Russian Interior Ministry Refuses to Stop the Posthumous Prosecution of Magnitsky and Intimidation of his Family

October 27, 2011

Today documents from Moscow city court revealed that the Russian Interior Ministry have formally denied petitions from relatives of Sergei Magnitsky, to stop his prosecution on fabricated tax evasion charges two years after he died. The Interior Ministry also refused to remove the investigators from the posthumous case against him who had been named by the President’s Human Rights Council as having been responsible for Magnitsky’s false arrest and torture in police custody in 2009.

The Interior Ministry further denied the petition from Magnitsky’s relatives to cease the intimidation of his surviving family by means of summonses for questioning as witnesses in the posthumous case against him. The Interior Ministry declared that it found no legal violations in the activities of the investigative team on the Magnitsky case.

These latest developments came to light in the submissions made on Monday in the Moscow City Court, which denied the lawsuit from Magnitsky’s relatives against senior Moscow judge for failure to afford them protection of the courts.

The evidence presented in court by Nikolai Gorokhov, the Magnitsky family lawyer included a letter dated October 7, 2011 from the Russian Interior Ministry to Magnitsky’s family, signed by P.V. Lapshov, chief of unit within the Interior Ministry’s Investigative Department, which said:

“The study of the criminal case found no violation of criminal procedure.”

“The reopening of the investigation against Magnitsky after his death is essentially aimed at…ascertaining all charges against Magnitsky,” said Interior Ministry official Lapshov.

To justify the refusal to remove investigators who had prosecuted Magnitsky from the case for their conflict of interest, Mr Lapshov said:

“The investigators appointed to prosecute Magnitsky [after his death] have previously conducted a preliminary investigation in the criminal case against him [during his life]. In accordance with Part 2 of Article 67 of the Criminal Procedural Code [which prescribes recusal of investigators with conflict of interest], the previous participation in a criminal proceeding does not constitute a ground for their removal.”

The Interior Ministry’s statement contradicts the July 5, 2011 findings of the Russian President’s Human Rights Council, which concluded that Magnitsky had been arrested and detained in breach of the European Human Rights convention and prosecuted by the Interior Ministry officials with a conflict of interest in breach of the Russian law. The officers who arrested Sergei Magnitsky were the same officers whom he testified against one month before his arrest about their involvement in the theft of Hermitage Fund companies and $230 million from the Russian budget.

Instead of prosecuting the officials named by the Human Rights Council report for the false arrest of Mr. Magnitsky on fabricated charges, the Russian authorities are now prosecuting Mr. Magnitsky himself two years after he died in custody from their torture. As part of this case, in August and September 2011, Mr. Magnitsky’s mother and widow were summoned for questioning as witnesses by the same Russian Interior Ministry officials who persecuted Mr. Magnitsky.

“We are dealing with medieval methods by criminals hiding behind the sovereignty of the Russian state to get away with murder. We will do everything possible to make sure that they face real justice in the West,” said a representative of Hermitage Capital.

Reply to Natalia Magnitskaya from Lapshov

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