Russian prison doctor pleads not guilty of negligence in death of lawyer Magnitsky
The first Russian official charged in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison after reporting a multimillion-dollar tax fraud, went on trial Thursday and pleaded not guilty.
Dmitry Kratov, formerly a doctor in Moscow’s Butyrka prison, was charged with negligence.
Kratov’s attorney, Roman Kuchin, said his client denied the charges because he was not able to ensure medical care for Magnitsky in prison due to a shortage of staff.
Magnitsky, who in 2007 who had accused Interior Ministry officials of using false tax documents to steal $230 million from the state, died in custody from untreated pancreatitis in 2009. An investigation by Russia’s presidential council on human rights concluded that Magnitsky was severely beaten and denied medical treatment. It accused the government of failing to prosecute those responsible.
Magnitsky’s relatives and colleagues say by charging the prison doctors, authorities are trying to cover up for the police officers and the investigators who denied Magnitsky’s pleas to be released. The lawyer died before he was brought to trial.
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Judge declines to return Kratov case to prosecutors, change charge to murder
The Moscow Tverskoi District Court has once again declined to return to prosecutors the case of former Butyrka detention center deputy warden Dmitry Kratov charged with negligence in connection with the death of Hermitage Capital Foundation lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The Magnitsky family lawyer asked the court to return the Kratov case to prosecutors and to charge him with murder and infliction of moral and physical suffering.
“New circumstances have become known: Kratov’s actions lead to the death of Magnitsky,” lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov claimed.
The prosecutors and the defense of the ex-Butyrka deputy warden raised objections.
“We are even unable to start a juridical inquiry; how can the judge evaluate the case?” the Kratov’s lawyer wondered.
Presiding Judge Tatiana Neverova rejected the appeal of the Magnitsky family defense. payday loan срочный займ на карту https://www.zp-pdl.com zp-pdl.com payday loan
European deputies pass resolution on political use of justice in Russia
The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution on political use of justice in Russia. The European deputies believe that plans to unseat deputy Gennady Gudkov from “A Just Russia” party is an attempt to put up barriers to legitimate activities of an opposition member.
The European Union’s top legislative body voted for the resolution in the run-up to a Russian State Duma hearing on stripping Gudkov of his parliamentary mandate scheduled for September 14.
The resolution notes that the human rights situation in Russia has radically deteriorated over the past few months. Instead of resolute steps to protect the basic rights and freedoms, Russia has taken a number of measures aimed at curtailing these rights, the resolution’s authors say.
Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said earlier in Strasbourg that possible unseating of opposition deputy Gennady Gudkov, lack of progress in investigation into the death of Sergei Magnitsky, an auditor of Britain’s Hermitage Capital Management Fund and the sentence passed on the Pussy Riot punk group signaled a trend that was a source of concern for the European Union. займы на карту без отказа займы онлайн на карту срочно www.zp-pdl.com www.zp-pdl.com займ на карту
European Parliament Condemns Russian ‘Political’ Use Of Judiciary
The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning Russian officials’ use of the country’s judiciary for political purposes.
The resolution expresses “deep disappointment with the verdict and the disproportionate sentence,” handed down on August 17, against three members of the punk protest group Pussy Riot.
It says the Pussy Riot case adds to a recent rise of politically motivated intimidation and prosecution of opposition activists.
It expresses concern about an eight-year sentence against opposition activist Taisia Osipova as well as criminal investigations that target leading opposition figures like Aleksei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, and Sergei Udaltsov.
The resolution calls on Moscow to find and try the murderers of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and human rights activist Natalya Estemirova.
It also calls for with a credible, independent investigation of anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s 2009 death in custody. A defendant went to trial this week in connection with that case. быстрые займы на карту hairy girls https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php payday loan
Russian prison doctor pleads not guilty on negligence charges in lawyer Magnitsky’s death
A prison doctor charged with negligence in the death of a lawyer who reported a multi-million tax fraud by Russian officials has pleaded not guilty.
Dmitry Kratov, formerly a doctor in Moscow’s Butyrka prison, is the first official charged in the death of Sergey Magnitsky. The trial started at Moscow’s Tverskoy court Thursday.
Kratov’s attorney Roman Kuchin said that his client denied the charges against him because he could not ensure medical care for Magnitsky due to a shortage of staff.
Magnitsky, who had accused Interior Ministry officials of using false tax documents to steal $230 million from the state, died in custody from untreated pancreatitis. A private investigation concluded Magnitsky was severely beaten and denied medical treatment, and it accused the government of failing to prosecute those responsible.
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Prosecutorial disclosure appeal launched by Magnitsky’s mother dismissed
On Tuesday, the Moscow District Simonovsky Court dismissed Sergei Magnitsky’s mother’s appeal of the Prosecutor General’s Office’s refusal to disclose the names of prosecutors who supervised the investigation of her son’s case, attorney Nikolai Gorokhov told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).
