Posts Tagged ‘Hermitage’
Man On A Mission: Bill Browder vs. the Kremlin
“There, but for an accident of geography, stands a corpse!” thundered Max Shachtman—once known as Leon Trotsky’s “foreign minister”—in New York City in 1950. By popular account, the line had been cooked up that night by a young Shachtmanite named Irving Howe; it ended the debate between the anti-Stalinist socialist Schachtman and his opponent, Earl Browder, former head of the Communist Party USA, who had been expelled from the party in 1946 at the behest of Moscow Central after suggesting that Soviet Communism and American capitalism might coexist after all.
Browder’s grandson Bill, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, has continued the family tradition of heretical defiance of the Kremlin and as a result has had an experience that in all its eccentricity defines the malign brutality of Russian political life today.
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Russia: Hermitage Capital says more pressure exerted on Magnitskiy family
Interfax
A new investigator just assigned to the case of the former Hermitage Capital fund lawyer Sergey Magnitskiy has summoned his mother to appear for questioning, Interfax news agency reported on 28 December, quoting a Hermitage Capital statement.
“Magnitskiy’s mother has received a telegram from Boris Kibis, an investigator of the Interior Ministry’s main directorate for Central Federal District, who has formally replaced Oleg Silchenko [as the Magnitskiy case investigator]. Investigator Kibis has requested her to come to his office today, 28 December, at 1500 [1100 gmt]. As an alternative, investigator Kibis has offered Magnitskiy’s mother to waive her right to seek rehabilitation of her son,” the statement says. Investigator Kibis, the fund adds, earlier refused to consider as “insignificant” the conclusions made by the presidential council on human rights acknowledging Magnitskiy’s arrest as illegal and recognizing violations of his rights by biased investigators. Moreover, Hermitage Capital’s statement says, the new investigator did not find any wrongdoing in the actions of his predecessor, who continues to oversee the Magnitskiy case.
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A Bitter Pill
In the hours after anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny was detained at a December 5 rally protesting falsified election results, he continued tweeting cheerful pictures snapped with his cell phone, showing a tight cadre of fellow protesters in the back of a police van and himself penning an official protest of his arrest. Yet in the same detention center from which Navalny will be released today, Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov declared his latest hunger strike, which once again landed him in critical condition in a local hospital over the weekend.
This evening Navalny, along with Solidarnost Youth Coordinator Ilya Yashin and other protesters, will be released 15 days after they were arrested at the first mass rally against alleged election fraud on December 5. For the opposition, the return of one of their most recognizable and popular leaders Navalny will be a welcome boon as they prepare a 50,000-person demonstration on Sakharov Street in downtown Moscow on December 24.
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As Russia arrests its richest, money takes flight
Nikolai Maksimov, one of the richest men in Russia, was sitting in a grimy jail cell in the Ural Mountains.
Through the murk, Mr. Maksimov saw his cellmate — a man, he says, who appeared ill with tuberculosis, a scourge in Russian prisons.
‘‘I had the feeling that I was put in this cell on purpose,’’ Mr. Maksimov, now free on bail, recalled recently.
Mr. Maksimov, who was arrested in February on suspicion of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars, is hardly the only Russian tycoon who has run into trouble. Among the six men who have topped the Forbes rich list here in the last decade, one, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, is in prison, and another, Boris A. Berezovsky, is in exile. They, like Mr. Maksimov, maintain their innocence.
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Floor Statement by Senator John McCain on Russia
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the following statement on Russia on the floor of the U.S. Senate:
“I want to take a moment to speak about Russia — and to review the state of what this Administration has trumpeted as the so-called reset of U.S.-Russia relations, especially in light of the flawed Duma election that just occurred this weekend, and in light of my strong belief that the growing demand for dignity and uncorrupt governance that has defined the Arab world this year may impact Russia as well.
“Now, let me once again make clear that I am not opposed to U.S. engagement with Russia. I am not opposed to working consistently and in good faith with Russia to find ever more ways to improve our relationship. To the contrary, we must continue to actively seek ways to cooperate with Russia in mutually beneficial ways. It is in our national interest to do so. And whatever can be said about the Administration’s policy toward Russia, no one can accuse them of a lack of sincerity and diligence in trying to increase cooperation with Russia.
