Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Bill Browder, The Brit Fighting Russia Death Threats And Libel Suits To Take On The Kremlin

Huffington Post

A Russian policeman planning to sue a British hedge fund boss through British courts, for alleging he was part of a conspiracy to torture and murder lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, could end up “driving a truck through British law”.

The case, if a judge allows it to be heard, will be a true test for the long battle for libel reform in the UK.

On Wednesday, a judge will consider whether an hitherto unknown Russian official, Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Karpov, can use the British justice system and British lawyers to fight his case.

Russian officials have called financier Bill Browder a fraudster and a fantasist, and he is the subject of death threats, legal battles and diplomatic crises.

But, he says, it will not deter him from fighting for justice for a friend who he believes died at the hands of Russian authorities.

Browder alleges Russian officials falsely imprisoned, tortured and killed his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky after both he and Browder blew the whistle on a massive scandal, involving criminal gangs colluding with Russian authorities to steal millions from Russian taxpayers.

“They are so desperately trying to cover it up, that they are willing to kill the key whistleblower, prosecute him posthumously, and pursue me in every possible way, including threatening my life,” Browder told The Huffington Post UK.

“We weren’t the main victims of the fraud, the Russian people were the victims. But the other victim was Sergei, who exposed the fraud. When he died, it changed my life. I couldn’t live comfortably knowing he died because of me.”

A British judge will hear arguments this week from both sides as to whether the case is an “abuse” of the British legal system, because it concerns a Russian litigant.