Russian Interior Ministry Spits on Magnitsky’s Grave

November 24, 2011

Today the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry announced it will con­tin­ue the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky two years after his death. Calls from Magnitsky’s rel­a­tives to cease the unlaw­ful pros­e­cu­tion have been reject­ed. In spite of this, the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry jus­ti­fied the exten­sion of the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion by the “need to iden­ti­fy the posi­tion of the relatives.”

“Today’s news from the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry is hard to view as any­thing oth­er than spit­ting on the grave of a dead man and his rel­a­tives. Magnitsky’s fam­i­ly has repeat­ed­ly stat­ed their posi­tion about the ille­gal­i­ty of the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion by fil­ing for­mal writ­ten com­plaints to all Russ­ian state bod­ies,” said fam­i­ly lawyer Niko­lai Gorokhov. 

Mr Gorokhov explained that com­plaints from Mag­nit­sky rel­a­tives against his posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion have been filed to Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Chai­ka, Chief of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment Kozhokar, Chair of Tver­skoi Dis­trict Court of Moscow Alisov and the Moscow City Court. Read more

France Calls on Russia To Expand the List of Officials to be Prosecuted In Magnitsky Murder Case

November 22, 2011

French For­eign Min­is­ter Alain Juppe is pub­licly chal­leng­ing the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment on the impuni­ty of a num­ber of Russ­ian offi­cials who were impli­cat­ed in the false arrest, tor­ture and death of Sergei Magnitsky.

In a let­ter from Min­is­ter Juppe to Jack Lang, a deputy in the French Nation­al Assem­bly and for­mer Min­is­ter of Cul­ture and Edu­ca­tion, Min­is­ter ques­tioned why only two doc­tors have been charged by the Russ­ian author­i­ties in spite of the find­ings of the Russ­ian Human Rights Coun­cil which names offi­cials in the Inte­ri­or Min­istry, Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Office and judges as abet­ting Magnitsky’s rights violations.

“Legal pro­ceed­ings were ini­ti­at­ed against a cou­ple of offi­cials in the prison med­ical ser­vice. The report of the Russ­ian Human Rights Coun­cil released on 6 July 2011 evokes respon­si­bil­i­ties more wide­ly shared in the mis­treat­ment of Mr. Mag­nit­sky while in deten­tion,” said Alan Juppe. Read more

Russian General Prosecutor Rejects Request from Magnitsky Family to Cease His Prosecution Two Years After His Death

November 22, 2011

he Russ­ian Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office has refused to stop the pros­e­cu­tion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky two years after his death. In addi­tion, the Russ­ian author­i­ties have refused to recuse from the cur­rent crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion the Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cers who were respon­si­ble for his tor­ture and death in cus­tody. This infor­ma­tion was revealed in a let­ter from 8 Novem­ber 2011 signed by V. Ignashin, deputy chief of Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office Divi­sion for Par­tic­u­lar­ly Impor­tant Cas­es, to Magnitsky’s fam­i­ly lawyer, Niko­lai Gorokhov.

“Your peti­tion con­tain­ing rea­sons to cease the crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion of Magnitsky’s rel­a­tives and stat­ing no con­fi­dence to inves­ti­ga­tors on the crim­i­nal case has been con­sid­ered… As part of the probe, we found no cir­cum­stances that exclude the par­tic­i­pa­tion of the inves­ti­ga­tors in this crim­i­nal proceeding…Given this, there are no law­ful rea­sons to under­take mea­sures of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al reac­tion to recuse the inves­ti­ga­tion team from the case,” said V. Ignashin in his for­mal reply.

The Russ­ian President’s Human Rights Coun­cil has con­clud­ed that Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cers pros­e­cut­ing Sergei Mag­nit­sky were in gross con­flict of inter­est because of the Magnitsky’s tes­ti­mo­ny pri­or to his arrest about their com­plic­i­ty in the $230 mil­lion theft. Read more

New Information Emerges on Russian General Shelepanov Who US Senators Requested to Ban From Entering the US Last Week For His Role in the Magnitsky Case

November 21, 2011

New infor­ma­tion has emerged from the Sergei Mag­nit­sky crim­i­nal case file show­ing that Gen­er­al Niko­lai Shelepanov of the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry was per­son­al­ly respon­si­ble for the denial of fam­i­ly vis­its to Sergei Mag­nit­sky in cus­tody. Ear­li­er this month, US Sen­a­tors Cardin and Wick­er ques­tioned Gen­er­al Shelepanov’s eli­gi­bil­i­ty to enter the Unit­ed States over his role in the Mag­nit­sky case. 

Vedo­mosti, the Russ­ian news­pa­per, pub­lished pre­vi­ous­ly unknown requests writ­ten by Sergei Mag­nit­sky seek­ing per­mis­sion for fam­i­ly vis­its and the offi­cial response signed by Gen­er­al Shelepanov deny­ing Magnitsky’s request
(http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/1424555/zamnachalniku_sd_mvd_stavyat_v_vinu_otkaz_v_svidaniyah).

