliminary criminal inquiry is not a ground for his disqualification,” the company said.
Besides, regarding claims that investigators put psychological pressure on the lawyer’s relatives, the Department said that, “having examined the materials of the criminal case, it has not found any violation of the criminal procedural legislation.”
“Essentially, the reopening of the preliminary inquiry with respect to Magnitsky aims to ascertain. . all circumstances surrounding the case against Magnitsky,” the Interior Ministry was quoted by Hermitage.
“According to the materials submitted with the Moscow City Court this week, not only does the Interior Ministry continue the criminal inquiry against Sergei Magnitsky 20 months after his death, it has entrusted it to the same investigators who were probing him when he was alive,” the company said.
Magnitsky died in Moscow’s Butyrka pretrial detention center on November 16, 2009, while awaiting trial on tax evasion charges.
Rights defenders insist that prison medics and law enforcement officers are to blame for his death that caused a huge public outcry in Russia and abroad.
On July 4, 2011, the Investigative Committee announced the results of an additional forensic examination. As a result, criminal charges were filed against Butyrka medics – Doctor Dmitry Kratov (Article 293 of the Criminal Code, “negligence”) and laboratory doctor Larisa Litvinova (Article 109, “causing death by inadvertence”). займы онлайн на карту срочно займ на карту https://www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php займы онлайн на карту срочно
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Russia probes ‘illness’ of doctors charged over Magnitsky’s death
Russian prosecutors are probing the hospitalization of two prison officials charged over the high-profile death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The deputy governor and chief doctor at Moscow’s notorious Butyrka prison were charged with negligence causing death last month.
Magnitsky died in 2009 after accusing Russian officials of a huge tax fraud scheme.
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