Posts Tagged ‘russia today’
Russian Probe Finds Hedge Fund Lawyer Was ‘Tortured, Beaten To Death’
An investigation into the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has found that police torture may have contributed to his demise, reports Russia Today.
“The documents we possess testify to the illegal use of rubber clubs,” council member and human rights defender Valery Borshchyov was quoted by Interfax. “It turns out that 8 prison employees were beating one prisoner.”
Other details noted included the delay in medical attention and wounds on the wrists that indicate Magnitsky was struggling to get free.
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Navalny charged with embezzlement, faces up to 10 years
Russian investigators have charged Aleksey Navalny – one of the country’s leading opposition figures – with embezzlement, less than a week after he slammed the head of the Investigative Committee on his blog.
Navalny is charged with embezzlement of state funds, an official spokesperson for the Investigative Committee said on Tuesday. Two more people will also be charged in this case, the official added. Navalny was sprung from detention after signing a written pledge not to leave his place of residence before the trial.
The case against Navalny traces back to 2009, when he worked as a volunteer aide to the governor of the Kirovsk Region. He allegedly persuaded the managers of the state-owned timber company Kirovles to sign a deal that led to substantial losses. The investigation was shuttered twice due to lack of evidence, but several regional branches of the Investigative Committee were ordered by authorities to re-open the case.
If convicted, the opposition activist could face from 5 to 10 years in prison. Navalny has forcefully denied every accusation leveled against him.
Later on Tuesday, Navalny updated his blog and dismissed the charges against him as a politically motivated fabrication and a “boring joke.”“There is no motive. There is no gain. The stated damages are taken out of nowhere. All most imported testimony against me has appeared to be false. The witness who testified me himself appears to be a member of my criminal syndicate,” the political activist wrote.
Navalny enclosed a link to the full text of the official charges he is facing, but pointed at what he saw as several key inconsistencies. Kirovles, he claims, sold the timber for 14 million rubles to a dealer, which later sold it to customers. The dealer’s revenue – 16 million rubles – was listed as damages, despite the fact that the state company received 14 million rubles for the goods.
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Not guilty: Court acquits official charged with Magnitsky’s death
A Russian court has acquitted the former deputy chief of the prison where lawyer Sergey Magnitsky died. A judge ruled there was not enough evidence Dmitry Kratov was guilty of negligence.
Kratov was the only official facing a trial following the death of Magnitsky who died in a Moscow prison while under investigation for tax evasion and fraud. The prosecutor also asked the court to acquit Kratov.
“Diseases revealed in Magnitsky are not related to his death. It was impossible to diagnose diseases that caused his death”, said Tverskoy Court judge Tatyana Neverova.
“Kratov’s inaction wasn’t confirmed. There was no ‘corpus delicti’ in Kratov’s action,” added the judge.
The Magnitsky case began in 2007, when British investment fund Hermitage Capital, one of the biggest foreign investors inside Russia, fell victim to a US$230 million fraud. The fund hired corporate lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, whose investigation brought forth names of officials in Russia’s Interior Ministry he believed to be involved in the scam.
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Opposition leader accused of treachery for supporting Magnistky bill
The ruling United Russia party has accused opposition figure Mikhail Kasyanov of betraying Russia’s interests for his support of the Magnitsky List bill, recently approved by the US Congress.
In doing so, Kasyanov has “openly admitted that timeserving interests of certain American politicians are more important to him than interests of his own people,” stated senior United Russia’s member Sergey Neverov.
Kasyanov, a former prime minister during President Putin’s first term, is currently not a member of parliament.
The reaction of Russian society to this move should be “definitely negative,” as it may “lead to tensions in relations between the two powers,” Neverov underlined, as cited by Interfax. That will be bad for everyone, “except, apparently, those who deliberately play into the hands of provocateurs who are trying to dictate how Russia should live.”
Earlier, Kasyanov – a co-chairman of the Republican Party of People’s Freedom, also known as Parnas – welcomed the adoption of the so-called Magnitsky List. The bill imposes visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergey Magnitsky and in other human rights abuses in the country. The 37-year-old died in a Moscow pre-trial detention center in November 2009.
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An unbeatable insight into the minds that control Russia
Foreigners seeking to explain the paranoia of Kremlin’s elite need only look to the country’s state-sponsored television.
Russia Today, the state-financed television channel for foreigners, is a must-watch. Not because of journalistic excellence: it has glitzy presentation but huge holes in its coverage and bizarre quirks in its editorial outlook. But it does give an unbeatable insight into the minds of the people who run it – and into the regime that sponsors it.