Gen­er­al Shelepanov was due to attend meet­ings in Wash­ing­ton last week on the invi­ta­tion from the US Depart­ment of Jus­tice, but stat­ed he was aban­don­ing his plans amid the scan­dal over his US visa due to his “work load.”

The new evi­dence shows that Gen­er­al Shelepanov in his capac­i­ty as the Deputy Chief of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment per­son­al­ly refused Sergei Magnitsky’s peti­tions for fam­i­ly vis­its. Gen­er­al Shelepanov also sanc­tioned refusals for fam­i­ly vis­its issued by his sub­or­di­nate, Inte­ri­or Min­istry Inves­ti­ga­tor Oleg Silchenko.

Gen­er­al Niko­lai Shelepanov stat­ed in an offi­cial response signed on 10 July 2009:

“Here­by I order to deny the com­plaint by S.L. Mag­nit­sky request­ing… to issue a writ­ten con­sent for a vis­it with his moth­er, N.N. Magnitskaya”
(http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D347.pdf).

This response was writ­ten in the eighth month of Sergei Magnitsky’s deten­tion. Up until that point, the inves­ti­ga­tors had denied Sergei Mag­nit­sky all con­tact with his family.

In an inter­view with the Voice of Amer­i­ca on 10 Novem­ber 2011, Gen­er­al Shelepanov tried to down­play his role in the Magnitsky’s tor­ture, saying:

“This is a nor­mal crim­i­nal case that is being inves­ti­gat­ed here, in Russia.”

In Magnitsky’s com­plaint filed to the Deputy Inte­ri­or Min­is­ter Alex­ei Anichin, he said that inves­ti­ga­tors arbi­trar­i­ly denied his right for fam­i­ly visits: 

“Since Novem­ber 2008 I have been kept in custody…During all this time I have not been allowed a sin­gle vis­it with any of my rel­a­tives. …As a sole rea­son to deny me fam­i­ly vis­its, it has been put to me that “the inves­ti­ga­tors deem it inex­pe­di­ent”,” wrote Sergei Mag­nit­sy in his com­plaint on 24 June 2009 (http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D346.pdf).

Magnitsky’s requests for vis­its with his wife, moth­er, and chil­dren were denied by Inves­ti­ga­tor in charge of his deten­tion, Major Oleg Silchenko dur­ing a year in pre-tri­al deten­tion. The new evi­dence from the Mag­nit­sky case file now makes it clear that these refusals were sanc­tioned by Gen­er­al Niko­lai Shelepanov.

In his 10 July 2009 Decree, Gen­er­al Shelepanov wrote to Sergei Magnitsky:

“On 15 June 2009, a peti­tion was received in the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment from defen­dant S.L. Mag­nit­sky that was dat­ed 3 June 2009 request­ing a per­mis­sion for a vis­it with his moth­er… The decree to ful­ly deny this peti­tion issued by senior inves­ti­ga­tor of espe­cial­ly impor­tant cas­es O.F. Silchenko is law­ful and jus­ti­fied because it meets the require­ments of the law set out for its form and contents.”

The actions of Silchenko, Anichin and She­la­panov for­mal­ly con­tra­dict the Russ­ian Law on Deten­tion, which sets out rights for fam­i­ly vis­its. Accord­ing to the law, each detainee is enti­tled to two fam­i­ly vis­its per month, each last­ing up to three hours. Accord­ing to Arti­cle 18 of the Law on Deten­tion, an inves­ti­ga­tor must issue a con­sent to each visit.

In his com­plaint of the arbi­trary depri­va­tion of fam­i­ly vis­its by the Inte­ri­or Min­istry, Sergei Mag­nit­sky said:

“The law does not allow to refuse fam­i­ly vis­its on arbi­trary and unrea­soned grounds… The fail­ure by the inves­ti­ga­tor to spec­i­fy the ground for these refusals…shows that the inves­ti­ga­tor thinks that he is enti­tled to act arbi­trar­i­ly and in abuse of author­i­ty when decid­ing whether to per­mit me a fam­i­ly vis­it or not. Such an abu­sive restric­tion of my con­sti­tu­tion­al right is unac­cept­able in a law-based state …and is a form of treat­ment degrad­ing my human dig­ni­ty, because it caus­es moral pains to me and my fam­i­ly, pains that are not jus­ti­fied by the goals set out by the Con­sti­tu­tion (p.3 Arti­cle 55 of the Russ­ian Constitution).”

Gen­er­al Shelepanov’s name and his role in the Mag­nit­sky case first became known last week fol­low­ing a request by U.S. Sen­a­tors Wick­er and Cardin to the U.S. Sec­re­tary of State to check his eli­gi­bil­i­ty to enter the US
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203537304577028320517166292.html?KEYWORDS=magnitsky).