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Report: Russian lawyer was beaten to death
UPI.com
The lawyer for what was once Russia’s largest foreign investment fund was beaten to death by prison guards and did not die of natural causes, a report said.
The report by employer Hermitage Capital concludes Sergei Magnitsky, 37, was left to die in his cell in 2009 after suffering brain trauma from a beating, The Moscow Times reported Tuesday.
The 75-page document includes morgue photos taken of Magnitsky showing bruises on his wrists and legs.
It reproduces what it said is a photocopied order from the head of the facility where Magnitsky was being held directing guards to beat him with a rubber baton.
Magnitsky, who accused officials of stealing $230 million in government money, was awaiting trial on tax charges at the time of his death.
Two prison doctors have been charged with his death.
The Hermitage report has been given to Russia’s Investigative Committee.
The Kremlin’s human rights council has backed the report but government officials have not issued any comments. hairy woman hairy girl https://zp-pdl.com/emergency-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php микрозаймы онлайн
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Report: Lawyer Beaten to Death
New evidence released Monday added weight to suspicions that Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was beaten to death by prison guards in 2009 and did not die from health problems as previously claimed by the authorities.
A report by Hermitage Capital, once Russia’s largest foreign investment fund, found that the 37-year-old lawyer was left to die on a cell floor after suffering a brain trauma in the beating apparently ordered by prison officials.
The report, which runs at 75 pages in English and 100 pages in Russian, offers gruesome photos from the morgue that depict bad bruises on what it says are Magnitsky’s wrists and legs.
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Russian lawyer Magnitsky ‘tortured, beaten to death’ – report
The country’s presidential human rights council says police torture could have led to the death of a Russian lawyer, who was imprisoned at the time.
This comes after the Hermitage Capital Management investment fund Magnitsky worked for sent the council a 100-page report based on official documents, court materials, and public statements.
“The documents we possess testify to the illegal use of rubber clubs,” said council member and human rights defender Valery Borshchyov, as quoted by Interfax. “It turns out that 8 prison employees were beating one prisoner.”
An ambulance arrived at the prison on the day Magnitsky died, but doctors were denied access for about an hour.
“When they were finally let in, the doctors reported the death time different from that cited by the local employees – it was an hour earlier,” Borshchyov said. “The doctors also found out that Magnitsky was not in the intensive care unit, as claimed the prison’s physician. He was seated on the floor, leaning against a bunk and handcuffs were lying nearby.”
The human rights council presented photographs from the morgue, which showed deep wounds from handcuffs on Magnitsky’s wrists.
“Such wounds cannot be caused by the simple wearing of handcuffs,” Borshchyov said. “He must have been trying to break free.”
Prison personnel insist they had to cuff Magnitsky, as he was trying to commit suicide and injure himself.
Members of the council insist prosecutors look into the new evidence.
37-year-old Sergey Magnitsky, who worked for a foreign investment fund, was arrested on tax evasion charges in 2009. The gravely-ill lawyer died in a pre-trial detention facility several months later.
Two forensic evaluations showed that Magnitsky died of acute heart failure. Experts confirmed that Magnitsky was suffering from heart problems, but that it was not at an acute stage.
His family and colleagues claim he was deliberately denied medical help. Two prison doctors have been charged with negligence during the ongoing investigation.
Magnitsky said the criminal case against him was retaliation for his testimony, alleging the involvement of law enforcement officials in the embezzlement of budget funds.
The lawyer’s death prompted the US to blacklist a number of Russian citizens which it links to the case. Russia slammed the move and responded with similar measures against US officials. займ на карту онлайн займ https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://www.zp-pdl.com займ на карту
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Report claims coverup in Russian lawyer’s death
A government probe into the death in prison of a Russian lawyer who exposed official corruption covered up a brutal beating he received in prison and the deliberate denial of medical treatment, a new report claimed Monday.
Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested after accusing officials of corruption, died in November 2009 after the pancreatitis he developed in prison went untreated. Two prison doctors have been charged with negligence.
The 37-year-old had been arrested by the same Interior Ministry officials whom he had accused of using false tax papers to steal $230 million from the state.
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