Russia Responds to European Magnitsky Sanctions by Suspending All Probes into Implicated Officials

April 3, 2014

In an apparent response to the adoption by the European Parliament of the Magnitsky Sanctions List of 32 Russians, this morning the Russian authorities announced that they have “suspended” all investigations of Russian officials implicated in Magnitsky testimonies and the complaints filed by his colleagues.
“The preliminary investigation has been suspended due to the non-identification of persons subject to charges,” according to an unnamed source of Interfax news agency.
Valery Borschev, former head of the Moscow Public Oversight Commission which conducted an independent investigation into Sergei Magnitsky’s death, said: “This news is surprising. I asked personally Mr Bastrykin [Head of the Russian Investigative Committee] at the session of the Human Rights Council why they were looking at low-level persons. He told me: “This is only the beginning, don’t worry, we will go further.”
Borschev further said, “There are serious documents in the case and to say that there is no one to indict is simply absurd.”
Commenting on this development, William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital and leader of the Magnitsky Justice Campaign, said: “Nothing the Russian authorities do in the Magnitsky case surprises me anymore. After prosecuting a dead man last year in the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history, the absurdity and illegitimacy of the Russian government’s actions know no bounds.”

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