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Open Letter on the Case of Sergei Magnitsky
To the Chairman of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation
Dmitry Anatolyevich Krasnov
From Natalya Nikolayevna Magnitskaya
07 June 2013
Open Letter on the Case of Sergei Magnitsky
Dear Dmitry Anatolevich,
From media reports, I have learned that on 22 April 2013, the Council of Judges of the City of Moscow issued a decree which directly affected the Constitutional rights and freedoms of my son, Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky, who died 16 November 2009 in the Matrosskaya Tishina Prison pre-trial detention center.
This decree, titled “On the Unfounded Inclusion in the ‘Magnitsky List’ of Judges of Courts of the City of Moscow” concerns the actions of four judges of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow: E.V. Stashina, S.V. Ukhnaleva, S.G. Podoprigorov, and A.V. Krivoruchko regarding my only son. By the decisions of these judges, the members of the investigative group of the Russian Federation Interior Ministry Investigative Committee and officers of the operational convoy were provided conditions for the unlawful criminal prosecution of my son, his detention in custody for a year, and his torture and murder in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center.
Given the existence of indisputable evidence of the death of my son as a result of forcible actions, law-enforcement agencies to this day have not undertaken to establish the true reasons for his death and have not exposed those persons guilty of his death.
Despite the fact that the content of the decree directly affects the interests of my son, and in connection with his death, affects my interests, representatives of the council of Judges of Moscow who prepared this document did not consider it necessary to learn my opinion and take into account the facts and evidence which I possess.
From the text of the decree of the Moscow Council of Judges, it follows that they ignored the conclusions of two independent experts’ organizations that established the violation of my son’s rights and the lack of a proper judicial review of the lawfulness of the actions of members of the investigative group who detained him as a hostage, with the purpose of concealing his testimony which had uncovered the participation of officials of the Interior Ministry and tax agencies in the embezzlement of 5.4 billion rubles from the Russian budget.
The Moscow Council of Judges, citing the study of the “personal files” of judges E.V. Stashina, S.V. Ukhnaleva, S.G. Podoprigorov and A.V. Krivoruchko did not find any grounds “to doubt in any form the lawfulness and conscientiousness of the actions” of their colleagues, despite the outrageous violations of the law in the decisions they took, based on falsified evidence by the members of the investigative group. In justifying the detention of my son in custody, the investigators, without possessing evidence, submitted tampered reports of operations officials which contained deliberate lies and falsifications. In spite of the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedures and the violation of the functions imposed on them by the Russian Federation Constitution to exercise judicial oversight, these judges did not once submit to doubt the false testimony submitted by the biased investigation.
The representatives of the Moscow Council of Judges should have known that their colleagues, Judges E.V. Tashina, S.V. Ukhnaleva, S.G. Podoprigorov and A. V. Krivoruchko rejected 40 complaints made by my son while he was still alive. Their decisions were appealed, including with an appeal to the Russian Constitution Court and the European Court of Human Rights, however he was not able to live to see their review.
In according with Art. 4 of the Rules for the Russian Federation Council of Judges, representatives of the mass media and other persons may be invited to participate in the work of the Council.
Taking into account that the issue affecting the constitutional rights and freedoms of my son represented by me was the subject of a secret discussion by the Council of Judges of Moscow, I urge:
1. That an open discussion be conducted at a meeting of the Russian Federation Council of Judges with my participation, regarding the grounds for including the judges of the City of Moscow in the “Magnitsky List,” and also with the participation of representatives and experts of the Presidential Council on Human Rights and the Public Observatory Commission of the City of Moscow, which have directly studied the circumstances of the detention of my son in custody, and also with representatives of the mass media.
2. According to the results of this discussion, that the appropriate decree taking into account the opinions of all interested persons be passed.
Respectfully yours,
Natalya Nikolaevna Magnitskaya
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Russia finds no evidence of torture in Sergei Magnitsky case
Russian investigators found no evidence of violence against a lawyer who died in custody after accusing officials and police officers of running a multimillion-dollar tax refund scam, and have ended their probe, officials said Tuesday.
