Russian Interior Ministry Produces False Information to Assist one Officer in Attempt to Get Off of New U.S. Magnitsky List

May 23, 2014

Yes­ter­day, the Moscow branch of the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry respond­ed to the inclu­sion of its offi­cial Andrei Krechetov in the U.S. Mag­nit­sky List with a state­ment claim­ing that he did not have direct role in the Magnitsky’s case.

On 20 May 2014, the U.S. Trea­sury pub­lished an addi­tion to the Mag­nit­sky List, which includ­ed 10 Rus­sians with per­son­al involve­ment in the Mag­nit­sky case, includ­ing the Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cial Andrei Krechetov.

On 22 May 2014, the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Ministry’s branch in Moscow respond­ed by mak­ing a state­ment to Russ­ian news agency Inter­fax that offi­cer Krechetov “did not have a direct rela­tion­ship” towards inves­ti­gat­ing the Mag­nit­sky case, and “only per­formed sep­a­rate orders”.

In fact, offi­cer Krechetov was a mem­ber of the inves­tiga­tive team on the case against Sergei Mag­nit­sky, he per­son­al­ly per­formed the search of Magnitsky’s home and detained him, and signed false reports used to jus­ti­fy Magnitsky’s arrest and con­tin­ued detention.
The evi­dence of his involve­ment in the Mag­nit­sky case include a 14 Novem­ber 2008 report signed by offi­cer Krechetov claim­ing that he deliv­ered a sum­mons to Mag­nit­sky, when such sum­mons was nev­er issued or deliv­ered. (http://followmydata.net/SMRULE/D1251.pdf). Offi­cer Krechetov signed a sim­i­lar report on 17 Novem­ber 2008.

A 24 Novem­ber 2008 search on Mag­nit­sky’s home where offi­cer Krechetov took part in the search and where Mag­nit­sky was detained is anoth­er record of his direct involve­ment in Magnitsky’s case (see Krechetov’s name in the copy of the search protocol).

In the sum­mer of 2009, fol­low­ing the dis­cov­ery of false reports signed by offi­cer Krechetov, Magnitsky’s lawyers demand­ed that offi­cer Krechetov be removed from the case, but their request was denied by senior offi­cials of the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Ministry.

In Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s tes­ti­mo­ny giv­en one month before his mur­der in Matrosskaya Tishi­na deten­tion cen­ter, he high­light­ed the role of Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cers, includ­ing offi­cer Krechetov, in fab­ri­cat­ing reports against him as part of his per­se­cu­tion. Mag­nit­sky stat­ed that his per­se­cu­tion was organ­ised in revenge for his role in expos­ing the crim­i­nal group (which involved offi­cer Krechetov), that stole Her­mitage Fund’s Russ­ian com­pa­nies and $230 million.

Mr Krechetov’s col­leagues in the Inte­ri­or Min­istry who took part with him in the per­se­cu­tion of Mag­nit­sky – Artem Kuznetsov, Dmit­ry Tolchinksy and Alek­sei Droganov – were sanc­tioned by the US gov­ern­ment last year under the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act.

“The con­tin­ued cov­er up in Rus­sia neces­si­tates that all coun­tries who respect human rights adopt tar­get­ed sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials involved in Mag­nit­sky case, sim­i­lar to the ones imple­ment­ed by the US gov­ern­ment, with no delay,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal representative.

Mag­nit­sky List pub­lished by the U.S. Trea­sury on 20 May 2014:
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20140520.aspx

Comments

• Link