Russian Lawyer Representing Sergei Magnitsky’s Employer Illegally Summoned for Questioning

Jamison Firestone, the former employer of Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, appealed today to Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, against the unlawful questioning in Moscow of his Russian lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, in breach of the lawyer-client privilege afforded by the Russian Constitution.

The attempt to question Mr. Gorokhov as a witness was made yesterday by Moscow investigator Alexei Spesivtsev in relation to Mr. Firestone’s high-profile petition to the Russian authorities requesting the prosecution of Russian government officials involved in the illegal tax refund scheme totalling US$500 million.

Mr. Firestone stated:
“The unlawful act against my lawyer clearly contradicts Russia’s obligations under international  and Russia’s domestic covenants to protect lawyers. It is insupportable that Dmitry Medvedev – who is a lawyer himself, and who frequently speaks about the need for the rule of law in Russia – allows for such blatant disregard of the law by his own government officials to continue.”

Mr. Firestone is insisting that Russian authorities investigate tax officials from Moscow Tax Offices 25 and 28, who illegally refunded US$500 million from the Russian treasury via a scheme uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky. The evidence submitted by Mr Firestone shows the wealth of those officials and their families vastly disproportionate to their official government salaries.

Mr. Firestone filed the crime report against the tax officials with the Russian Investigative Committee on April 20, 2010. The deadline for reviewing a crime report is three days under Russian law. Seven weeks after Mr. Firestone filed the petition no investigation has been launched.

On May 11, Mr. Firestone’s application was forwarded for a preliminary inquiry to the Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee.

On June 8, an investigator of that branch, Alexei Spesivtsev, summoned Mr. Firestone’s Moscow lawyer, Nikolai Gorokhov, to discuss the status of the inquiry. However, in breach of Article 8 of the Russian Law ‘On Lawyers’, Investigator Spesivtsev attempted to question Mr. Gorokhov as a witness.

Article 8 of the law ‘On Lawyers’ stipulates:

“A lawyer cannot be summoned and questioned as a witness about circumstances that became known to him in the course of a legal consultation or in connection with its provision.”

Mr. Firestone stated:

“This is yet another act of harassment and intimidation against lawyers who assist their clients in petitioning the investigation of corrupt Russian government officials. All these lawyers are faced with retaliatory illegal searches, summonses and fabricated criminal cases. Meanwhile, the implicated officials remain at large.”

Office of A.V. Spesivtsev, Investigator of the Moscow Investigative Committee:  (495) 699 09 03

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