Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Investor presses Ottawa to take up case of whistleblower who died in Russian jail

The Globe and Mail

Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was working for Bill Browder’s investment company when he uncovered the largest tax fraud in Russian history and exposed the misdeeds of senior functionaries in six ministries.

Mr. Magnitsky was also working for Mr. Browder, the American-born co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, when he was thrown into a Moscow prison in November, 2008, by those same officials after testifying against them in the tax case.

So when the 37-year-old lawyer was refused treatment in prison for a pancreatic condition, subjected to repeated torture, and, according to his supporters, beaten to death by guards in the fall of 2009, Mr. Browder decided to devote much of his time to publicizing the case and securing justice for the man who had worked doggedly to bring the Russian corruption to light.

His efforts are starting to pay off. Last week, the U.S. Senate passed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which denies visas and freezes the assets of Russians accused of human-rights violations. Now Mr. Browder is asking for a similar response from Canadian authorities.

“The case of Sergei Magnitsky really lays bare the criminality at the top of the Russian government,” he told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. “The Russian government has refused to prosecute anybody involved. And so I have spent the last three years looking for other means of justice.”