Гибель Сергея Магнитского в следственном изоляторе была вызвана преднамеренным и умышленным бездействием и бесчеловечным обращением

July 18, 2011

Организация «Врачи за права человека» опубликовала первое независимое медицинское заключение  по факту смерти Магнитского и призывает к проведению международного расследования гибели юриста в СИЗО 

 «Врачи за права человека» (ВПЧ), независимая организация, применяющая медицинский и научный анализ для расследования нарушений прав человека и международного гуманитарного права в целях получения признаваемых в суде доказательств, заявила, что гибель юриста Сергея Магнитского, противостоявшего коррупции, была вызвана преднамеренным, умышленным пренебрежением к человеческой жизни и бесчеловечным обращением. Магнитский скончался в ноябре 2009 года после 358 дней заключения под стражей в московском СИЗО. Это резонансное дело привлекло внимание международной общественности в связи с грубыми нарушениями прав человека и коррупцией в России.

По просьбе родственников скончавшегося Магнитского эксперты ВПЧ, в том числе ведущий судебномедицинский патологоанатом, кардиолог и эксперт по охране здоровья в местах заключения, изучили имеющуюся документацию по данному делу. В своем первом независимом медицинском исследовании по делу Магнитского, эксперты выразили обеспокоенность в связи с вероятным неполным сбором доказательств и наличием очевидных противоречий между медицинскими исследованиями, проведенными в России, и результатами, выявленными экспертами ВПЧ. Read more

Коллега Магнитского обжалует нарушения закона при рассмотрении его жалобы на незаконный заочный арест

July 4, 2011

Коллега Сергея Магнитского Иван Черкасов заявил, что в ближайшее время обжалует отказ Мосгорсуда удовлетворить его жалобу о незаконном заочном аресте. Иван Черкасов подчеркнул, что сегодняшнее решение Мосгорсуда не может рассматриваться как законное и обоснованное, так как оно было намеренно вынесено в отсутствие его адвоката Антипова А.Ф., заявившего основные положения жалобы, без рассмотрения в судебном заседании существа допущенных ранее Тверским судом Москвы нарушений закона и без исследования каких-либо доказательств — в ходе судебного заседания, длившегося всего несколько минут.

«Подобная форма рассмотрения жалоб является еще одним доказательством того, что, несмотря на все заверения Президента России, для всех сотрудников и юристов Her­mitage правосудия в России просто нет. Суды являются полностью управляемыми, а решения выносятся в соответствии с заранее составленными планами. Это решение кассационной инстанции Мосгорсуда – вынесенное в нарушение установленной законом процедуры как по форме, так и по содержанию – будет обжаловано как внутри страны, так и за ее пределами», — подчеркнул Иван Черкасов.

Напомним, ходатайство о заочном аресте Черкасова было заявлено по тому же сфабрикованному уголовному делу, по которому ранее был незаконно арестован и замучен в следственном изоляторе юрист фонда Her­mitage Cергей Магнитский. Ходатайство об аресте было заявлено тем же следователем МВД Сильченко О.Ф., который отказывал Магнитскому в проведении медицинского обследования и контактах с родственниками в течение года содержания под стражей. Read more

Голландский парламент единогласно проголосовал за введение санкций в отношении российских чиновников по делу Магнитского

July 4, 2011

Голландские депутаты призвали свое правительство последовать инициативам Конгресса США и Европейского парламента и ввести запрет на въезд и замораживание активов на территории Голландии в отношении российских чиновников по делу Магнитского, выразив уверенность в том, что правительство реализует эти меры.

В резолюции голландского парламента «О смерти Сергея Магнитского» №32 735-14 говорится:

«Палата представителей парламента Нидерландов, отмечая, что российский юрист Сергей Магнитский скончался при вызывающих подозрения обстоятельствах в заключении в России, после того как раскрыл крупную коррупционную схему, а также то, что его дело вскрыло ухудшение положения с соблюдением прав человека, и признавая, что среди ряда иных мер Сенат и Палата представителей Конгресса США предприняли инициативы, связанные с ограничением въезда и замораживанием активов российских чиновников, причастных к гибели Магнитского, призывает Правительство [Нидерландов] предпринять меры в европейском контексте в продвижении инициатив Сената США и Европейского Парламента с тем, чтобы ответственные за гибель Сергея Магнитского понесли наказание». Read more

