Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Tycoon presses for sanctions over torture and death of lawyer

The Irish Times

A US businessman will meet Irish officials and testify before an Oireachtas committee today to press Ireland during the EU presidency for sanctions against Russian officials responsible for the torture and death of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who blew the whistle on a $230 million fraud in 2008.

Bill Browder, the founder and chief executive of the London-based Hermitage Capital Management, is seeking justice for Mr Magnitsky who uncovered the fraud involving Russian state taxes paid by the firm.

The largest foreign investor in Russia, Mr Browder spent $4.5 billion on shares in Russian public companies until he was denied entry to Russia in 2005 and declared “a threat to national security” by the Russian government for exposing corruption in Russian firms.

After testifying against state officials, Mr Magnitsky was arrested and imprisoned without trial, then tortured in an attempt to force him to retract his testimony. He was held for almost a year in appalling conditions, including cells with 14 inmates and eight beds with sewage on the cell floor.