Posts Tagged ‘rapsi’
Request for probe into alleged mistreatment of Magnitsky dismissed
Russia’s Investigative Committee has refused to launch a probe into alleged mistreatment of Hermitage Capital auditor Sergei Magnitsky who died in 2009 in a Moscow pretrial center while awaiting trial on embezzlement charges, according to a statement released by Hermitage Capital on Friday.
Sergei Magnitsky’s mother claims that her son was handcuffed and beaten with rubber batons before he died. She insists that independent expert examinations confirmed that Magnitsky was tortured while in custody.
The fund’s statement says that the Investigative Committee nevertheless decided to refuse the probe again, based on “existing evidence” and decisions made by head investigator and prosecutor.
“The Investigative Committee’s resolution does not state the reasons why the individuals involved in using batons and handcuffs against Magnitsky before his death were not held liable”, the fund’s statement reads.
Magnitsky worked for Firestone Duncan and represented Hermitage Capital which was accused of tax evasion by Russian authorities. Magnitsky was arrested on fraud charges in November 2008 and found dead in a Moscow detention center in November 2009.
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PACE Committee urges full investigation of Magnitsky’s death
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has urged Russian authorities to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Hermitage Capital Fund auditor Sergei Magnitsky, PACE announced Wednesday.
The committee approved a report Wednesday entitled, “Refusing impunity for the killers of Sergei Magnitsky.”
PACE announced that Rapporteur Andreas Gross, who prepared the report approved by the Committee Wednesday, said he would propose that the report should be debated by the Plenary Assembly in January 2014.
Measures reminiscent of those enshrined in the controversial US Magnitsky Act were noted in the report’s draft resolutions.
On Dec. 6, 2012, the US Senate approved the Magnitsky Act, to severe criticism from the Russian State Duma, stipulating visa sanctions for Russians who are believed by US authorities to have been involved in human rights violations. The Magnitsky List, which was published in part on April 12, includes the names of 18 Russian officials who are barred from travelling to the United States.
The report stated in a draft resolution: “Regarding the imposition by the United States of targeted sanctions against individuals (visa bans and account freezes, cf. paragraph 11), as well as corresponding European Parliament Resolutions and the above-mentioned law adopted by the Russian State Duma, the Assembly considers these as a means of last resort.”
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Moscow court finds Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion
The Tverskoy District Court in Moscow has convicted the late British Hermitage Capital Fund auditor Sergei Magnitsky of tax evasion, RAPSI reports from the courtroom on Thursday.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the state prosecutor asked the court to convict Magnitsky of tax evasion but to dismiss the case against him due to his death. Magnitsky died in a Moscow remand center in 2009.
Hermitage Capital maintains that it paid 5.4 billion rubles ($180 million) in taxes, but the money was stolen by corporate raiders with the help of law enforcement officials.
Magnitsky, who died in pretrial detention in Moscow in 2009, was prosecuted for this theft. The case was closed after his death, only to be reopened later. Under Russian law, a person can be prosecuted after their death. займ на карту без отказов круглосуточно займ на карту https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php payday loan
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No notification regarding Magnitsky list from London – Russian FM
Russia has not received an official notification from the UK authorities on banning Russian officials on the US Magnitsky List from entering the UK, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
“We have not received any official notifications to this effect from the UK authorities,” he said at a joint news conference following his talks with Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean.
Lavrov added that “the UK authorities have said more than once that they do not intend to compile similar lists.”
“A provocation cannot be ruled out, because there are many high-profile issues in the European and global media space from which some people would like to create a diversion,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the UK Home Office has banned 60 Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 from entering the UK.
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Irish parliament backs down from sanctioning Russian officials
An Irish parliamentary committee has backed down from sanctioning Russian officials implicated in rights abuse following a warning that it could jeopardize a bilateral adoption agreement, the Irish Times reported on Thursday.
A resolution urging Irish leadership to express concern over the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow pretrial detention center in 2009 was unanimously passed by the committee on foreign affairs.
But it dropped its earlier plans to call for an EU-wide blacklist on officials implicated in the case, similar to the one passed in the United States last year.