Dutch Parliament Votes 150 to 0 to Sanction the Russian Officials Who Killed Anti-Corruption Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky

July 4, 2011

The Dutch par­lia­ment, by a vote of 150 to 0 has passed a res­o­lu­tion demand­ing that the Dutch gov­ern­ment impose visa and eco­nom­ic sanc­tions on the Russ­ian offi­cials who were respon­si­ble for the false arrest, tor­ture and death of 37-year old anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Eigh­teen months have passed since Sergei Mag­nit­sky died in Inte­ri­or Min­istry cus­tody after tes­ti­fy­ing against cor­rupt state offi­cials in Rus­sia.  Despite Pres­i­dent Medvedev call­ing for an inves­ti­ga­tion, not a sin­gle per­son has been charged.  Instead, the senior offi­cials respon­si­ble for Mag­nit­sky’s tor­ture and death have been pro­mot­ed and in some cas­es have received state hon­ors. Despite world­wide calls for pros­e­cu­tion, these offi­cials enjoy absolute impuni­ty in Russia.

On Decem­ber 16 last year, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment called on all EU mem­ber states to impose visa and eco­nom­ic sanc­tions on the Russ­ian offi­cials behind the Mag­nit­sky case. In May 2011, the US Sen­ate sub­mit­ted leg­is­la­tion enti­tled “The Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act”, that will give these sanc­tions the force of a law in the Unit­ed States.

The motion in the Dutch par­lia­ment, enti­tled “Over de dood van Sergei Mag­nit­sky,” was passed unan­i­mous­ly by the low­er House of Par­lia­ment.  It reads:

“The Cham­ber, hear­ing the pro­ceed­ings, not­ing that the Russ­ian lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky died under sus­pi­cious cir­cum­stances in a Russ­ian prison, after a major cor­rup­tion scan­dal was uncov­ered in Rus­sia … not­ing that among oth­er things, the U.S. Sen­ate and the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives have put mea­sures to restrict visas and freez­ing assets of Russ­ian offi­cials who were involved in the death of Mag­nit­sky, calls on the Gov­ern­ment to take steps in a Euro­pean con­text, in line with the ini­tia­tives of the U.S. Sen­ate and the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment, so that those respon­si­ble for the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky be held to account.”

Com­ment­ing on the vote, one of the ini­tia­tors of the res­o­lu­tion, Kath­leen Fer­ri­er MP (Chris­t­ian Democ­rats), said, “The fact that this res­o­lu­tion was adopt­ed unan­i­mous­ly by all 150 mem­bers of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives shows the strong com­mit­ment of Dutch par­lia­ment with the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. For me, impuni­ty is unac­cept­able. That is why I am sat­is­fied with this result. But I also realise that, though this is a very impor­tant step, there are many more steps to come. We will con­tin­ue to fight for jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky.”

Sergei Mag­nit­sky rep­re­sent­ed the Her­mitage Fund, once the largest for­eign port­fo­lio investor in Rus­sia. He was arrest­ed by the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry after he exposed how Russ­ian offi­cials stole $230 mil­lion of pub­lic funds. He was detained by the same offi­cials he had named in his tes­ti­mo­ny and tor­tured for one year in cus­tody to with­draw his tes­ti­mo­ny. After he refused and filed numer­ous com­plaints, he was found dead in an iso­la­tion cell in a  pre-tri­al deten­tion cen­ter. While in cus­tody, despite his extreme ill­ness and more than twen­ty offi­cial requests for med­ical atten­tion, he was refused med­ical care.

Coskun Çörüz, the head of the Dutch del­e­ga­tion to OSCE and Dutch MP, who was the spon­sor of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Motion in the Dutch par­lia­ment, said:

“As a mem­ber of Dutch Par­lia­ment and a lawyer, I am pleased that the Dutch Par­lia­ment unan­i­mous­ly adopt­ed my motion about the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. This is a strong sig­nal from the Dutch Par­lia­ment to the Dutch Gov­ern­ment. I believe that human rights are for every­body, every­where and any time. I believe the Dutch gov­ern­ment, which is known as advo­cate of human rights, will act in the spir­it of this res­o­lu­tion.”

