State Persecution of Magnitsky Family Continues: Interior Ministry Removes Family Lawyer and Appoints State Lawyer Against Their Will

January 24, 2012

The mother of Sergei Magnitsky, had her family lawyer, Nikolai Gorokhov, forcibly removed from his role by the Russian Interior Ministry. She has been assigned a new lawyer appointed by state investigators against her will. Sergei Magnitsky’s mother has asked all Russian lawyers not to collaborate with the state investigators responsible for the torture and murder of her son.

In a written appeal filed with, Henri Reznik, the President of the Moscow Bar Association against the forced removal of her lawyer by the Interior Ministry, Natalia Magnitskaya said:

“I have engaged my lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov to provide me with qualified legal counsel and I have full confidence in his advice. I categorically refuse to accept services of unknown lawyers appointed by investigators with conflict of interest and who have shown their partiality and are acting against the law and conscience.”

Lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, who represents the family, previously challenged the reopening of the illegal criminal case against Sergei Magnitsky 20 months after he died as unconstitutional. He has also filed dozens of complaints with the Russian Interior Ministry, Russian General Prosecutor and the Moscow courts to get justice for the Magnitsky family. He was recognised as the second most influential lawyer in Russia by the Expert magazine for his relentless campaign on behalf of the family last year.

“Nikolai Gorokhov, has become so effective laying bare the legal absurdities of the posthumous persecution of Sergei Magnitsky that the Russian law enforcement authorities saw their only way out was to remove him even if there is no legal basis for doing so,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.

William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital, has condemned this latest development as an act of blatant pressure on the victim’s family. Mr Browder was testifying in Strasbourg in front of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe yesterday.

William Browder said:

“The illegal removal of Magnitsky’s family lawyer and the appointment of state lawyer against the family’s will clearly violates the legitimate rights and interests of the family. Anyone taking on this role will be involved in furthering the conspiracy and cover-up of the torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky”.

Peter Omtzigt, Dutch MP and representative of the Council of Europe, said:

“The Russian government signed up to the principles of the Council of Europe. They have a duty not to torture and kill people who blow the whistle on state corruption, and an even bigger duty not to obstruct justice by forcibly removing lawyers who are seeking justice for the Magnitsky family. I know I speak for many of my parliamentary colleagues when I say that we will not let this atrocity go unpunished.”

The news about the appointment of state lawyer to the Magnitsky family came from Investigator Boris Kibis of the Russian Interior Ministry who sent a telegram to the Moscow Bar Association last Friday instructing the Bar Association to appoint a new lawyer for the Magnitsky family. Kibis is the same Interior Ministry investigator who formally rejected the findings of the Russian President’s Human Rights Council that Sergei Magnitsky had been falsely arrested, tortured and killed in custody by officials who he testified against.

The Moscow-based lawyer Elena Khokhobaya has been invited as an “appointed counsel” to Mrs Magnitskaya against her will.

In response, Mrs Natalia Magnitskaya said in her appeal to the Moscow Bar Association:

“I refuse to accept counsel from Elena Khokhobaya, whom I personally do not know, and with all due respect to her profession, is a stranger to me and I do not trust her for that reason.”

“The appointment by the Russian Interior Ministry of unknown lawyers to represent the Magnitsky family and the exclusion of the lawyers who have previously challenged the Interior Ministry actions in this case violates the basic right of the victim’s family to receive qualified legal counsel enshrined in Article 48 of the Russian Constitution. It is also in breach of Russia’s obligation under Article 16 of the UN Basic Principles On the Role of Lawyers, which requires the government to protect lawyers from intimidation, hindrance and improper interference,” said Mr Browder.

Article 16 of the UN Principles on the Role of Lawyers says:

“Governments shall ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.”

During four seperate sessions of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg yesterday, Mr Browder testified about the details of the Russian government’s cover-up of Magnitsky’s torture and murder. Mr Browder also described the pressure exerted by the Russian law enforcement authorities on Sergei Magnitsky’s family in the last six months, which has now culminated in the exclusion of their family-appointed lawyer against their will.

In his report to the Council of Europe, Browder presented the litany of denials by the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office, the Russian Interior Ministry and the courts of Magnitsky’s family complaints about the illegal actions of state officials. He also described the continuing impunity of 60 officials described as complicit in Magnitsky’s death by the US Helsinki Commission.

The persecution of relatives of Sergei Magnitsky, and now their lawyers, began immediately after the publication of the findings of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russian Federation. The Human Rights Council recognized the illegality of the arrest and prosecution of Magnitsky, and revealed the involvement of Russian law enforcement officials and tax officials in the theft of $230 million of Russian state funds.

Copies of the complaints from Magnitsky relatives against the appointment of unknown lawyers were sent yesterday to the Prosecutor General Chaika, Chief of the Investigative Department of the Interior Ministry Kozhokar and Chief of the Interior Department for the Central Federal District Solovyov.

In October last year, more than 50 members of the Council of Europe from 28 countries signed the “Magnitsky Declaration” which demanded that the Russian government protect the Magnitsky family from Interior Ministry persecution.

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