Sergei Magnitsky’s Mother Calls for a Public Hearing on the Role that Moscow Judges Played in Her Son’s Death

June 13, 2013

The mother of Sergei Magnitsky wrote an open letter to the Federal Council of Russian Judges calling for a public hearing on the role that the Moscow judges played in her son’s death and an examination of the facts behind their inclusion in the US Magnitsky List.

“I ask you to conduct an open hearing on the reasons for the inclusion of Moscow city judges in the Magnitsky list at the session of the Council of Judges of the Russian Federation with my participation,” said Mrs Magnitskaya in an open letter published by Novaya Gazeta in Russia (see in Russian: http://www.novayagazeta.ru/columns/58555.html).
The appeal from Mrs Magnitskaya comes after the 22 April 2012 decree issued by the presidium of the Moscow Council of Judges “condemning” the adoption of the Magnitsky law in the United States and the inclusion of four Moscow judges on the Magnitsky sanctions list (link to the decree of the Moscow Council of Judges in Russian: http://www.mos-gorsud.ru/files/pdf/sovet_sudei.pdf) The decree was adopted secretly from the Magnitsky family, but then broadcast on all Russian state TV channels on 27 April 2013 by the head of the Moscow City Judges Council Galina Agafonova (see a report on Rossiya 24 Vesti program in Russian: http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=1079711).

“In spite of the fact that the content of the decree directly concerns the interests of my son, and due to his death – my interests, the representatives of the Moscow Council of Judges who prepared that document, did not find it necessary to ask my opinion and take into account facts and evidence I possess,” said Mrs Magnitskaya in her appeal for a public review of the role of judges in her son’s case.

In the letter, Mrs Magnitskaya requested that in accordance with the professional obligations of the Federal Council of Judges, it review her son’s case in a public forum with the participation of the Magnitsky family and the mass media.

Mrs Magnitskaya also insisted that the Council invite to the hearing representatives and experts of the President’s Human Rights Council and of the Moscow Public Oversight Commission, who carried out two independent reviews of the circumstances of her son’s detention and the role of the judges in authorising his rights violations.
In accordance with the provisions of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, the four Moscow judges in the Magnitsky case: Elena Stashina, Svetlana Ukhnalyeva, Sergei Podoprigorov, and Aleksei Krivoruchko were added by the U.S. Government to the list of Specially Designated Nationals (“SDN” list) published on 12 April 2013 (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20130412.aspx). Any US assets belonging to them will be frozen and their entry to the USA will be banned.
Ten days after the U.S. list was made public, the Moscow Council of Judges “condemned” this action, ignoring evidence of the role that the judges played in Sergei Magnitsky’s ill-treatment and death in custody.

“The Moscow Council of Judges referring to the examination of “personal files” of judges Stashina, Ukhnalyeva, Podoprigorov, and Krivoruchko did not find grounds to “doubt in any way the lawfulness and fairness of actions” of their colleagues, in spite of the glaring violations of the law in the making of their decisions, which relied on falsified evidence from the members of the investigative group…Contrary to the requirements of the Criminal Procedural Law and in violation of the functions imposed on them by the Constitution of the Russian Federation to conduct judicial control, these judges never raised questions about the false evidence submitted by investigators with conflict of interest,” said Magnitsky’s mother in her open letter.
“Judges Stashina, Ukhnalyeva, Podoprigorov and Krivoruchko refused 40 complaints from my son while he was alive. He challenged their decisions, including by appealing to the Constitutional Court of Russia and the European Court of Human Rights, but he did not get to live long enough to see his complaints heard,” said Natalia Magnitskaya.

There is no information on the response from the Federal Council of Judges to Mrs Magnitskaya’s letter.

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