RUSSIA/FILE: Members of Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights say investigation is needed into role of law enforcement agencies and state institutions in the the prison death of Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky

Record ID: 722244

  • Title: RUSSIA/FILE: Members of Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights say investigation is needed into role of law enforcement agencies and state institutions in the the prison death of Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky
  • Date: 8th July 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - 2009) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) RELATIVES, FRIENDS GOING TO MAGNITSKY'S FUNERAL MAGNITSKY'S PHOTOGRAPH AMONG FLOWERS VARIOUS OF BURIAL
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA5W1I7YHPTYF4QDOI0IR75U1MG
  • Story Text: The Kremlin's Human Rights Council on Thursday (July 7) blamed Russian state institutions of being involved in the case of Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, and said that those guilty of his death would be punished.
    Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for the equity fund Hermitage Capital, whose British-based head fell foul of the government during Vladimir Putin's presidency, died in November 2009 in prison, after nearly a year awaiting trial on a tax evasion charge.
    The Head of Presidential Council on Human Rights, which recently presented the report on the lawyer's death to President Dmitry Medvedev, said the investigation should be continued in order to find and punish those responsible for his death.
    "We are not bloodthirsty monsters, but we believe that any crime should be punished. We are for the inevitability of punishment," council head Mikhail Fedotov said at a press conference on Thursday.
    Magnitsky, whose gruesome jailhouse death spooked investors and blackened Russia's image, was likely to have been beaten to death in pre-trial detention, the Kremlin's human rights council said in a report published on Wednesday (July 6).
    Former colleagues of Magnitsky said that the case against him was fabricated by police investigators, whom he accused of stealing $230 million from the state through fraudulent tax returns, and said his death was the result of a conspiracy led by the same officers.
    A Human Rights Council member said on Thursday that other institutions, besides the police, could have been involved in Magnitsky's death.
    "We will clarify the role, not only of the power structures, because their role is quite clear, at least to us. The question now is to legally secure this role because we can not use the same methods which the people involved in Magnitsky case used, we can not violate the law. But we should clarify the role of other institutions: the Ministry of Taxation, the Federal Treasury and the Finance Ministry," council member Kirill Kabanov said.
    The council plans to present the final report on the lawyer's death only after the court decision on his case, the head of Human Rights Council said.
    "Only the court can put the final point in this case. When the court rules on Sergei Magnitsky's case and the cause of his death, then we will be able to say that we have the grounds to deliver a final report to the President," Fedotov said.
    Magnitsky's death was seen as a test for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who vowed to reform a justice system he claimed was badly flawed, although it has not been seen to have made much progress since he was steered into the Kremlin by Putin in 2008.
    The head of Russian branch of Transparency International Elena Panfilova told the journalists at the press conference that the investigation of the case could affect the future of the human rights situation in Russia.
    "The two words - 'Magnitsky case' - mean much more than the fate of one particular person. It (the Magnitsky case) will show how we are going to live in the future, and how we are going to defend our right to live and our right to property and (it will show if we are able to) return our law enforcement agencies and our legal system back to where they should be, according to our Constitution," Panfilova said.
    The report, which Medvedev's human rights council presented to him on Tuesday, added to existing allegations that Magnitsky had been mistreated and denied adequate medical care while in jail, particularly in the last days and hours of his life.
    According to the report, shortly before Magnitsky's death, a prison doctor who complained that he was acting irrationally, summoned a team of eight guards, who handcuffed Magnitsky and took him to a small room, while a first aid unit was denied access.
    The report also claims that shortly before his death, Magnitsky was completely deprived of medical help. Additionally, there are grounds to suspect that Magnitsky's death was the result of a beating.
    His relatives afterward found that he had broken fingers and bruises on his body. Moreover, there were no medical records for the last hour of his life, according to the report.
    The council, an advisory body that included human rights and judicial reform advocates, also accused a judge of committing Magnitsky to pre-trial detention without just cause, and suggested the tax fraud charges against him were fabricated.
    Medvedev, who had ordered an official probe shortly after the attorney's death, made no public comments after hearing the council's report on Tuesday but said it would be handed to investigators.
    Medvedev ordered the sacking of several prison officials after Magnitsky's death, but former colleagues of the deceased, including the Hermitage Capital Management Founder William Browder, claimed that justice would not be done until the officers they blamed would face criminal charges.
    Hermitage Capital was once Russia's biggest equity fund but Browder, who had campaigned for better corporate governance, has since pulled money out of the country after he was denied entry into Russia in 2005.
    Lawmakers in countries including the United States and the Netherlands introduced legislation that slapped travel restrictions on dozens of investigators, prosecutors, judges and other officials whom Hermitage blames for Magnitsky's death.
    Magnitsky's death sent a warning to potential investors in Russia, who trade at a discount with other emerging markets because of the risks associated with corporate governance and misuse of funds, and drew fierce criticism from foreign governments.
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