Russian Embassy in Dublin said in March the blacklist could “have a negative influence” on the pending adoption agreement, though it later denied making a direct link between the two issues.
Pat Breen, chairman of the Irish parliamentary committee, dismissed allegations that the Russian stance amounted to blackmail, while Senator Jim Walsh, who proposed the blacklist, called the resolution a “compromise,” according to the Irish Times.
Some 1,500 Russian children have been adopted by Irish citizens since the early 1990s.
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Lithuania freezes bank accounts related to Magnitsky case
The Lithuanian authorities have frozen several bank accounts as part of the case of embezzled budget funds, exposed by Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison in 2009.
Prior to his death in a Moscow pre-trial detention center, the Hermitage Capital lawyer claimed that Russian tax officials had stolen $230 million from the company and laundered the funds through various European banks. Russia has refuted the accusations on numerous occasions.
Last summer, Hermitage Capital sent requests to the prosecutor’s offices of six countries to freeze accounts held at banks which are thought to have transferred the embezzled funds in 2008. Hermitage Capital believes that banks in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Austria, Finland and Cyprus were involved. The Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office launched a pretrial investigation the day after receiving Hermitage Capital’s emailed request.
“We have frozen the accounts of all the offshore companies which made transactions through Ukio Bankas. This was done on September 28, when the case was transferred to us from the Prosecutor General’s Office, as the bank is headquartered on our city. The point at issue is a relatively small sum of up to $100,000,” Kaunas Prosecutor Donatas Puzinas told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. He said there are no suspects in the case and that all accounts were managed from Russia and Ukraine, where they were opened at local branches of Ukio Bankas. So far, no Lithuanian nationals are involved in the case.
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Swiss prosecutors freeze local bank accounts in quest for Magnitsky funds
Swiss federal prosecutors have imposed freezes against local bank accounts in the amount of millions of francs as part of an investigation into the money laundering case connected with Hermitage Capital fund lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s death, Swiss media outlets reported Wednesday.
Prior to his death in a Moscow pre-trial detention center, the Hermitage Capital lawyer claimed that Russian tax officials had stolen $230 million from the company and laundered the funds through Switzerland. Russia has refuted the accusations on numerous occasions.
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Prosecutor requests to acquit defendant in Magnitsky case
The prosecutor has asked a Moscow district court to acquit Dmitry Kratov, former deputy head of the Butyrka pretrial detention center, accused of negligence which resulted in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, the court spokesperson told the Russian Legal Information Agency.
Kratov has been charged with negligence in regards to the death of Sergei Magnitsky. Prosecutor requested to acquit Kratov as no link was established between the actions of the defendant and Magnitsky’s death.
“Pursuant to the experts’ conclusion, Magnitsky died from the heart failure,” the prosecutor said, stressing that Kratov was acting duly.
Magnitsky, who served as a managing partner of the Firestone Duncan auditing firm and a legal consultant of the Hermitage Capital Management investment fund, was detained on November 24, 2008.
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Prosecutorial disclosure appeal launched by Magnitsky’s mother dismissed
On Tuesday, the Moscow District Simonovsky Court dismissed Sergei Magnitsky’s mother’s appeal of the Prosecutor General’s Office’s refusal to disclose the names of prosecutors who supervised the investigation of her son’s case, attorney Nikolai Gorokhov told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).
“They are trying to conceal information from the mother regarding officials whose actions directly concern her legal rights, and also the rights and freedoms of her deceased son. In practice, an out-of-procedure body was established which exercises its powers in secret,” reads the appeal submitted by the attorney representing Magnitsky’s mother. The appeal claims that the refusal to disclose the names of those who investigated Magnitsky posthumously is unconstitutional.
Sergey Magnitsky, an auditor for the Hermitage Capital Management Fund, was charged with masterminding large-scale corporate tax evasion. He died in a Moscow pretrial detention center on November 16, 2009 after spending a year behind bars. His death sparked a public outcry and triggered amendments to the Criminal Code and a reshuffling of officials in the penal system.
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