Sergei Magnitsky’s Mother Condemns Actions of Russian Interior Ministry

February 10, 2012

Yesterday, the mother of Sergei Magnitsky condemned the Russian Interior Ministry for the pressure they have been applying to her family. Instead of prosecuting the officials who were responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky in police custody, investigators from the Interior Ministry have opened a criminal case against Sergei Magnitsky two years after he died and have summoned Mrs. Magnitskaya more than 10 times for questioning in an attempt to force her to sign documents giving up her rights for justice for her son.

“It’s like slow motion torture, in which the executioner does not kill you at once, but makes you suffer, making you shudder from every phone call and every letter that arrives. It reminds me of the agony experienced by my son,” said Mrs Magnitskaya in a complaint filed on February 9th, 2012 with Sergei Solovyov, Chief of the Investigation of the Russian Interior Ministry in the Central Federal District.

“I consider the Interior Ministry’s actions as repression and persecution, which has already resulted in the horrific death of my son, and now continues in the persecution of people close to him who refuse to sign an illegal declaration renouncing their right to seek justice,” said Natalia Magnitskaya.

In August 2011, the Russian authorities launched an unprecedented posthumous criminal case against the dead lawyer. The posthumous case was opened on orders from Russia’s Deputy General Prosecutor Viktor Grin. The Russian Interior Ministry has defined Magnitsky family members as “defendants” in this case and have been attempting to coerce them to give up their right to seek justice or see Sergei Magnitsky be prosecuted in the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history.

“Interior Ministry investigators are continuously summoning me and my son’s widow to take part in the illegitimate investigation against my son. Interior Ministry Investigators Silchenko and Kibis have assigned us the status of ‘defendants’ in this case,” said Natalia Magnitskaya. “My relatives and I are subjected to psychological torture by the relentless illegal actions of the investigators,” she continued.

The reaction from the Russian Interior Ministry is not yet known.

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