// Press Releases (in English)

Poland and Bulgaria Call for Justice in the Magnitsky Case

February 15, 2012

The Pol­ish Min­istry of For­eign Affairs has stated that they will develop a com­mon and strong Euro­pean Union posi­tion into the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and will urge Rus­sia to con­duct a trans­par­ent inves­ti­ga­tion into his false arrest, tor­ture and death con­sis­tent with inter­na­tional stan­dards. If that doesn’t take place, Poland will work with its EU part­ners in imple­ment­ing a Euro­pean Union visa ban.

The Pol­ish For­eign Affairs Min­istry stated its posi­tion last week in a let­ter received by the Pol­ish Helsinki Foun­da­tion for Human Rights. (more…)

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 9^th, 2012 with Sergei Solovyov, Chief of the Inves­ti­ga­tion of the Russ­ian Inte­rior Min­istry in the Cen­tral Fed­eral Dis­trict. (more…)

Russia Prepares First-in-History Posthumous Prosecution in the Case of Sergei Magnitsky

February 7, 2012

Inves­ti­ga­tor Boris Kibis from the Russ­ian Inte­rior Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment announced that the Inte­rior Min­istry had “fin­ished its pre­lim­i­nary inves­ti­ga­tion” and intends to pros­e­cute Sergei Mag­nit­sky posthu­mously and William Brow­der in absen­tia in the Russ­ian courts. This case will make Russ­ian legal his­tory as the first case ever of a posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion since Russ­ian judi­cial reg­u­la­tion was first artic­u­lated in writ­ing five cen­turies ago, in 1497.

“Even in Stalin’s time, the author­i­ties did not pros­e­cute peo­ple who were dead. The Inte­rior Min­istry is so des­per­ate to jus­tify its repres­sion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky that gov­ern­ment offi­cials are run­ning roughshod over all legal prece­dent, prac­tice and moral­ity,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal spokesperson.

The bizarre posthu­mous pro­ceed­ings against Mag­nit­sky and against Brow­der in absen­tia are based on the same alle­ga­tions of tax under­pay­ment that had been used by the Inte­rior Min­istry to falsely arrest Sergei Mag­nit­sky in Novem­ber 2008 after he had exposed law enforce­ment offi­cials’ role in the theft of $230 mil­lion of gov­ern­ment funds. In July 2011, the Russ­ian President’s Human Rights Coun­cil found those pro­ceed­ings had been fab­ri­cated and grossly vio­lated the Euro­pean Human Rights Con­ven­tion. (more…)

HARVARD AND COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOLS PUBLISH CASE STUDY ON SERGEI MAGNITSKY AND THE HERMITAGE FUND

January 30, 2012

The Har­vard and Colum­bia Grad­u­ate Schools of Busi­ness have unveiled a land­mark case study on the per­se­cu­tion of the Her­mitage Fund and the mur­der of its lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, who died after one year of tor­ture in police cus­tody. Sergei Magnitsky’s story exposes one of the worst cases of cor­rup­tion and human rights abuse in an emerg­ing mar­ket in recent history.

Her­mitage Cap­i­tal CEO William Brow­der, once the largest for­eign investor in the Russ­ian stock mar­ket, stated in advance of the study’s publication:

“The story of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, and the con­tin­u­ing per­se­cu­tion by Russ­ian author­i­ties of other Her­mitage lawyers and exec­u­tives, are emblem­atic of the poi­so­nous and dan­ger­ous state of Russia’s invest­ment cli­mate. Thanks to this com­pre­hen­sive case study, the details of one of the most sophis­ti­cated and heinous state-sponsored finan­cial crimes are now a mat­ter of pub­lic record, to be stud­ied and taught at busi­ness schools around the world. It will serve as a pow­er­ful reminder of the human cost of cor­rup­tion.” (more…)

Moscow Bar Association Rejects Order from the Russian Interior Ministry to Appoint Lawyers to the Magnitsky Family Against Their Will

January 27, 2012

The Moscow City Bar Asso­ci­a­tion has sent a let­ter to Inte­rior Min­istry Inves­ti­ga­tor Boris Kibis stat­ing that his order to appoint a state lawyer to rep­re­sent Mag­nit­sky fam­ily is in breach of the Russ­ian law. The let­ter states that Russ­ian law does not allow state bod­ies to assign coun­sel after a defendant’s death.

“Arti­cle 51 of the Russ­ian Crim­i­nal Pro­ce­dural Code does not allow the state to appoint coun­sel to the rep­re­sen­ta­tives of a deceased defen­dant in a crim­i­nal case,” said Ms Zhiv­ina, Chair­woman of the Moscow City Bar Asso­ci­a­tion in a let­ter sent to inves­ti­ga­tor Kibis.

Mrs Zhiv­ina also states that the inves­ti­ga­tor has over­stepped his author­ity by appoint­ing a par­tic­u­lar lawyer to the Mag­nit­sky fam­ily against their will. (more…)

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