Nikolai Gorokhov Will Make a Third Attempt to Open Criminal Case Against Corrupt Russian Police Officers Who Covered Up Sergei Magnitsky’s Death in Custody

June 2, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

 

Niko­lai Gorokhov Will Make a Third Attempt to Open Crim­i­nal Case Against Cor­rupt Russ­ian Police Offi­cers Who Cov­ered Up Sergei Magnitsky’s Death in Custody

2 June 2017 – Today, Niko­lai Gorokhov, the lawyer for Sergei Magnitsky’s moth­er, will make a third attempt to open a crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion into the abuse of office by offi­cer Strizhov of the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee in the Sergei Mag­nit­sky death case and the cov­er-up of the US$230 mil­lion fraud that Mr Mag­nit­sky had dis­cov­ered and exposed in 2008 before he was tor­tured and mur­dered in police custody.

The court hear­ing is sched­uled to take place at 4 pm at the Bas­man­ny Dis­trict Court in Moscow with judge Safi­na presiding.

The appli­ca­tion to open an inves­ti­ga­tion into the abuse of office was orig­i­nal­ly filed by Mr Gorokhov with the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee in Jan­u­ary 2017. The Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee refused to open an inves­ti­ga­tion. Mr Gorokhov then filed a com­plaint against this refusal, which was due to be heard on March 24, 2017. The hear­ing did not go ahead because of the Mr. Gorokhov’s plunge from his fourth floor apart­ment in sus­pi­cious circumstances.

At the post­poned court hear­ing which was even­tu­al­ly held last week in Moscow, it was revealed that the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee refused to treat his com­plaint against offi­cer Strizhov as a crime report.

The addi­tion­al evi­dence sub­mit­ted by Mr Gorokhov to the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee remained unan­swered, lead­ing to the third appli­ca­tion filed by Mr Gorokhov ear­li­er this week, which will be heard today at the Bas­man­ny Dis­trict Court in Moscow.

The appli­ca­tion by Mr Gorokhov relies on new records of emails and What­sApp com­mu­ni­ca­tions between asso­ciates of the Klyuev Organ­ised Crime Group dis­cussing the arrange­ments with Russ­ian law enforce­ment offi­cers for the cov­er-up and tam­per­ing of evi­dence in the Mag­nit­sky case.

The leaked emails and What­sApp mes­sages iden­ti­fy the arrange­ments being made between Andrei Pavlov, a key mem­ber of the Klyuev Organ­ised Crime Group, who took part in the US$230 mil­lion fraud, and inves­ti­ga­tor Strizhov of the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee, who was in charge of inves­ti­gat­ing Pavlov and oth­ers as part of the Mag­nit­sky death inves­ti­ga­tion and the crim­i­nal con­spir­a­cy Mag­nit­sky had uncovered.

In the com­mu­ni­ca­tions, Andrei Pavlov advis­es ex Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cer Oleg Urzhumt­sev of the arrange­ment reached with inves­ti­ga­tor Strizhov and Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cials. Pavlov says:

“Strizhov will come to an agree­ment with Ryabt­sev [head of depart­ment “K” of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Direc­torate of Eco­nom­ic Secu­ri­ty and Fight­ing Cor­rup­tion] on his own, but it is nec­es­sary that Mityaev (sub­or­di­nate of Ryabt­sev in depart­ment “K”) is all for it, like I know it all, I will help with every­thing. He will lat­er be the one to sub­mit the study to Strizhov.”

The com­mu­ni­ca­tions refer to var­i­ous offi­cials and orga­nized crim­i­nals under both real and assumed names and alias­es, includ­ing “Bald-head­ed” and “The Great.”

The com­mu­ni­ca­tions fur­ther reveal the inten­tion of the Klyuev Organ­ised Crime Group to dis­guise and con­ceal their active involve­ment in the evi­dence tam­per­ing and cov­er up efforts from lawyers for Magnitsky’s fam­i­ly and Her­mitage. In one record of con­ver­sa­tion, Andrei Pavlov explic­it­ly tells ex Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cer Urzhumtsev:

“Fxxk. Even if the study is appoint­ed by Strizh [short for “Strizhov”], then Gorokhov [lawyer for Magnitsky’s moth­er] and Antipov [Hermitage’s lawyer] have to be noti­fied of it, it would be clusterfxxk.”

With­in a month of these arrange­ments, inves­ti­ga­tor Strizhov closed the Mag­nit­sky death inves­ti­ga­tion cit­ing the “absence of crime” and accused Sergei Mag­nit­sky posthu­mous­ly of being a per­pe­tra­tor of the US$230 mil­lion fraud.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

 

 

 

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