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky motion in the Dutch par­lia­ment was sup­port­ed by deputies from both rul­ing and oppo­si­tion par­ties. In addi­tion to Mr Çörüz (Chris­t­ian Democ­rats), the motion was co-spon­sored by Mr Joël Voordewind  (Chris­t­ian Union), Mr Han Ten Broeke (Lib­er­al Par­ty), and Mr Kees van der Staaij  (Dutch Reformed Par­ty). Senior Dutch law­mak­er Frans Tim­mer­mans also vot­ed for the resolution.

The co-spon­sor of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky motion, Joël Voordewind MP, said:

“I sin­cere­ly regret the death of Mr. Mag­nit­sky … Now is the time to raise the pres­sure on Rus­sia to bring to jus­tice those respon­si­ble for this cow­ard­ly act. Unfor­tu­nate­ly the death of Mr. Mag­nit­sky is not a iso­lat­ed inci­dent but part of a much larg­er prob­lem of the lack of human rights in Rus­sia. Freez­ing assets and ban­ning visa’s is there­fore a clear sig­nal to the Russ­ian author­i­ties that this is unac­cept­able.”

“The Sergei Mag­nit­sky sto­ry touch­es every per­son who hears it, which is why the Dutch par­lia­ment respond­ed so robust­ly to his tragedy and what it sym­bol­izes for human rights and the rule of law in Rus­sia,” said William Brow­der, CEO of Her­mitage Capital.

See the ref­er­ence to the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Motion 32 735, nr. 14 on the Dutch Par­lia­ment website:
http://www.tweedekamer.nl/images/30 – 06-2011_tcm118-222571.pdf

Sergei Magnitsky’s Mother Sues Russian Law Enforcement Agencies For Access to Medical Records

June 29, 2011

Today, the lawyer rep­re­sent­ing Sergei Magnitsky’s moth­er filed a law­suit with the Bas­man­ny Court in Moscow to com­pel Russ­ian law enforce­ment agen­cies to hand over tis­sue sam­ples and oth­er med­ical infor­ma­tion regard­ing the death of her son, 37-year old anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

The law­suit was filed by lawyer Niko­lai Gorokhov, fol­low­ing the rejec­tion of a request for access to tis­sue sam­ples by Inves­ti­ga­tor Mari­na Lomonoso­va, from the Russ­ian State Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee in charge of the inves­ti­ga­tion into Magnitsky’s death, on the grounds that, “the par­tic­i­pa­tion of vic­tims in the pre-tri­al inves­ti­ga­tion … does not imply that they under­take stud­ies inde­pen­dent­ly.”

“The desire of Magnitsky’s moth­er to car­ry out an inde­pen­dent study by a spe­cial­ist using the remain­ing tis­sue archive of her son … is legit­i­mate; there is no law or legal act that would deem the rights of the vic­tim in this case as invalid,” says the com­plaint by Mr. Gorokhov.

“Pres­i­dent Medvedev said at his 18 May press con­fer­ence, that he was inter­est­ed in a ‘full, impar­tial and com­pre­hen­sive inves­ti­ga­tion.’ If that is indeed the case, then the author­i­ties should not be afraid for the Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly or any inde­pen­dent third par­ties car­ry­ing out their own study,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal representative.

This was the fourth rejec­tion of a request for an inde­pen­dent assess­ment in Sergei Magnitsky’s case since Novem­ber 2009.

On 17 Novem­ber 2009, the day after Sergei Mag­nit­sky died in police cus­tody, lawyers rep­re­sent­ing the Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly offi­cial­ly request­ed that an inde­pen­dent pathol­o­gist be present to observe the state-sanc­tioned autop­sy of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. This request was reject­ed by the Russ­ian Prosecutor’s office on the grounds that “all pathol­o­gists are equal­ly inde­pen­dent.”

On the same day, the fam­i­ly filed an addi­tion­al request that the body of Sergei Mag­nit­sky be released in order to car­ry out an inde­pen­dent autop­sy. This request was reject­ed by the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor’s office, with no for­mal justification.

On 18 Novem­ber 2009, the Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly request­ed that Sergei Magnitsky’s body be released for a tra­di­tion­al, open-cas­ket, memo­r­i­al cer­e­mo­ny. This request was refused by the author­i­ties who stat­ed that Magnitsky’s body would only be released to the fam­i­ly on the strict con­di­tion of imme­di­ate bur­ial. As a result, the body was buried with­out any objec­tive med­ical examination.

