Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Activists say they’ll show how prison guards’ beating contributed to Russian attorney’s death

Associated Press

Activists plan to present evidence Tuesday that a Russian lawyer who accused officials of corruption died after a brutal beating by prison guards, saying investigators’ findings that a lack of medical treatment killed the man fell short of the full truth.

Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old lawyer who worked for a large U.S. investment fund, died in prison in November 2009 after the pancreatitis he developed there went untreated. He had been arrested by Interior Ministry officials after he had accused them of using false tax papers to steal $230 million from the state.

Magnitsky’s case is being scrutinized by human rights activists and potential Western investors as a gauge of the Kremlin’s commitment to addressing corruption and allowing an independent legal system. Several prison officials were fired but no one has been charged either for his death or in the alleged tax fraud.