“They are trying to conceal information from the mother regarding officials whose actions directly concern her legal rights, and also the rights and freedoms of her deceased son. In practice, an out-of-procedure body was established which exercises its powers in secret,” reads the appeal submitted by the attorney representing Magnitsky’s mother. The appeal claims that the refusal to disclose the names of those who investigated Magnitsky posthumously is unconstitutional.
Sergey Magnitsky, an auditor for the Hermitage Capital Management Fund, was charged with masterminding large-scale corporate tax evasion. He died in a Moscow pretrial detention center on November 16, 2009 after spending a year behind bars. His death sparked a public outcry and triggered amendments to the Criminal Code and a reshuffling of officials in the penal system.
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‘Magnitsky Death Doctor’ Denies Negligence Charges
A former Russian prison doctor charged with negligence in connection with the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
“The accusations against me are unfounded,” Dmitry Kratov, the former deputy director of Moscow’s Butyrka pre-trial detention facility, told a court hearing.
But he acknowledged that “the conditions in which I worked prevented me from fully carrying out my duties.”
Magnitsky, who accused officials of a $230 million tax fraud, spent a year in Butyrka before his death. He died after “deliberate and inhumane neglect,” the Kremlin’s human rights body said in a report last year.
The high-profile death provoked an international outcry. The United States and Netherlands imposed travel bans on some 60 Russian officials over the Magnitsky case last year. Russia has responded in kind.
The U.S. Senate is currently mulling a bill named for Magnitsky that would penalize Russian officials for human rights abuses.
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Clinton Tells Russia That Sanctions Will Soon End
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged Saturday that the United States would soon lift cold-war-era trade sanctions on Russia, but she did not address human rights legislation in Congress that has so far stalled passage, infuriated the Kremlin and become an unexpected issue in the American presidential race.
Attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting here in place of the campaigning President Obama, Mrs. Clinton welcomed Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization last month. And she said that the United States must now normalize trade relations so that American businesses can reap the benefits of Russia’s membership, including lower tariffs for American products.
Although the sanctions included in the 1974 law known as Jackson-Vanik are waived each year and have no practical effect, they violate W.T.O. rules, which could allow Russia to retaliate against American businesses.
The effort to grant Russia normal trade status, however, has become entangled in legislation that would punish Russian officials accused of abusing human rights, denying them visas and freezing their assets. That has raised doubts that any agreement on lifting the Jackson-Vanik provisions can be reached before the November election.
The human rights bill, which has bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison in 2009 after being prosecuted on charges that his supporters argue were manufactured to cover up official corruption.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential challenger, injected the issue into the campaign last week by issuing a statement saying that, as president, he would normalize trade with Russia only if the Magnitsky bill were enacted. The Obama administration, by contrast, has opposed the bill as too expansive and lobbied against mixing it with the trade issue, while expressing support for addressing rights abuses in Russia in some way.
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Clinton sees Congress moving on Russia trade measure
The U.S. Congress may move this month to upgrade trade relations with Russia, a key part of the Obama administration’s effort to bolster sometimes strained ties with Moscow and open the Russian market to more U.S. companies, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday.
Clinton, addressing the Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) meeting in Vladivostok, said the Obama administration was working closely with Congress on lifting the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment, Cold War-era legislation which has blocked normal trade privileges for Russia.
“To make sure our companies get to compete here in Russia, we are working closely with the United States congress to terminate the application to Jackson-Vanik to Russia and grant Russia permanent normalized trade relations,” Clinton said.
“We hope that the Congress will act on this important piece of legislation this month.”
Congress is under pressure to approve the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) bill because of Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) last month, a move the United States strongly supported.
U.S. business groups hope the House of Representatives and Senate will pass the legislation in September before lawmakers return home to campaign. Businesses worry that without it U.S. firms may not get access to newly opened services markets and be subject to potential arbitrary Russian trade reprisals.
But with concerns in Congress about Moscow’s support for Iran and Syria, as well as its broader human rights record, the timing of a vote remains unclear.
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To learn more about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky please read below
- Sergei Magnitsky
- Why was Sergei Magnitsky arrested?
- Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison
- President’s investigation sabotaged and going nowhere
- The corrupt officers attempt to arrest 8 lawyers
- Past crimes committed by the same corrupt officers
- Petitions requesting a real investigation into Magnitsky's death
- Worldwide reaction, calls to punish those responsible for corruption and murder
- Complaints against Lt.Col. Kuznetsov
- Complaints against Major Karpov
- Cover up
- Press about Magnitsky
- Bloggers about Magnitsky
- Corrupt officers:
- Sign petition
- Citizen investigator
- Join Justice for Magnitsky group on Facebook
- Contact us
- Sergei Magnitsky
