There is a lot of talk about Dima Yakovlev's law. It is known that it was adopted as a response to the Magnitsky Act. You can read about who Sergei Magnitsky is and why he died anywhere, for example, in Wikipedia:
On November 16, 2009, after 11 months of pre-trial detention, Magnitsky died in the hospital of the pre-trial detention center. At first, the administration of the pre-trial detention center reported that the cause of his death was pancreatic necrosis, but later they changed this version and began to claim that the cause of death was acute cardiovascular failure. At the request of the relatives, sent to the prosecutor's office of the Preobrazhensky district of Moscow, a repeat forensic medical examination was refused.
Presenter: The question is asked in this formulation. What can you say about Magnitsky himself? Who is to blame for the death of an innocent person?
Starikov: The answer to who is to blame for the death of an innocent person will be given by the court, in the end. I just want to point out a few facts. Firstly an investor William Browder who, in fact, promoted this whole story - about the allegedly villainous death of Magnitsky in prison - is not just some kind of “regular investor”. This is one of the largest players in the world, well... maybe mini-Soros , to make it clear.
Here I am, for example, a book Naomi Klein I'm reading... "Shock Doctrine". There's a quote and an epigraph Browder in one of the chapters. That is, for the Western reader... They know who he is - and treat his opinion with respect. As a writer, I can tell you that when you choose an epigraph, you need to follow two rules: firstly, the thought must be interesting, and secondly, the name of this person must say something to the reader. Or, at the very least, the thought should be so interesting that you can write “the thought of Vasya Pupkin.” Although usually good thoughts are still very rare. Therefore, he is a very famous person.
What did he do?
He registered companies engaged in, as they say, investments. Let's put it in Russian: speculation in the financial market on a large scale... billions. In an offshore zone in Russia. In Kalmykia. This means that there were not a whole series of tax laws. Next... How did he register these companies? According to Russian legislation: if a company has more than 50% disabled people, it pays 5% of taxes in the offshore zone instead of 35%. The company was registered from 3 people. Of these, 2 were disabled people who never went to work, but received 500 rubles a month for being registered there. Accordingly, one person - one company. And they circulated these billions without paying billions in taxes.
Apparently, this whole story began to smell bad and their law enforcement agencies began to grab one place. After this, what should a smart, cunning and sneaky speculator do? He had to cover his tracks. And look what happened: one of... I unfortunately don’t remember... one of the co-founders of these companies, who made money with Browder - he died just recently. Under very strange circumstances!
Magnitsky was an accountant for these companies. He was not an outside person who was hired. He was an accountant. That is, who knew all the financial ins and outs. He was arrested. And he died in prison. All.
With his death, only Browder himself was left to manage all the secrets. After which he shouted about the murder of Magnitsky by the Russian state, and this story acquired political overtones.
And today we read that Browder refuses to sue one of the tax inspectors, whom he accused of something. Moreover, in London he refuses to sue (!). That is, the story is like this... very, very bad smelling.
Then, after some time, one of the main witnesses, who was the only person on the basis of whose words the Americans adopted their Magnitsky Act, the Swiss prosecutor's office began an investigation, and so on... Well, imagine: one person said something... Based on it they built such a huge superstructure... It is clear that after some time this man was found dead near his mansion. It seems to be intact, but dead. This is what usually happens in the UK to those who think that they will be treated differently there.
That is, the story is very dark. We will wait for the investigation.
(William Browder) of the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management (HCM, a member of the international banking group HSBC), which in the early 2000s was called the largest in Russia and one of the most profitable in the world. In 2009, representatives of Firestone Duncan claimed that Magnitsky first began providing services to Hermitage in 2001.
It is also known that Magnitsky was the general director of Jason and the Argonauts, founded in 1998. According to some sources, the company was engaged in rental of various equipment, and according to others, it “provided services in import-export activity.” The investor in Jason and the Argonauts was New Market Consulting Limited, a company registered on the Isle of Man.
In 2007, searches began in Hermitage and the Firestone Duncan that served it, prompted by suspicions of creating a tax evasion scheme using an extensive network of subsidiaries. During the searches, documents, computer data and seals of three Russian organizations of the Browder Foundation were seized. Immediately after this, the fund sold all its Russian assets. According to investigators, the fund's subsidiaries illegally purchased shares of strategic Russian enterprises, including Gazprom, Surgutneftegaz and Rosneft. Then representatives of Hermitage announced that the Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out a raider seizure of three of its subsidiaries, using seals and documentation seized during the search. Immediately after the searches in 2007, Magnitsky began an independent investigation to protect the interests of the investment fund and found that 5.4 billion rubles in taxes paid by the seized subsidiaries of the investment fund in 2006 were seized from the Russian treasury by criminals as "overpaid". , , , , . Magnitsky also testified that law enforcement officers illegally took possession of Hermitage’s movable property. However, in 2008, Browder and the manager of the Russian branch of the investment fund, Ivan Cherkasov, were charged in absentia with tax evasion; as a result, they were put on the international wanted list, , , since Cherkasov left Russia in the summer of 2007, and Browder was banned from entering the country since 2005. There were suggestions in the media that it was the purchase of shares in oil companies that provoked pressure on the fund.
