Senior Russian Senator Narusova Splits with the Russian Interior Ministry and Calls for Prosecution of Law Enforcement Officials in the Magnitsky Case

February 26, 2012

In an unex­pect­ed devel­op­ment, at the OSCE Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly in Vien­na last week, Lud­mi­la Naruso­va, wid­ow of for­mer St. Peters­burg may­or Ana­toly Sobchak and a senior Fed­er­a­tion Coun­cil mem­ber from the Bryan­sk region, pub­licly called for the pros­e­cu­tion of Russ­ian law enforce­ment offi­cials named by Pres­i­dent Medvede­v’s Human Rights Coun­cil as com­plic­it in the false arrest and mur­der of Sergei Magnitsky.

“Human rights activists are call­ing for the expan­sion of the list of those who are being pros­e­cut­ed in the Mag­nit­sky case. With our sup­port, they are urg­ing for the charges to be brought against law enforce­ment offi­cers, and doc­tor Alexan­dra Gaus who saw Mag­nit­sky last… It is impor­tant for us so that pun­ish­ment is inevitable,” said Ms Narusova.

Ms Narusova’s call for law enforce­ment pros­e­cu­tions is in direct con­flict with the posi­tion of the Russ­ian author­i­ties who pub­licly exon­er­at­ed all Russ­ian law enforce­ment offi­cials involved in the Mag­nit­sky case and then reward­ed them with pro­mo­tions and medals instead. Last year the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor’s Office for­mal­ly absolved all Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cers from any wrong­do­ing in the Mag­nit­sky case. In addi­tion, last July, Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Gen­er­al Tatiana Gerasi­mo­va for­mal­ly dis­missed the con­clu­sions of the Russ­ian President’s Human Rights Coun­cil on the Mag­nit­sky case stat­ing that Russ­ian courts and pros­e­cu­tors found no vio­la­tions of the law. The Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee also refused to inves­ti­gate the sud­den enrich­ment of the law enforce­ment offi­cials’ fam­i­lies after they par­tic­i­pat­ed in the $230 mil­lion theft exposed by Mr Mag­nit­sky. Read more

Poland and Bulgaria Call for Justice in the Magnitsky Case

February 15, 2012

The Pol­ish Min­istry of For­eign Affairs has stat­ed that they will devel­op a com­mon and strong Euro­pean Union posi­tion into the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and will urge Rus­sia to con­duct a trans­par­ent inves­ti­ga­tion into his false arrest, tor­ture and death con­sis­tent with inter­na­tion­al stan­dards. If that does­n’t take place, Poland will work with its EU part­ners in imple­ment­ing a Euro­pean Union visa ban. 

The Pol­ish For­eign Affairs Min­istry stat­ed its posi­tion last week in a let­ter received by the Pol­ish Helsin­ki Foun­da­tion for Human Rights. Read more

Sergei Magnitsky’s Mother Condemns Actions of Russian Interior Ministry

February 10, 2012

Yes­ter­day, the moth­er of Sergei Mag­nit­sky con­demned the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry for the pres­sure they have been apply­ing to her fam­i­ly. Instead of pros­e­cut­ing the offi­cials who were respon­si­ble for the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky in police cus­tody, inves­ti­ga­tors from the Inte­ri­or Min­istry have opened a crim­i­nal case against Sergei Mag­nit­sky two years after he died and have sum­moned Mrs. Mag­nit­skaya more than 10 times for ques­tion­ing in an attempt to force her to sign doc­u­ments giv­ing up her rights for jus­tice for her son. 

“It’s like slow motion tor­ture, in which the exe­cu­tion­er does not kill you at once, but makes you suf­fer, mak­ing you shud­der from every phone call and every let­ter that arrives. It reminds me of the agony expe­ri­enced by my son,” said Mrs Mag­nit­skaya in a com­plaint filed on Feb­ru­ary 9^th, 2012 with Sergei Solovy­ov, Chief of the Inves­ti­ga­tion of the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry in the Cen­tral Fed­er­al Dis­trict. Read more

Russia Prepares First-in-History Posthumous Prosecution in the Case of Sergei Magnitsky

February 7, 2012

Inves­ti­ga­tor Boris Kibis from the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment announced that the Inte­ri­or Min­istry had “fin­ished its pre­lim­i­nary inves­ti­ga­tion” and intends to pros­e­cute Sergei Mag­nit­sky posthu­mous­ly and William Brow­der in absen­tia in the Russ­ian courts. This case will make Russ­ian legal his­to­ry as the first case ever of a posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion since Russ­ian judi­cial reg­u­la­tion was first artic­u­lat­ed in writ­ing five cen­turies ago, in 1497. 

“Even in Stalin’s time, the author­i­ties did not pros­e­cute peo­ple who were dead. The Inte­ri­or Min­istry is so des­per­ate to jus­ti­fy its repres­sion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky that gov­ern­ment offi­cials are run­ning roughshod over all legal prece­dent, prac­tice and moral­i­ty,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal spokesperson.

The bizarre posthu­mous pro­ceed­ings against Mag­nit­sky and against Brow­der in absen­tia are based on the same alle­ga­tions of tax under­pay­ment that had been used by the Inte­ri­or Min­istry to false­ly arrest Sergei Mag­nit­sky in Novem­ber 2008 after he had exposed law enforce­ment offi­cials’ role in the theft of $230 mil­lion of gov­ern­ment funds. In July 2011, the Russ­ian President’s Human Rights Coun­cil found those pro­ceed­ings had been fab­ri­cat­ed and gross­ly vio­lat­ed the Euro­pean Human Rights Con­ven­tion. Read more

HARVARD AND COLUMBIA BUSINESS SCHOOLS PUBLISH CASE STUDY ON SERGEI MAGNITSKY AND THE HERMITAGE FUND

January 30, 2012

The Har­vard and Colum­bia Grad­u­ate Schools of Busi­ness have unveiled a land­mark case study on the per­se­cu­tion of the Her­mitage Fund and the mur­der of its lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, who died after one year of tor­ture in police cus­tody. Sergei Magnitsky’s sto­ry expos­es one of the worst cas­es of cor­rup­tion and human rights abuse in an emerg­ing mar­ket in recent history. 

Her­mitage Cap­i­tal CEO William Brow­der, once the largest for­eign investor in the Russ­ian stock mar­ket, stat­ed in advance of the study’s publication: 

“The sto­ry of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, and the con­tin­u­ing per­se­cu­tion by Russ­ian author­i­ties of oth­er Her­mitage lawyers and exec­u­tives, are emblem­at­ic of the poi­so­nous and dan­ger­ous state of Russia’s invest­ment cli­mate. Thanks to this com­pre­hen­sive case study, the details of one of the most sophis­ti­cat­ed and heinous state-spon­sored finan­cial crimes are now a mat­ter of pub­lic record, to be stud­ied and taught at busi­ness schools around the world. It will serve as a pow­er­ful reminder of the human cost of cor­rup­tion.” Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »

• Link