Sergei Magnitsky, who worked as a legal advisor for the Hermitage Capital Management investment fund in Moscow, died in 2009 of heart insufficiency and brain and lung edema resulting from diabetes and hepatitis while in pretrial detention on tax charges, the Russian Investigative Committee said on its website.
Human rights groups had described Magnitsky’s death as suspicious and alleged that he was tortured after his 2008 arrest, denied medical treatment and beaten in the final hours of his life. Magnitsky’s arrest had followed his allegations that officials engaged in tax fraud had embezzled $230 million from state coffers.
“During Magnitsky’s stay in investigation prisons no special conditions were created for keeping him in custody different from the keeping of other prisoners under investigation, no pressure, no physical violence or torture was applied on him,” the committee’s statement said. “Thus in the course of the criminal case investigation no objective data of crimes against Sergei Magnitsky was obtained.”
The case led to a U.S. measure, the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, signed by President Obama in December, which imposed visa restrictions and froze the U.S. bank accounts of some Russian officials. Moscow responded by banning adoption of Russian orphans by American couples.
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Russia drops inquiry into death of Sergei Magnitsky
Investigators have dropped an inquiry into the death in jail of Sergei Magnitsky, stating that the whistleblowing lawyer’s agonising death, which became an international scandal, was not the result of malpractice.
“A decision has been taken to end the criminal case because of the absence of a crime,” the state Investigative Committee said. “No pressure was exerted on him, nor was there any physical violence or torture.”
Magnitsky was imprisoned for 11 months without trial in Moscow’s notorious Butyrka jail after exposing an alleged embezzlement scam by interior ministry officials. A Kremlin-ordered human rights council since found that he was beaten up immediately before his death, on 16 Novermber 2009, but there has been little effort to punish the officials responsible. As the case unfolded, Magnitsky’s name has become politicised. President Vladimir Putin stated in December that Magnitsky had died from heart problems and not from torture, and state-run television has run a number of smear programmes against him.
“This was expected,” said Magnitsky’s mother, Natalia Magnitskaya, after today’s decision. “I don’t believe that it is possible to obtain justice in Russia today because there are people in power interested in concealing it.”
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Magnitsky: Posthumous Trial To Go Ahead
Russia pushes ahead with the posthumous prosecution of whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a prison cell in 2009.
When the case of the state vs Sergei Magnitsky is called in a Moscow courtroom later, the defendant will not be in the dock – he has been dead for more than three years.
In a case that has been compared to the show trials of Stalin, Russia is pressing ahead with the posthumous prosecution of a whistle-blowing lawyer.
At the time of his death Mr Magnitsky was investigating what he believed was a massive tax fraud – worth around £150m – targeting both the British-based investment fund he was working for and the Russian state.
He went public with his evidence in October 2008, naming several senior police and tax officials, but the next month he was arrested.
The 37-year-old was held without trial for almost a year, during which time he became seriously ill – he lost 40lb and was diagnosed with pancreatitis and gallstones – but despite repeated written requests he was denied medical treatment.
Mr Magnitsky said he felt he was being physically and psychologically pressured to withdraw his testimony, but he refused – instead he documented the conditions he was being held, describing raw sewage overflowing from the toilet in one cell and the sound of rats running along the corridors at night.
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Family of Sergei Magntisky accuse Russian embassy in London of ‘deliberately disseminating false information’
The mother and the widow of Sergei Magntisky, a whistle-blower who died in a Moscow prison cell after months of torture, have accused the Russian embassy in London of “deliberately disseminating false information” by claiming his family wanted his posthumous trial.
The mother and the widow of Sergei Magntisky, a whistle-blower who died in a Moscow prison cell after months of torture, have accused the Russian embassy in London of “deliberately disseminating false information” by claiming his family wanted his posthumous trial.
Mr Magntisky died three years ago after exposing a massive tax fraud carried out by elements of the Russian Interior Ministry and underground criminal networks. But instead of going after the perpetrators of the fraud, Russian prosecutors have taken the unprecedented step of launching a posthumous prosecution of Mr Magnitsky, blaming him for carrying out the scam he uncovered.
