Sergei Magnitsky
Sergei L. Magnitsky (approx. 1972 — 11/16/2009) was a Russian attorney whose death in police custody generated international media attention and launched an investigation into allegations of abuse.[1] Magnitsky, who had alleged wide-scale tax fraud sanctioned by officials before being himself arrested, died days before the one year limit that he could be held without trial would expire.[2]
Background
Magnitsky was an attorney representing American Investment advisory firm Hermitage Capital Management on charges of tax evasion and tax fraud.[3] Over the years of its operation, Hermitage had supplied information to press on a number of occasions related to corporate and governmental misconduct before in 2005 alleging corruption within Gazprom.[4] Company co-founder Bill Browder was soon expelled from Russia as a national threat, though Browder himself has indicated that the only threat he represented was "to corrupt politicians and bureaucrats", believing that the ouster was conducted to leave his company open for exploitation.[1]
Illness and death
Magnitsky — who had testified that police, members of the judiciary, tax officials, bankers and the Russian mafia had been involved in a $230m (£140m) tax fraud against the Russian treasury — was arrested and imprisoned in November 2008 after being accused of colluding with Hermitage.[2] Held for 11 months without trial, he developed gall stones, Pancreatitis and calculous cholecystitis, for which he was given inadequate medical treatment during his incarceration.[2] Surgery was ordered in June, but never performed; detention center chief Ivan P. Prokopenko later indicated that he "...did not consider Magnitsky sick...Prisoners often try to pass themselves off as sick, in order to get better conditions."[5]
On November 16th, eight days before he would have had to have been released if he were not brought to trial, Magnitsky died for reasons attributed first by prison officials as a "rupture to the abdominal membrane" and later to heart attack.[2] It later emerged that Magnitsky had complained of worsening stomach pain for five days prior to his death and that by the 15th was vomiting every three hours, with a visibly swollen stomach.[5] On the day of his death, the prison physician, believing he had a chronic disease, sent him by ambulance to a medical unit equipped to help him, but the surgeon there — who described Magnitsky as "agitated, trying to hide behind a bag and saying people were trying to kill him" — prescribed only a painkiller, leaving him for psychiatric evaluation.[5] He was found dead in his cell a little over two hours later.
Aftermath
According to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Magnitsky's death "caused public outrage and sparked discussion of the need to improve prison healthcare and to reduce the number of inmates awaiting trial in detention prisons."[6]
An independent investigatory body, the Moscow Public Oversight Commission, indicated in December 2009 that "psychological and physical pressure was exerted upon" Magnitsky.[7] One of the Commissioners said that while she had first believed his death was due to medical negligence, she had developed "the frightening feeling that it was not negligence but that it was, to some extent, as terrible as it is to say, a premeditated murder."[5]
An official investigation was ordered in November 2009 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.[8] Russian authorities had not concluded their own investigation as of December 2009, but 20 senior prison officials had already been fired as a result of the case.[7] In December 2009, in two separate decrees, Medvedev fired deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service Alexander Piskunov and signed a law forbidding the jailing of individuals who are suspected of tax crimes.[9] Magnitsky's death is also believed to be linked to the firing of Major-General Anatoli Mikhalkin, formerly the head of the Moscow division of the tax crimes department of the Interior Ministry.[10] Mikhalkin was among those accused by Magnitsky of taking part in fraud.
Opalesque.TV released a video on February 8th 2010 in which Hermitage Capital Management founder Bill Browder reveals details of Sergey Magnitzky's ordeal during his eleven months in detention. [11]
References
- ^ a b "Russia 'is now a criminal state', says Bill Browder". BBC. November 23, 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
- ^ a b c d Aldrick, Philip (November 19, 2009). "Russia refuses autopsy for anti-corruption lawyer". Retrieved December 27, 2009.
- ^ Eke, Steven (November 18, 2009). "Row over Russian lawyer jail death". BBC. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
- ^ "An Investment Gets Trapped in Kremlin's Vise". New York Times. July 24, 2008. Retrieved 2010-01-22.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d Barry, Ellen (December 28, 2009). "Scathing Report Issued on Russian Lawyer's Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-23.
- ^ "RIA Novosti's choice: the ten major political events of 2009". January 2, 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-23.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|site=ignored (help) - ^ a b Aldrick, Philip (28 Dec 2009). "Sergei Magnitsky: independent investigation into death of lawyer slams Russia". Telegraph.
- ^ "Medvedev orders investigation of Magnitsky jail death". BBC. November 24, 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
- ^ "Russia Bans Jailing of Tax Offenders Following Lawyer's Death". Wall Street Journal. December 29, 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-23.
- ^ Mortished, Carl (December 16, 2009). "Kremlin sacking linked to Sergei Magnitsky case". The Times. Retrieved 2010-01-23.
- ^ "Opalesque BACKSTAGE Video - Bill Browder: Sergey Magnitsky case reveals Russia's ugliest face". February 8, 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
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