Chair of Moscow City Court Attempts Cover Up of Role of Judges in Murder of Sergei Magnitsky

September 15, 2010

Amid calls to enact visa sanctions against Russian officials implicated in the unlawful arrest, torture and murder in custody of 37-year old, anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the Chair of the Moscow City Court Olga Egorova, attempted to cover up the fact that judges were fully aware of his torturous conditions, the illnesses he developed as a result and the systematic denial of medical care he was deliberately subjected to in detention.

Speaking on the Russian radio station ‘Echo of Moscow’ on Monday night, Judge Egorova said that Sergei Magnitsky allegedly never asked to be released because of his health problems. She also said that she felt “sorry” for his relatives (see in Russian here: http://echo.msk.ru/programs/court/709698-echo/).

A Hermitage Capital representative said: “Statements by Judge Egorova are blatant lies. Sergei Magnitsky appealed to the courts on many occasions to release him from unlawful detention as well as raising the illnesses he was developing in prison and requesting medical attention on over 20 occasions.”

“Expressing sorrow for Sergei’s relatives is a sick joke. It is abhorrent that a senior Russian judge, ten months after Magnitsky’s death, will still not admit the truth – that with the full knowledge and consent from a group of Moscow judges, the life of a 37-year old lawyer, was deliberately ended by the corrupt Russian police he exposed in the US$230 million tax fraud.”

Sergei Magnitsky and his lawyers repeatedly requested Moscow courts to release him from detention, citing the unlawful and repressive nature of his prosecution by officers with clear conflicts of interest, falsification of his case file, the conditions he was subjected to in custody, and the serious diseases he developed as a result of his detention as well as the denial of medical treatment.

On 14 September 2009, two months before he died, Sergei Magnitsky personally appealed to Moscow court Judge Krivoruchko in the Tverskoi district court of Moscow to release him due to torturous conditions and denial of medical care (quotes from the official court hearing transcript):

“The investigation has no evidence of my connection to an offence, they are incriminating me with. …I believe that another milder measure of restraint can be applied in my case, for example home arrest… because …I am suffering from a number of diseases …The treatment of my diseases is not possible in custody. Based on the above I ask you not to approve the petition from investigator [to prolong detention].»

«I request to review a series of complaints about the intolerable conditions I am kept in, in particular: facts about how I was deprived of food, and of the opportunity to use a toilet;…facts about how the medical care is denied to me.”

Judge Krivoruchko nevertheless denied Magnitsky’s appeals to release him and even prolonged his detention for two further months stretching his sentence to 11 months.

Prior to that event, Magnitsky and his lawyers also contacted higher court judges in Moscow to cancel his arrest. The evidence can be seen here with the official transcripts of the hearing of their appeals at the Moscow City Court:

«In the opinion of lawyers, the court did not consider the possibility to apply to him [Magnitsky] a different measure of restraint …Keeping Magnitsky in detention violates article 3 of the Human Rights Convention due to his present conditions in detention. In the opinion of lawyers, these conditions have lead to the deterioration of physical and psychological state of Magnitsky…Also, no evidence has been presented to the court to justify a suspicion or an accusation against Magnitsky. This violates the accepted norms of international law and international treaties.» (from the 18 May 2009 transcript of the Moscow City Court collegium).

The Moscow City Court Collegium refused all the appeals from Magnitsky and his lawyers.

On 12 November 2009, four days prior to Magnitsky’s death, Judge Stashina of Tverskoi district court in Moscow, again denied Magnitsky’s requests to consider the medical certificates about his illnesses diagnosed in detention and the multiple denials of any medical treatment to him despite his extreme pain and suffering. Judge Stashina prolonged Magnitsky’s detention for two more weeks to the maximum possible of one year. Four days later Magnitsky was found dead on the cell floor.

Judges of the Moscow courts who sanctioned Magnitsky’s arrest and prolonged his detention on false charges have been included in the US visa ban list by Senator Benjamin Cardin, Chairman of the US Helsinki Commission, empowered to monitor adherence to human rights in the OSCE member countries. Russia is a member of the OSCE.

Earlier this week, a number of prominent Russian intellectuals and civil rights activists have signed a public appeal to the US government and to the EU leadership requesting to issue permanent visa bans against all 60 Russian officials on the Cardin list. Among those who signed and support the appeal are Ludmila Alexeeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group; Sergei Kovalev, Chair of Memorial human rights group; Lev Ponomarev, Director of For Human Rights group; Alexei Simonov, President of Glasnost foundation; Marietta Chudakova, professor of literature; Yuri Ryzhov, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Kirill Kabanov, head of the National Anti-corruption Committee.

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