Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

“Who knows where I will be soon”

Russia Beyond the Headlines

The metal cage used for prisoners in courtroom No. 14 at the Tverskoi regional court was empty during a recent hearing, its door wide open. Moscow spring sunshine streamed through windows, their metal bars pushed aside.

There was no need for locks two weeks ago when the court considered the arrest of Ivan Cherkasov, a senior executive at British investment fund Hermitage Capital. Cherkasov lives in London and has no intention of returning to face the charges of tax evasion he says are false. He says his arrest is a counter attack by rogue forces in the Russian security services.

In a bold and surprising move just days before, an independent commission set up by President Dmitry Medvedev said that the charges in the case of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky were fabricated by Interior Ministry officials and that Interior Ministry and FSB security service officers were at least partly responsible for Magnitsky’s death in 2009.