Cameron voices concerns over Russian lawyer’s death

Financial Times

The UK has urged the Kremlin to reveal the findings of an investigation into the death in custody of a Russian corporate lawyer who alleged police corruption.

Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working for Hermitage Capital, a Russian investment fund, died in a Moscow jail in 2009 after testifying against police for alleged complicity in a $230m tax fraud using companies that belonged to his client.

His ill treatment and death in custody have become symbolic of corruption and injustice in Russian law enforcement agencies, which the Kremlin appears unable to halt.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr Magnitsky’s death in late 2009, but the findings have not yet been published.

In a letter to William Browder, the chief executive of Hermitage Capital who was barred from Russia in 2005, David Cameron said he was “deeply concerned” about the implications for the rule of law and respect for human rights in Russia posed by the Magnitsky case.

“It is of particular concern that the official investigation announced by president Medvedev in November 2009 has not yet reported its findings,” the UK prime minister wrote in teh letter, dated February 22.

Mr Cameron discussed the Magnitsky case with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, at a meeting in London last month that was billed by both sides as an attempt to improve strained relations between the two countries.

Downing Street has entrusted David Lidington, UK minister for Europe, with responsibility for tracking progress on the investigation as Mr Cameron prepares to visit Russia later this year in the first visit to the country by a UK premier since 2006.

Relations between Russia and the UK have been strained since the 2006 killing in London of Aleksander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer who is widely thought to have been murdered at the behest of the Russian state. займ на карту онлайн unshaven girls zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php hairy girl