Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Mother of dead Russian lawyer Magnitsky makes plea to ECHR

The Lawyer

The mother of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in November 2009 while being detained in a Moscow prison cell, has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to declare that Russia has violated the European Convention of Human Rights in relation to Magnitsky’s death.

The claim, which was filed on Wednesday 17 October on behalf of Natalya Magnitskaya by the Open Society Justice Initiative, claims that Russian law enforcement agencies perverted the criminal justice system to silence Magnitsky after he stumbled upon what he believed was a cover-up by Russian state officials to embezzle an estimated $230m (£144m) from the Russian treasury.

Magnitsky, a lawyer at Firestone Duncan in Moscow, was initially detained in November 2008 on suspicion of assisting his client, UK-based investment fund Hermitage Capital Management, to allegedly evade around $17.4m (£11m) in taxes. The lawsuit alleges that Magnitsky was denied medical treatment and was beaten by prison guards just prior to his death.

The claim asks the Strasbourg court to find Russia guilty of violating six articles of the European Convention of Human Rights, which includes articles relating to torture, unlawful detention, retaliation against whistleblowers and the denial of right to life.

“It’s a hugely significant case as it is emblematic of unfortunately how much human rights violations pervade the justice system in Russia and the dangers of those who try to expose these violations and the abominable pre-trial conditions that they’re subjected to,” James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative and the lead public interest lawyer working on the case, told The Lawyer.