New Russian Interior Ministry Investigator Denies Liability of Officials in the Tax Thefts Exposed by Sergei Magnitsky

November 21, 2012

Today, Jami­son Fire­stone, the for­mer law part­ner of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, received a let­ter from the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry stat­ing that it exon­er­at­ed all gov­ern­ment offi­cials from any lia­bil­i­ty for the theft from the Russ­ian trea­sury of $230 mil­lion and their laun­der­ing of that mon­ey through the Russ­ian and inter­na­tion­al bank­ing sys­tems. The deci­sion was made by a new Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cer in charge of the inves­ti­ga­tion, Inves­ti­ga­tor R. Fil­ip­pov, and issued by his supe­ri­or, Gen­er­al Major Y.Shinin, Deputy Head of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment. Read more

Magnitsky Family Lawyer Files Complaint about Magnitsky Death Probe Documents Being Passed to the Officers Being Investigated

November 19, 2012

Niko­lai Gorokhov, the lawyer for Sergei Magnitsky’s moth­er, filed a com­plaint with the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor and Russ­ian State Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee to stop the offi­cials con­duct­ing the probe into her son’s death from hand­ing out con­fi­den­tial inves­ti­ga­tion doc­u­ments to the offi­cers who are cur­rent­ly being inves­ti­gat­ed. Accord­ing to case files obtained by the fam­i­ly’s lawyer, A. Tschukin, head of the Main Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment of the Russ­ian Inevstiga­tive Com­mit­tee, made the deci­sion to hand over infor­ma­tion, includ­ing wit­ness state­ments, to the Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment of the Inte­ri­or Min­istry, whose employ­ees were sub­jects in the Mag­nit­sky death probe. 

The com­plaint from Niko­lai Gorokhov chal­lenges the deci­sion to pro­vide unre­strict­ed access to case files to the Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cials who are inter­est­ed in con­ceal­ing their lia­bil­i­ty in Magnitsky’s death. He points out that this rep­re­sents a gross con­flict of inter­est and cre­ates a threat to the safe­ty of vic­tims and wit­ness­es. Read more

Magnitsky Act Passes in the U.S. House of Representatives with Congressional Intent to Make the List Public

November 16, 2012

Today, the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives passed the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act (365 in favour, 43 against). 

The bill cre­ates tar­get­ed sanc­tions for the offi­cials involved in the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky as well as oth­er gross human rights abuse in Russia. 

Speak­ing before the vote, U.S. Con­gress­man Jim McGov­ern, the orig­i­nal spon­sor of the bill, and Co-Chair of Tom Lan­tos Human Rights Com­mis­sion, stat­ed the under­stand­ing of “the Con­gres­sion­al intent” to make pub­lic the list of sanc­tioned indi­vid­u­als. Con­gress­man McGov­ern not­ed that the con­gres­sion­al intent is to make use of a clas­si­fied annex only in cas­es of nation­al secu­ri­ty inter­est. His under­stand­ing was shared by oth­er speak­ers on the floor. Read more

U.S. House of Representatives Will Vote on Magnitsky Act on the Third Anniversary of His Death in Russian Police Custody

November 16, 2012

Today, on the third anniver­sary of the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky in Russ­ian police cus­tody, the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives will vote on Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act of 2012. The bill will impose asset freezes and visa sanc­tions on offi­cials respon­si­ble for the false arrest, tor­ture and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and the cor­rup­tion he had uncov­ered. The bill con­tains an expand­ed def­i­n­i­tion of offi­cials to be sanc­tioned. It adds a new cat­e­go­ry — peo­ple involved in the cov­er-up of crimes against Mag­nit­sky — to the pre­vi­ous list of 60 offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case pub­lished by the U.S. Helsin­ki Commission.

Speak­ing on the eve of the vote, Con­gress­man Jim McGov­ern, the orig­i­nal spon­sor of the Mag­nit­sky bill, said:

“Only indi­vid­u­als with­in the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment who abuse their office and engage in cor­rup­tion and human rights crimes will find their assets and visas under scruti­ny and sub­ject to U.S. sanc­tion.” Read more

Witness in Trial of Magnitsky’s Jail Doctor Receives Death Threats Before Court Testimony

November 12, 2012

Olga Grig­orie­va, for­mer­ly the sec­ond most senior offi­cial in the depart­ment of the Moscow Prison Ser­vice in charge of med­ical care, received death threats against her moth­er and son sev­er­al weeks before her tes­ti­mo­ny in Moscow court on the cir­cum­stances of Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s death. 

In the state­ment she made to the Tver­skoi Dis­trict Court in Moscow last Thurs­day, Ms. Grig­orie­va tes­ti­fied that a for­mer senior med­ical offi­cial at Butyr­ka prison called her on the phone two days after she received a court sum­mons, to say that she should fear for her son and moth­er and that Dmirtry Kra­tov, the only defen­dant in the case, might be killed. She was warned “not to talk”. Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »

• Link