The cur­rent request for access to tis­sue sam­ples was made by Natalia Magnitskaya’s lawyer fol­low­ing the dis­cov­ery that, with­out her knowl­edge or con­sent, Mr. Magnitsky’s med­ical archive had been sig­nif­i­cant­ly deplet­ed since the state autop­sy took place.

The request for tis­sue sam­ples from Mrs. Magnitskaya’s lawyer relies on sev­er­al facts, includ­ing that in the eigh­teen months since the offi­cial inves­ti­ga­tion start­ed, the inves­ti­ga­tors had already appoint­ed and com­plet­ed four med­ical his­to­log­i­cal stud­ies, and all offi­cial stud­ies had been car­ried out by state appoint­ed experts.

The request cit­ed doubts over the accu­ra­cy, com­plete­ness and valid­i­ty of the offi­cial exam­i­na­tions held in state insti­tu­tions, due to like­ly inter­fer­ence from high-rank­ing offi­cials whose per­son­al actions may have ulti­mate­ly result­ed in Magnitsky’s death. These indi­vid­u­als, there­fore, have a keen inter­est in con­ceal­ing the truth. At the same time, they enjoy the rank and resources avail­able to apply pres­sure on state experts, con­ceal essen­tial data on the crim­i­nal case, and pre­vent an objec­tive outcome.

The law­suit filed with Bas­man­ny Court notes that the refusal of access to tis­sue sam­ples vio­lates the con­sti­tu­tion­al rights of Natalia Mag­nit­skaya as a vic­tim, and her right to col­lect evi­dence. Under Arti­cle 42 of the Russ­ian Code of Crim­i­nal Pro­ce­dure, the vic­tim in a crim­i­nal case is enti­tled to sub­mit their own evi­dence. Mrs. Magnitskaya’s lawyer refers to Arti­cle 45 of the Russ­ian Con­sti­tu­tion which guar­an­tees all cit­i­zens the right to pro­tect them­selves by all legal means.

“Restrict­ing the victim’s right to par­tic­i­pate in the gath­er­ing and pre­sen­ta­tion of evi­dence impedes access to jus­tice and is the basis for the appeal of such actions in court,” states Mag­nit­skaya’s filing.

Sergei Mag­nit­sky, who was arrest­ed after giv­ing tes­ti­mo­ny against offi­cials of the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry, was held in tor­tur­ous con­di­tions, sub­ject­ed to phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal pres­sure and was sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly refused med­ical care despite appeals addressed to the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor and the Deputy Inte­ri­or Min­is­ter. He was specif­i­cal­ly denied a med­ical­ly pre­scribed ultra­sound exam­i­na­tion and surgery for his gall­stones and pancreatitis.

After his death, there were var­i­ous indi­ca­tions on his body that he had been sub­ject­ed to vio­lence. At the funer­al, rel­a­tives noticed bruis­es and abra­sions on Mag­nit­sky’s hands and that some fin­gers were bro­ken. They also learned that Mag­nit­sky had been placed in hand­cuffs and struck with a rub­ber baton in his final hours in cus­tody. Dur­ing this time, he was in extreme pain, vom­it­ing, and left with­out med­ical atten­tion in an iso­la­tion cell for one hour and eigh­teen min­utes until he died.

Since his death, offi­cials from the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry, Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor’s Office and the Pen­i­ten­tiary Ser­vice, have all giv­en con­tra­dic­to­ry accounts regard­ing the essen­tial facts sur­round­ing Mr. Magnitsky’s death, includ­ing loca­tion, time and cause of death. Not a sin­gle per­son has been charged or pros­e­cut­ed for Magnitsky’s unlaw­ful arrest, tor­ture and death in custody.

On 31 May, Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Medvedev appoint­ed Russ­ian Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Yuri Chai­ka to over­see the offi­cial inves­ti­ga­tion into the Mag­nit­sky case despite a clear con­flict of inter­est. Yuri Chai­ka is the same offi­cial who Sergei Mag­nit­sky held per­son­al­ly respon­si­ble for his per­se­cu­tion in cus­tody. It was also announced by the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor’s Office that the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cers respon­si­ble for Magnitsky’s incar­cer­a­tion have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The hear­ing of the com­plaint has been sched­uled by the court for 19 July 2011 at:  11 Kalanchevskaya St, Moscow.

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