Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

EU: Magnitsky verdict is ‘disturbing’ sign

EU ObserverThe EU’s foreign service has said Russia’s posthumous conviction of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky is a “disturbing” sign of lack of rule of law.A Moscow court on Thursday (11 July) found the dead auditor guilty of tax fraud, reading out its verdict to an empty bench.It also sentenced Bill Browder, Magnitsky’s former employer, an investment fund manager based in London, to nine years’ jail in absentia on similar charges.An EU spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic, told EUobserver: “Magnitsky has been declared a criminal on the basis of unconvincing evidence, while neither the corruption scandal he helped to uncover nor the circumstances of his death have been clarified.”

She added: “This is a revealing illustration of the state of the rule of law in Russia.It also gives a disturbing message to those who fight corruption in Russia.”She noted that the posthumous trial, the first in Russian history, was itself illegal because “the prosecution of a deceased person is not possible under Russian law unless requested by his or her family” for the purpose of rehabilitation.But “the posthumous trial against Mr Magnitsky was initiated by the prosecutor’s office against the will of Mr Magnitsky’s family.”