To be fair, I should note that the channel has substantial strengths. It reports thoroughly on official utterances and it covers most of the headline stories in Russia with reasonable professionalism. In that sense it is quite different from the old Soviet media, which simply ignored topics that did not fit the official line. Russia Today has reported, for example, on the grotesque posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison after exposing a $230 million (€175m) fraud against the Russian taxpayer, perpetrated by officials. It also rarely misses a story about UFOs or life on Venus.
But the hallmark of Russia Today is anti-Westernism. It gleefully highlights weaknesses, anomalies and double standards in countries that like to criticise Russia. The message is blunt: get your own house in order before lecturing others. Human-rights violations, political corruption and economic weaknesses get a particularly enthusiastic outing, even when the factual basis is tenuous or non-existent. One commentator says that the US is fascist. Another report claims that Nazism is on the rise in Germany and the Baltic states.
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The “Magnitsky list” is prepared for a reset
It is being proposed to extend sanctions to all human rights violators.
The US Congress has come close to the adoption of a bill imposing visa and economic sanctions against individuals responsible for human rights violations. The reason for the expedited review of this document is what the US is calling the “unfree and unfair” State Duma election. Experts warn that if the law is adopted, this will be a much greater blow to the “reset” between Moscow and Washington than disagreements on any other issues.
The Subcommittee on European Affairs of the US Foreign Relations Committee has held hearings on the state of human rights in Russia. The reason for the hearings was the State Duma election, which the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, characterized as “unfree and unfair.” The main topic at the hearings was the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011, introduced in Congress in May by Ben Cardin (D-MD) and John McCain (R–AZ). It imposes visa sanctions and seizure of financial assets of individuals responsible for human rights violations in the RF.
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Russian lawyer Magnitsky ‘tortured, beaten to death’ – report
The country’s presidential human rights council says police torture could have led to the death of a Russian lawyer, who was imprisoned at the time.
This comes after the Hermitage Capital Management investment fund Magnitsky worked for sent the council a 100-page report based on official documents, court materials, and public statements.
“The documents we possess testify to the illegal use of rubber clubs,” said council member and human rights defender Valery Borshchyov, as quoted by Interfax. “It turns out that 8 prison employees were beating one prisoner.”
An ambulance arrived at the prison on the day Magnitsky died, but doctors were denied access for about an hour.
“When they were finally let in, the doctors reported the death time different from that cited by the local employees – it was an hour earlier,” Borshchyov said. “The doctors also found out that Magnitsky was not in the intensive care unit, as claimed the prison’s physician. He was seated on the floor, leaning against a bunk and handcuffs were lying nearby.”
The human rights council presented photographs from the morgue, which showed deep wounds from handcuffs on Magnitsky’s wrists.
“Such wounds cannot be caused by the simple wearing of handcuffs,” Borshchyov said. “He must have been trying to break free.”
Prison personnel insist they had to cuff Magnitsky, as he was trying to commit suicide and injure himself.
Members of the council insist prosecutors look into the new evidence.
37-year-old Sergey Magnitsky, who worked for a foreign investment fund, was arrested on tax evasion charges in 2009. The gravely-ill lawyer died in a pre-trial detention facility several months later.
Two forensic evaluations showed that Magnitsky died of acute heart failure. Experts confirmed that Magnitsky was suffering from heart problems, but that it was not at an acute stage.
His family and colleagues claim he was deliberately denied medical help. Two prison doctors have been charged with negligence during the ongoing investigation.
Magnitsky said the criminal case against him was retaliation for his testimony, alleging the involvement of law enforcement officials in the embezzlement of budget funds.
The lawyer’s death prompted the US to blacklist a number of Russian citizens which it links to the case. Russia slammed the move and responded with similar measures against US officials. займ на карту онлайн займ https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://www.zp-pdl.com займ на карту
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Legal merry-go-round over prison death
Russia’s investigative committee has brought charges against a doctor whose alleged negligence caused a high-profile death in prison.
Fifty-three-year-old Vera Trifonova, head of a real estate agency, was arrested on fraud charges in December 2010. Despite having serious health problems, she was put into a pre-trial detention center. In April 2010 she died in custody.
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Seriously ill prisoner told to cough up $3 million – or else
A gravely ill woman being held at a pre-trial detention center in Moscow has been told she must pay a record sum of $3 million bail before she can be released.
The news comes after the inmate, 52-year-old entrepreneur Natalia Gulevich, filed a complaint to the Strasburg Court of Human Rights demanding justice. According to Russia’s new legislation, gravely ill people must not be kept in pre-trial detention.
After considering Gulevich’s appeal, the court ruled that the initial decision to arrest her was illegal, but demanded that the businesswoman paid the immense sum of $3 million in bail money. This would be the biggest bail ever paid in Russia.
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