Russian General Prosecutor Rejects Request from Magnitsky Family to Cease His Prosecution Two Years After His Death

November 22, 2011

he Russian General Prosecutor’s Office has refused to stop the prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky two years after his death. In addition, the Russian authorities have refused to recuse from the current criminal investigation the Interior Ministry officers who were responsible for his torture and death in custody. This information was revealed in a letter from 8 November 2011 signed by V. Ignashin, deputy chief of General Prosecutor’s Office Division for Particularly Important Cases, to Magnitsky’s family lawyer, Nikolai Gorokhov.

“Your petition containing reasons to cease the criminal prosecution of Magnitsky’s relatives and stating no confidence to investigators on the criminal case has been considered… As part of the probe, we found no circumstances that exclude the participation of the investigators in this criminal proceeding…Given this, there are no lawful reasons to undertake measures of prosecutorial reaction to recuse the investigation team from the case,” said V. Ignashin in his formal reply.

The Russian President’s Human Rights Council has concluded that Interior Ministry officers prosecuting Sergei Magnitsky were in gross conflict of interest because of the Magnitsky’s testimony prior to his arrest about their complicity in the $230 million theft.

Commenting on the response from the General Prosecutor’s Office, Hermitage Capital representative said:

“There is no precedent in modern legal history to prosecute a dead man. The Russian General Prosecutor’s Office is spitting in the face of President Medvedev’s own Human Rights Council by rejecting their findings. Step by step, this group of corrupt Russian officials is brining into question the entire legitimacy of the Russian judicial system.”

In May 2011, Russian President Medvedev ordered the General Prosecutor Chaika to strengthen oversight over the Magnitsky case. Shortly afterwards, General Prosecutor Office found no wrong-doing in the actions of the Interior Ministry officers who falsely arrested, tortured and killed Sergei Magnitsky and who have been named in numerous petitions to open a torture and murder investigation

Prosecutor Ignashin who has refused to cease the posthumous prosecution of Magnitsky and harassment of his family, became known last week when he refused the court’s request for provision of documents. The documents were requested by Magnitsky’s colleague, Jamison Firestone, in the defamation proceeding against him by Prosecutor Pechegin, who tried to deny his role in the Magnitsky case in spite of ample evidence showing his signatures on the documents in Sergei Magnitsky case file.

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