Russia to Prosecute Officials Linked to Magnitsky’s Death

Bloomberg

Russian prosecutors plan to charge officials linked to the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management Ltd. who died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after almost a year in pre-trial detention. Officials will face criminal prosecution for refusing timely medical treatment to Magnitsky, who was 37 when he died of heart failure, including on the day of his death, Russia’s Investigative Committee said today on its website.

“The failure to provide Magnitsky with adequate medical treatment was a direct cause of his death,” the committee said, citing the results of a medical probe.

The announcement came less than two months after President Dmitry Medvedev said all guilty parties in Magnitsky’s “tragic” death should be punished. The lawyer said he was abused and denied medical care to force him to drop allegations of a $230 million tax fraud by Interior Ministry officials.

Medvedev has made fighting corruption and improving the rule of law key objectives as he seeks to attract foreign investors. London-based Hermitage founder William Browder accuses the Russian authorities of a whitewash over Magnitsky’s death.

“If they don’t investigate the officials who committed the massive public thefts that Sergei Magnitsky uncovered and who were responsible for his torture in custody, then this investigation isn’t credible at all,” Browder said today by phone.

Tax Charges

Valery Borshchev, a member of a presidential human rights council, said May 31 that a senior Russian investigator should be prosecuted for his role in Magnitsky’s death. Oleg Silchenko refused Magnitsky’s request for an ultra- sound scan and operation, Borshchev told Bloomberg News a day after the Investigative Committee said Silchenko hadn’t committed any legal violations in prosecuting Magnitsky.
A presidential inquiry, which will release a report on the case in a few months, concluded that the tax-evasion charges against Magnitsky, who suffered from gallstone disease, were fabricated, said Borshchev.
Russia put Browder on its international wanted list in 2009, seeking to question him on suspicion of conspiring with Magnitsky to evade 500 million rubles ($18 million) of taxes.

Visa Bans

Browder, 47, was the biggest portfolio investor in Russia when authorities revoked his visa in 2005, citing national security concerns. He has been campaigning for the prosecution of 60 Russian officials he blames for the death of Magnitsky. Some EU and U.S. lawmakers are seeking to impose visa bans and
asset freezes on those officials.

Hermitage says Interior Ministry officials seized documents from its Moscow offices in June 2007 that enabled them to re- register ownership of its three Russian funds and fraudulently claim $230 million in tax rebates in December 2007.

Alexander Bastrykin, who heads the Investigative Committee, said in a September 2010 interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the government’s official newspaper, that there was “no reason” to believe Magnitsky’s death was connected to those prosecuting the criminal case against him. займ на карту онлайн займы онлайн на карту срочно https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php payday loan