Russian authorities to probe 'suspicious' death of Western asset fund's lawyer
RIA-Novosti
Moscow, 17 November: Investigative agencies of the Russian Federation are intending to examine the circumstances of the death of managing partner of the auditing firm Firestone Duncan and Hermitage (Capital Management) fund lawyer 37-year-old Sergey Magnitskiy in a Moscow remand centre, a source in Moscow's law-enforcement agencies told RIA Novosti today.
"A pre-investigation probe will be carried out into the death of Magnitskiy, since the circumstances of what happened arouse certain suspicions," the source said.
The source also added that it is too early to speak about a violent nature of Magnitskiy's death until the results of the post mortem on the deceased's body are received, whereas a pre-investigation probe is held in all cases of this kind.
According to the source, the investigator himself who was in charge of Magnitskiy's case is in shock from what's happened. "For the investigator, it is simply a shock, since he was already planning to hand the case over to court in December," the source noted.
For her part, the official spokesman for the Investigations Committee under the Russian Interior Ministry Col Irina Dudukina told RIA Novosti that the Ministry received Magnitskiy's death certificate from the remand centre on Tuesday (17 November) afternoon, in which the preliminary cause of his death was stated.
"Magnitskiy's death, according to preliminary information, occurred at 2150 (Moscow time, 1850 gmt) on 16 November as the result of acute heart failure. This cause is stated on the certificate," Dudukina said.
According to her, the post mortem and forensic medical examination should be conducted in the near future to establish the causes of the remand prisoner's death. Dudukina also noted that Magnitskiy himself never complained about his health and last Friday (13 November) was present at proceedings where the issue of the measure of restraint concerning him was considered.
"From him (Magnitskiy) there were only complaints about the incarceration conditions in the remand centre," she said.
For the past 11 months, Magnitskiy had been in the Butyrka remand centre. He and the head of the Hermitage Capital fund William Browder were accused of "tax evasion by an organization on a particularly large scale" (Article 199 Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code provides for imprisonment for a period of up to six years). (Passage omitted: background)
As RIA Novosti has learned, on the day before his death, Magnitskiy was transferred from the cell where he had been for a long time to another place. According to the deceased's lawyers, Magnitskiy died at 9 pm (Moscow time, 1800 gmt) on 16 November from a ruptured pancreas, and his body is now at morgue No. 11 in Moscow.
"First to find out about Magnitskiy's death was his mother, who brought her son a parcel to Butyrskaya prison, where she was informed that a day earlier he had been transferred to the Matrosskaya Tishina remand centre. Later at the Matrosskaya Tishina remand centre she was told of the death of her son. Magnitskiy's lawyers were informed that Sergey Magnitskiy died at 9 pm (Moscow time, 1800 gmt) on 16 November from a ruptured pancreas," it says in a press release by the Hermitage Capital Management fund, received by RIA Novosti. The press release also asserts that since 2007 Sergey Magnitskiy had defended the interests of the Hermitage fund and HSBC bank, in connection with fraudulent activities committed against them, which a number of corrupt officials were involved in. (Passage omitted: details of the fraud)
Magnitskiy was refused bail and the period of his detention was extended to one year. The day before, his lawyer was refused a planned meeting with his client, who was in the Butyrskaya prison; he was told that Sergey was unable to leave his cell because of the state of his health.
"In response to the lawyers' request to provide medical documents about the state of their client's health, investigators Capt Oleynik and Maj Silchenko refused to do so, saying that the given circumstance is 'an internal matter of the investigation'," it says in the company's press release.
Sergey Magnitskiy also filed a complaint addressed to Russian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Chayka which attested to the serious deterioration of his health as a result of his detention and to constant refusals to provide him with the necessary medical treatment as a result of which his health significantly worsened, and which asked for help. The complaint was ignored, the statement notes.
