Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Russia: why Magnitsky matters, even to hard-headed investors

Financial Times

By curious coincidence, Russia is prosecuting a dead man on the 60th anniversary of Stalin’s death. Just days after the commemoration of the Soviet leader, the trial is due to start on of Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyer who died in a Moscow jail after accusing officials of fraud.

It perverts the law in a way which even the ruthless Georgian did not attempt. But Stalin would have appreciated the idea: like his show trials, it is a demonstration of power, not of justice. Many foreign investors will say this has nothing to do with them. They are wrong. It has.

Indeed, Russian prosecutors have established a direct connection with the investment world by naming as Magnitsky’s co-defendant his former client, Bill Browder, a UK-based American fund manager, who was once the biggest investor in Russia.

Browder’s troubles began after he criticised the management of Gazprom, the state-run gas monopoly. He was denied entry into Russia and put under investigation by interior ministry officials whom he and Magnitsky later accused of involvement in a $230m tax fraud.