In-Custody Death in Moscow Due to Calculated and Deliberate Neglect and Inhumane Treatment

July 18, 2011

PHR releases first independent medical evaluation of Magnitsky case  and calls for an independent investigation into lawyer’s death

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), an independent organization that uses the integrity of medicine and science to stop mass atrocities and severe human rights violations against individuals, today announced that calculated, deliberate and inhumane neglect ultimately led to the death of 37-year-old anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky died following 358 days in police custody in Moscow in November 2009. The high profile case has focused international attention on human rights abuse and corruption in Russia.

PHR’s experts, including a leading forensic pathologist and a cardiologist and prison health expert, reviewed available documentation in the case at the request of the Magnitsky family. In the first independent medical evaluation of the Magnitsky case, the experts expressed concern about the possibility of incomplete evidence collection and apparent contradictions in the Russian death investigations and PHR’s findings.

“From the day he was arrested until the day he died, Mr. Magnitsky received inadequate medical evaluation and treatment,” said PHR’s forensic expert pathologist Dr. Robert C. Bux. “This calculated, deliberate and inhumane neglect undoubtedly led to his death and a criminal investigation must be launched leading to arrests and prosecution. Mr. Magnitsky’s family deserves to finally have some justice.”

In addition to calling for a full international, independent review of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Magnitsky’s death, PHR has also called upon the Russian government to accept responsibility under the UN Anti-torture Convention for the torture, medical neglect and inhumane conditions that caused his death. PHR addressed its appeal for an independent investigation to the UN General Secretary, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Chair of the OSCE, leaders of the US Congress, and President of the European Council, among others.

“Documentation in this case overwhelmingly points towards torture and deliberate medical neglect,” said Stefan Schmitt, PHR’s International Forensic Program Director. “The real question is why no criminal investigation has been launched against those responsible for his imprisonment and the conditions which led to his death.”

Other significant findings include:

• Mr. Magnitsky suffered prolonged severe pain, was denied regular contact with his family, denied medical evaluations for his complaints, fed meals irregularly, and kept under inhumane conditions.
• There is no record of the collection of vitreous fluid or urine or of toxicological testing other than for controlled substances.

About Physicians for Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is an independent organization that uses the integrity of medicine and science to stop mass atrocities and severe human rights violations against individuals. We are supported by the expertise and passion of health professionals and concerned citizens alike.

Since 1986, PHR has conducted investigations in more than 40 countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, the United States, the former Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe:

1988 First to document Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Kurds
1996 Exhumed mass graves in the Balkans
1996 Produced critical forensic evidence of genocide in Rwanda
1997 Shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
2003 Warned of health and human rights catastrophe prior to the invasion of Iraq
2004 Documented and analyzed the genocide in Darfur
2005 Detailed the story of tortured detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay
2010 Presented the first evidence showing that CIA medical personnel engaged in human experimentation on prisoners in violation of the Nuremberg Code and other provisions

For additional information please contact:
Megan Prock, Senior Press Officer
Physicians for Human Rights
Cell (USA):     +1 617 510 3417
Tel: +1 617 30 -4237
E-mail:            mprock@phrusa.org

Physicians for Human Rights Report on Sergei Magnitsky:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_Reports/magnitsky-report-july2011.pdf

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