Russian Interior Ministry Spits on Magnitsky’s Grave

November 24, 2011

Today the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry announced it will con­tin­ue the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky two years after his death. Calls from Magnitsky’s rel­a­tives to cease the unlaw­ful pros­e­cu­tion have been reject­ed. In spite of this, the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry jus­ti­fied the exten­sion of the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion by the “need to iden­ti­fy the posi­tion of the relatives.”

“Today’s news from the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry is hard to view as any­thing oth­er than spit­ting on the grave of a dead man and his rel­a­tives. Magnitsky’s fam­i­ly has repeat­ed­ly stat­ed their posi­tion about the ille­gal­i­ty of the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion by fil­ing for­mal writ­ten com­plaints to all Russ­ian state bod­ies,” said fam­i­ly lawyer Niko­lai Gorokhov. 

Mr Gorokhov explained that com­plaints from Mag­nit­sky rel­a­tives against his posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion have been filed to Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Chai­ka, Chief of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment Kozhokar, Chair of Tver­skoi Dis­trict Court of Moscow Alisov and the Moscow City Court. 

All com­plaints were refused, includ­ing by P. Lap­shov of the Inte­ri­or Min­istry on 7 Octo­ber 2011, V. Ignashin of the Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Office on 8 Novem­ber 2011, and the Moscow City Court judges Mar­tyno­va, Lovche­va and Kho­tunt­se­va on 24 Octo­ber 2011. 

“It is insin­cere of the Inte­ri­or Min­istry to claim that they are unaware of the posi­tion of Magnitsky’s rel­a­tives when their senior offi­cials have refused their com­plaints. This is none oth­er than a fur­ther attempt to put psy­cho­log­i­cal pres­sure on his fam­i­ly,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal representative.

The posthu­mous case against Mag­nit­sky has been assigned to the same Russ­ian inves­ti­ga­tors who have been named by the Russ­ian President’s Human Rights Coun­cil as respon­si­ble for his unlaw­ful arrest and tor­ture to death in cus­tody and who have been named in the mur­der com­plaint filed by Magnitsky’s fam­i­ly. In spite of the protests from the victim’s fam­i­ly, the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Office and the Inte­ri­or Min­istry refused to recuse these inves­ti­ga­tors from the case.

“Let these acts by the Russ­ian author­i­ties serve as a reminder to the Euro­pean politi­cians that the crimes against Sergei Mag­nit­sky con­tin­ue after his death. Only firm visa and eco­nom­ic sanc­tions can bring a mea­sure of jus­tice to this case where Russ­ian offi­cials enjoy such pro­tec­tion from their own judi­cial sys­tem,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal representative.

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