Magnitsky’s Mother Sues Russian Prosecutor Who Organized the Cover-Up of Her Son’s Death

October 29, 2013

Nataliya Mag­nit­skaya, the moth­er of the late whis­tle-blow­ing lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, has sued Russ­ian Deputy Pros­e­cu­tor Vic­tor Grin for his role in exon­er­at­ing all Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cials who false­ly arrest­ed and tor­tured her son in cus­tody. The law­suit will be heard on Wednes­day, 30 Octo­ber 2013, at 11 am at the Moscow City Court (http://www.mos-gorsud.ru/sudz/apellechionnaya_instance/ua/?pn=13).
“The con­clu­sion by Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor of Rus­sia …unques­tion­ably vio­lates the rights of Mr Magnitsky’s moth­er ..and is in deep con­tra­dic­tion with the con­clu­sions by mem­bers of the President’s Coun­cil on Human Rights,” says the com­plaint filed by Mrs Magnitskaya’s lawyer. 
In his own review of the case, Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor of Rus­sia Vic­tor Grin stat­ed that no vio­la­tions were found in the acts of Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cials on the Mag­nit­sky case. It was issued on the request of the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee in 2011 and was used by the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee to jus­ti­fy not open­ing any crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion into those officials.
A local dis­trict court in Moscow ear­li­er refused Mrs Mag­nit­skaya’s appli­ca­tion. The refusal was issued by dis­trict court judge Igor Alisov, who also posthu­mous­ly con­vict­ed the late Mag­nit­sky in July in the first ever tri­al of a dead man in Russ­ian his­to­ry. Judge Alisov has since been pro­mot­ed by order of Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin to the Moscow City Court.
The law­suit filed by Mrs Magnitskaya’s lawyer also asserts that the deci­sion by judge Alisov was back­dat­ed and that it was then cov­ered up.
“The decree [by judge Alisov] is unlaw­ful, there are signs of fal­si­fi­ca­tion in its issuance,” says the com­plaint filed with the Moscow City Court.
Accord­ing to the com­plaint, judge Alisov told Mrs Magnitskaya’s lawyer on 17 April 2013 that he had not yet con­sid­ered the com­plaint. A month lat­er, judge Alisov sent a refusal to con­sid­er the com­plaint dat­ed 27 March 2013, i.e. three weeks before the meet­ing with the lawyer.
A probe was then car­ried out by the Tver­skoi dis­trict court chair Ms Solopo­va into this dis­crep­an­cy which found “care­less­ness” in the acts of judge Alisov. The probe was based on the “oral con­ver­sa­tion held with judge Alisov on 6 Sep­tem­ber 2013” in which judge Alisov explained the iden­ti­fied dis­crep­an­cy by “the work over­load, the lack of atten­tion dur­ing the pro­duc­tion of the court order.”
The chal­lenge brought by Mrs Mag­nit­skaya is one in a series of law­suits in which she seeks to com­pel the Russ­ian state to bring to jus­tice those respon­si­ble for the arrest, tor­ture and mur­der of her 37-year old son.

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