Following Death in Custody of Hermitage Fund Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and Release of YouTube Video about the Perpetrators, Hermitage Capital Executive Receives New Death Threat

July 7, 2010

7 July 2010 – A UK-based Hermitage Capital executive has received a new death threat, the latest in a series of threats which started one month prior to the death in custody last year of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for Hermitage Fund, after he had testified about the theft of $230 million by Russian officials.

On 23 June 2010, friends of Sergei Magnitsky released details of millions of dollars of illicit assets acquired by a Russian police officer implicated by Sergei Magnitsky in the $230 million theft (see: http://russian-untouchables.com). Ten days after the release of this video, a London-based Hermitage Capital executive received a new death threat.

The death threat was sent to the Hermitage executive’s corporate UK phone voicemail box bypassing the normal telephone system, at 3:53 am on Saturday, 3 July. The voice message was left by a computer-altered voice saying: “I am coming for you. I am going for you f***…. I’ll f***.. you, f***… hell…”

Yesterday, lawyers representing Hermitage Capital filed a complaint with the Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) of London’s Metropolitan Police (http://www.met.police.uk/so/counter_terrorism.htm), special Service of Scotland Yard engaged in combating terrorist, domestic extremist and related offences with the experience in investigation of terrorist attacks in London in July 2005. The unit brings together world-renowned expertise in intelligence, investigation and operational support. In the filed complaint there was a clear reference made in relation to individuals, who should be banned from entering in the territory of the United Kingdom in light of the recent events.

In the letter filed with SO15 Hermitage lawyers said: “The most recent threat received on 3 July 2010, and the earlier messages, were plainly from the very persons who self-avowedly committed the murder of Mr Magnitsky, claimed “credit” for it.”

The YouTube video which precipitated the new death threat was released two weeks ago under title: “Russian Untouchables. Episode 1. Artem Kuznetsov” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZB3YoAvEro). The video details how Sergei Magnitsky testified about the involvement of Russian police officers in the theft of $230 million of budget funds, and how those same police officers then arrested and tortured him to coerce him to withdraw his testimony. After he refused, he was found dead in a detention centre cell. At the same time, Lt Col Artem Kuznetsov, the police officer Sergei Magnitsky testified against, has been enjoying a $3 million lifestyle on a $850 monthly salary. The video has immediately become one of the most blogged videos in Russia and has already been viewed by over 180,000 people.

This is not the first time that UK-based Hermitage Capital employees and lawyers have received death threats. On 23 October 2009, three weeks before the death of Sergei Magnitsky on 16 November 2009, a London-based lawyer for Hermitage Fund received the following SMS message: “Don’t know what is more terrible … death … or prison.”

One week before the death of Sergei Magnitsky, the London-based lawyer for Hermitage Fund received the following SMS message: “If history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone. Michael Corleone”.

Two days before Magnitsky’s death, a voice message with a recording of someone being severely beaten was received by a Hermitage executive.

Two days following the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Hermitage Fund lawyer received another SMS message boasting about Magnitsky’s death: “There is a lawyer, who died in prison under a very interesting criminal case. Landmark event. The paid-up articles will not work. Extradition will follow…”

All SMS messages originated from a Russian mobile phone, not registered to any specific name in Moscow. Such unregistered numbers generally belong to the Russian security services. According to an investigation conducted by the independent journalists of the New Times Magazine in Russia, certain officials of the Russian intelligence services received a $6 million fee for the illegal imprisonment and torture of Sergei Magnitsky (see in Russian: http://newtimes.ru/articles/detail/11454).

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