Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

MPs vote for sanctions on Russians over Magnitsky death

The Week

BRITISH MPs have called on the government to impose sanctions on Russian officials involved in the torture and death of anti-corruption campaigner Sergei Magnitsky. It could prove to be the most serious breakdown in Anglo-Russian relations since the 2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.

Magnitsky, a lawyer who worked in the Moscow offices of the Guernsey-based investment fund Hermitage Capital, died in 2009 following nearly 12 months in prison.

It is alleged he was arrested by Russian officials to silence him after he uncovered a massive fraud. He was then treated brutally in jail, eventually being beaten to death by Russian police.

At yesterday’s Commons debate – which went ahead in spite of a letter of protest from the Russian ambassador in London – Conservative MP Dominic Raab said: “Between 2007 and 2008, while working for Hermitage Capital, [Magnitsky] exposed the biggest tax fraud in Russian history, worth $230 million. His legal team was then subjected to varying forms of intimidation.