After a series of reports in the British press following the latest court hearing in Moscow earlier this month, the Russian Embassy in London put out a statement stating that the trial was going ahead because Mr Magnitksy’s family “insisted on his posthumous rehabilitation”. The statement added: “According to the information available, this is precisely what the mother of Sergei Magnitsky and his advocates insist on.”
But that claim has been angrily denied in a letter to the embassy by Natalia Magnitskaya and his widow Natalia Zharikova which has been seen by The Independent.
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Magnitsky relatives: Russian diplomat lied to EU parliament
The mother and widow of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian anti-corruption activist who died in prison, have accused a Russian diplomat of lying to the European Parliament about his case.
The women – Natalia Magnitskaya and Natalia Zharikova – spoke out in a letter on 25 February to the parliament’s subcommittee on human rights.
They said that Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian foreign ministry’s special envoy on human rights, misled MEPs at a hearing in Brussels on 20 February when he told them that Magnitsky’s own relatives want him to be tried posthumously in order to clear his name.
According to a transcript of the hearing, Dolgov said: “The court cannot close the case unless the relatives, or people who represent the interests of the deceased, make it clear that they are not against the closing of the case. The relatives of Mr Magnitsky made it absolutely clear that they are against closing the case without his acquittal.”
Russian authorities accused Magnitsky, an accountant, of financial fraud after he exposed a scam by tax officials to embezzle hundreds of millions of euros from the Russian treasury.
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Russian whistle-blower’s mother thanks Obama for law named after her dead son
The mother of a whistle-blowing Russian lawyer who died in prison is thanking President Barack Obama for a U.S. law targeting Russian officials deemed to be human rights violators involved in her son’s death.
Sergei Magnitsky died in jail of untreated pancreatitis in 2009 after accusing Russian officials of stealing $230 million from the state. The case has angered both Russian activists and the West, and in December, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in Magnitsky’s name, calling for sanctions against officials deemed to be connected with human rights abuses.
Natalya Magnitskaya said Thursday she is grateful to Obama for facilitating the adoption of the bill saying that it “will somehow keep my son’s memory.”
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Magnitsky Case Goes to Strasbourg Court
The mother of Sergei Magnitsky, the anti-corruption lawyer who died in pretrial detention in 2009, has filed a complaint in the European Court of Human Rights.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Natalya Magnitskaya by the Open Society Justice Initiative, a George Soros-founded human rights group, accuses Russian law enforcement agencies of manipulating the criminal justice system to silence her son after he exposed a $230 million tax fraud involving Interior Ministry officials.
“Sergei Magnitsky was wrongly detained and tortured because he unearthed evidence of grand theft at senior levels of the Russian government, then refused to back down,” said James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative and the lead lawyer on the case.
“Though Mr. Magnitsky’s courage was unusual, his fate is not. His case shines a spotlight on the corruption and abuse which pervade Russia’s justice system,” he said in an e-mailed statement.
The complaint, filed Wednesday, says Magnitsky’s death was the result of deliberate abuse while he was moved between five Moscow detention centers over the course of a year. It says he was persistently denied medical treatment for a life-threatening illness and was beaten by guards just before he died.
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Magnitsky’s Mother Says Her Son Was Tortured To Death
The mother of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky says the administration of a Moscow detention center created “torture conditions” that killed her son while he was in custody.
Natalia Magnitskaya testified on October 2 at the trial of the sole defendant in the case — Dmitry Kratov, former deputy warden at Moscow’s Butyrka detention center.
Kratov is charged with negligence leading to Magnitsky’s death in November 2009.
Magnitskaya said that more individuals must be held accountable for her son’s death.
The judge rejected Magnitskaya’s request to launch additional investigations into the case.
Authorities say Magnitsky — the attorney for the London-based Hermitage Capital Management — died of heart failure while awaiting trial on charges of tax evasion.
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