Gen­er­al Shelepanov was not pre­vi­ous­ly list­ed on the US Helsin­ki Commission’s list of 60 Russ­ian offi­cials to be banned entry into the Unit­ed States. 

Sergei Mag­nit­sky was kept in cus­tody by the same Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cers he had tes­ti­fied against for their role in the theft of his client’s com­pa­nies and $230 mil­lion from the Russ­ian trea­sury, the largest sin­gle embez­zle­ment of pub­lic funds in Russ­ian his­to­ry. Sergei Mag­nit­sky was mur­dered in Russ­ian gov­ern­ment cus­tody on 16 Novem­ber 2009. 

A for­mal peti­tion by Sergei Magnitsky’s moth­er to open a tor­ture and mur­der inves­ti­ga­tion against high-rank­ing Russ­ian offi­cials and 11 judges filed in Sep­tem­ber with the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee has been denied.

Evidence of the Russian Government’s Cover up of Lawyer’s Torture and Murder Is Presented in the British House of Commons

November 18, 2011

Today, new evi­dence of the Russ­ian government’s cov­er up of the tor­ture and mur­der in Russ­ian police cus­tody of Sergei Mag­nit­sky was pre­sent­ed to the British House of Com­mons. Mark­ing the sec­ond anniver­sary of his death, William Brow­der, CEO of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal Man­age­ment, spoke in front of mem­bers of Par­lia­ment, researchers and aca­d­e­mics in the House of Com­mons in London.

Com­ment­ing on the case, Gisela Stu­art, MP stat­ed, “The Mag­nit­sky case is a ter­ri­ble indict­ment of Russia’s jus­tice sys­tem, and his death as well as the cov­er up that fol­lowed are com­plete­ly unac­cept­able. This must be reflect­ed in the rela­tion­ship between our coun­tries, at the very least by exclud­ing those evi­dent­ly respon­si­ble but yet not held to account from enter­ing the Unit­ed Kingdom.”

In a shock­ing account based on offi­cial records, Mr Brow­der pre­sent­ed a series of Russ­ian gov­ern­ment doc­u­ments which prove the com­plic­i­ty of Russ­ian law enforce­ment offi­cials, pros­e­cu­tors, judges and jail offi­cials in the tor­ture and death of Sergei Mas­g­nit­sky and the con­ceal­ment of the crime after­wards. Respon­si­bil­i­ty for the far-reach­ing con­ceal­ment of Magnitsky’s false arrest, tor­ture and mur­der, as well as the $230 mil­lion theft he uncov­ered, stretch­es across all lev­els of Russ­ian law enforce­ment bureau­cra­cy and the Russ­ian judiciary.

In May, Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Dmit­ry Medvedev assigned Russ­ian Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Yuri Chai­ka to “strength­en over­sight” over the Mag­nit­sky case. Mr Chai­ka is the same man who Mag­nit­sky, as described in his com­plaints, held per­son­al­ly respon­si­ble for his ill-treat­ment and the vio­la­tions of his rights while in custody.

Since then, the Russ­ian author­i­ties opened a posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion of Mr Mag­nit­sky under the same fab­ri­cat­ed case under which he was arrest­ed. In addi­tion, in what are trans­par­ent acts of harass­ment and intim­i­da­tion that have been con­demned by Russ­ian human rights activists, these same author­i­ties have sum­moned Magnitsky’s rel­a­tives for ques­tion­ing. The Russ­ian inves­tiga­tive author­i­ties have refused to open an inves­ti­ga­tion into Magnitsky’s tor­ture and mur­der, and they have instead charged two med­ical offi­cials with unin­ten­tion­al “neg­li­gence.”

Sergei Mag­nit­sky, a 37-year old anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer and out­side coun­sel for the Her­mitage Fund, was tor­tured to death in Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry cus­tody after he had tes­ti­fied about the involve­ment of Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cials in the theft of $230 mil­lion from the Russ­ian Treasury. 

The Russ­ian offi­cials who were respon­si­ble for his unjust arrest, tor­ture and mur­der have been absolved from any respon­si­bil­i­ty, dec­o­rat­ed with state hon­ours, and promoted.

Shocked by the impuni­ty of Russ­ian offi­cials in this high-pro­file case of human rights abuse, law­mak­ers in the US, Cana­da and numer­ous Euro­pean nations are intro­duc­ing visa and eco­nom­ic sanc­tions against the offi­cials behind these crimes as well as the result­ing cov­er up. Mag­nit­sky-relat­ed sanc­tions leg­is­la­tion is cur­rent­ly pend­ing in front of the US Con­gress and the Cana­di­an Par­lia­ment. In addi­tion, the US State Depart­ment has inde­pen­dent­ly blocked US visas for those Russ­ian offi­cials asso­ci­at­ed with Magnitsky’s death.

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