Amnesty International Slams Russian Government’s Posthumous Prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky

April 6, 2012

On the eve of April 8^th, which would have been the 40^th birth­day of the late Russ­ian whis­tle-blow­ing lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al has pub­licly called on the Russ­ian Gov­ern­ment to stop his posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion, and to bring his oppres­sors and those pres­sur­ing his fam­i­ly to justice.

“On 8 April 2012, lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky would have turned forty. He died over two years ago, after months of ill-treat­ment and hav­ing suf­fered mul­ti­ple human rights vio­la­tions. For many in Rus­sia and beyond, his death in cus­tody in Novem­ber 2009 has come to sym­bol­ize the injus­tices asso­ci­at­ed with Russia’s mal­func­tion­ing crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem and wide­spread cor­rup­tion,” said Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al in its pub­lic state­ment. (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/015/2012/en/6f21ef79-67fe-4014-a084-0f3e8fe8e95f/eur460152012en.pdf).

Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al stressed in its state­ment that the Russ­ian jus­tice sys­tem has con­sis­tent­ly failed to pro­tect Sergei Mag­nit­sky and his fam­i­ly from gross rights abuses.

“The [Russ­ian] jus­tice sys­tem has not only failed to uphold and pro­tect his rights, but it has also been abused since to con­tin­ue to vio­late his, and now his family’s rights in the form of his posthu­mous crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion, and by try­ing to force his close rel­a­tives to take part in this process,” said Amnesty International.

Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al described the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion of a dead lawyer as a vio­la­tion of inter­na­tion­al and nation­al laws, and demand­ed that the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment stop the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion and stop pres­sur­ing his family.

“Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al is call­ing on the Russ­ian author­i­ties to take imme­di­ate steps to rec­ti­fy these injus­tices and stop the posthu­mous crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, and bring all those respon­si­ble for his death to jus­tice,” said Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al in its statement.

Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al went on to say: 

“Sergei Magnitsky’s relatives…and Russ­ian and inter­na­tion­al human rights law regard him as inno­cent in virtue of the prin­ci­ple of the pre­sump­tion of inno­cence, and no court deci­sion is need­ed to con­firm this…The posthu­mous crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky must stop, and the pres­sure on his fam­i­ly in con­nec­tion with their objec­tions to this must cease.”

The Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly has been unable to stop his posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion through the Russ­ian legal sys­tem in spite of over 25 peti­tions filed with the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office, the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry and the Moscow courts protest­ing the ille­gal­i­ty of the pros­e­cu­tion. All peti­tions have been denied by the author­i­ties. Ear­li­er this week, on 3 April 2012, Judge Yulia Bobro­va of the Ostank­in­sky Dis­trict Court of Moscow approved the deci­sion of the pros­e­cu­tors to open a case against Sergei Mag­nit­sky after his death in spite of the fact that he can’t defend him­self. Judge Bobro­va also sided with pros­e­cu­tors allow­ing them to con­tin­ue to treat Magnitsky’s moth­er and wid­ow as defen­dants in this case.

The Russ­ian court sys­tem has denied Sergei Mag­nit­sky and his fam­i­ly any mea­sure of jus­tice. Last year, 14 Russ­ian judges, includ­ing the chair of the Moscow City Court, Olga Egoro­va, refused all peti­tions from the Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly seek­ing access to his case file and to his tis­sue sam­ples for an inde­pen­dent med­ical exam­i­na­tion. When Sergei Mag­nit­sky was still alive, 11 Russ­ian judges reject­ed his 40 peti­tions about his unlaw­ful arrest and repres­sion by the offi­cers he had accused of $230 mil­lion corruption. 

In spite of the find­ings of gross human rights vio­la­tions by the Russ­ian President’s Human Rights Coun­cil, the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry and Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office “estab­lished no wrong-doing” in the actions of law enforce­ment offi­cials who arrest­ed and tor­tured Sergei Mag­nit­sky to death in custody.

Amnesty Inter­na­tion­al is now demand­ing that the alle­ga­tions of the arbi­trary crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky made by the human rights activists are inves­ti­gat­ed “imme­di­ate­ly, effec­tive­ly and impar­tial­ly”, and that “all those found respon­si­ble brought to justice”.

So far all Russ­ian inves­ti­ga­tions in this case remain under con­trol of Vik­tor Grin, Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor of Rus­sia and Num­ber 33 on the U.S. Helsin­ki Com­mis­sion list of Russ­ian offi­cials involved in the tor­ture and mur­der of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and the cor­rup­tion he had uncov­ered. Vik­tor Grin ordered the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky on 30 July 2011, which was three days after he and oth­er Russ­ian offi­cials were banned by US State Depart­ment for their role in the Mag­nit­sky case, and was seen as an act of per­son­al retaliation. 

The case is also con­trolled by first deputy chief of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment Tatiana Gerasi­mo­va, who was named by the U.S. Sen­a­tors last Novem­ber for her role in the Mag­nit­sky case in a peti­tion to the U.S. State Depart­ment seek­ing to ban her U.S. visa. 

“In pur­su­ing the posthu­mous case against Sergei Mag­nit­sky, Russ­ian author­i­ties have reject­ed the con­clu­sions from the Russ­ian President’s Human Rights Coun­cil. It is clear that no jus­tice is pos­si­ble and no inves­ti­ga­tion can be impar­tial and inde­pen­dent as long as it remains con­trolled by the same offi­cials and bod­ies who com­mit­ted crimes against him. To recog­nise that Mag­nit­sky was right for them, means to recog­nise that they them­selves had been wrong and com­mit­ted grave crimes,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal representative.

State­ment on Sergei Mag­nit­sky on Amnesty International’s website:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/015/2012/en/6f21ef79-67fe-4014-a084-0f3e8fe8e95f/eur460152012en.pdf

Comments

• Link