On November 27, 2008, Magnitsky was arrested in connection with the Hermitage case. He was charged with assisting an organization in evading taxes on an especially large scale (Part 2 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, providing for up to six years in prison): according to the investigative authorities, in 1999-2000 he participated in the creation of a scheme for the illegal purchase of two percent of shares "Gazprom" (according to the legislation in force at that time, only 20 percent of the company's shares could belong to foreign investors, and Hermitage did not have enough of this quota). To do this, Magnitsky arrived in Kalmykia in 1999, where he agreed with the head of the local Afghan War Veterans Foundation to employ several disabled people as financial analysts in Far Steppe LLC and Saturn Investments LLC, founded by Browder, thanks to which the companies received tax benefit and carried out the purchase and then sale of Gazprom shares to Hermitage, while paying income tax at a rate of 5.5 percent instead of 35 percent. In total, as a result of these actions, according to investigators, the budget received a shortfall of 522 million rubles.
Magnitsky was taken into custody as a preventive measure. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this measure was chosen because investigators feared that the accused might go abroad: according to the investigation, shortly before this he applied for a visa to the British Embassy. Meanwhile, Magnitsky’s file contained a letter from the embassy stating that he was not issued a visa.
Magnitsky was placed in pre-trial detention center No. 5, where over the course of five months he was transferred from one cell to another several times. In April 2009, he was transferred to the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center. In July of the same year, he had health problems and was diagnosed with calculous cholecystitis; later doctors discovered stones in the defendant’s gall bladder. At the end of July, Magnitsky was transferred to the Butyrsky pre-trial detention center, in which Magnitsky’s health condition deteriorated further, in particular, due to the lack of a hospital at the pre-trial detention center.
Magnitsky and his lawyers sent more than 450 complaints - they recorded poor conditions of detention (in particular, the lack of a toilet and a boiler) and the fact that the lawyer was not given the medicines that his mother, Natalya, brought to him, , , . On October 13, 2009, Magnitsky filed a complaint that, with the knowledge of the investigation, unbearable conditions of detention were being created for him, , and soon again announced a fraudulent scheme to “return” Hermitage’s debts, even naming the names , , , . According to Magnitsky, the case against him was “revenge” by law enforcement agencies for evidence of corruption he found. In addition, according to him, the investigation offered him a deal: release or probation for testifying against Browder.
On November 13, 2009, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow refused to change Magnitsky’s preventive measure, leaving him in pre-trial detention. At the same time, as it later turned out, his complaints about poor health were not taken into account. On November 16, in the morning, Magnitsky’s condition worsened and he required hospitalization. At the end of the day, he was taken to the hospital at the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center; according to doctors and pre-trial detention center employees, he was in normal condition. There, a surgeon diagnosed him with pancreatitis, but then the doctors, citing Magnitsky’s inappropriate behavior, called psychiatrists, who chained the lawyer to a chair. Magnitsky did not undergo urgent surgery, and already at 21:50 doctors certified death from a rupture of the pancreas as a result of pancreatic necrosis, but then the investigation stated that Magnitsky died of a heart attack, , , , . Immediately after his death, representatives of the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that Magnitsky did not complain about his health and did not submit requests for release for health reasons, , , however, the mother of the deceased stated that her son was “poisoned”, and the lawyers - about the disappearance of part of the diaries and prison Magnitsky's correspondence, including his complaints about conditions of detention. On December 28, 2009, the Public Commission for Monitoring Ensuring the Rights of Prisoners published a report concluding that the lawyer’s death was caused by “the creation of inhumane, degrading conditions of detention, comparable, in essence, to torture.” After some time, the case against Magnitsky was closed by the investigative committee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs “due to non-rehabilitating circumstances.”
The death of the lawyer led to a loud international scandal. On November 24, 2009, the chairman of the council for promoting the development of civil society institutions and human rights, Ella Pamfilova, at a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, asked to understand the circumstances of the death of the lawyer. The Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation (ICP RF) subsequently initiated criminal cases under Articles 124 ("failure to provide assistance to a patient") and 293 ("negligence"). Based on the results of an internal investigation, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN), Alexander Reimer, dismissed on December 11, 2009 the head of the Moscow department of the FSIN, Vladimir Davydov, and the head of the Butyrsky detention center, Vadim Magomedov.
In April, the US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, headed by Senator Benjamin Cardin, sent a letter to the US State Department asking that 60 Russian judges and security officials involved in the death of Magnitsky be banned from entering the country. In May 2010, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee supported Cardin's initiative and approved the proposal of the Commission he headed. In the same month, the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament also called for bringing to justice the Russian judges and investigators involved in the death of Magnitsky. In September 2010, a bill was introduced into the US Congress that would have prohibited all individuals on the Magnitsky list from entering the United States and conducting financial transactions in this country. In December of the same year, the European Parliament approved a resolution recommending that European governments impose visa and financial sanctions against Russian officials mentioned in the list; in July 2012, a similar resolution was adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. In June 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if the “Magnitsky Act” is adopted in the United States, Russia will take retaliatory measures by introducing restrictions on entry into Russia for “a certain number of Americans.” That same summer, Member of the European Parliament Kristiina Ojuland reported that by the end of the year her colleagues planned to adopt another resolution on sanctions against those responsible for the death of the Hermitage Capital lawyer, the effect of which could be extended “to everyone who has violated or is violating the rights person" in Russia. In September of the same year, Russian media, citing a publication in The Sunday Times, reported that the British Home Office had sent to the British Embassy in Moscow a list of 60 people involved in Magnitsky’s death, who could be denied visas on this basis; however, the British Foreign Ministry denied the introduction of visa restrictions on the “Magnitsky list” , , .
In mid-June 2010, Firestone announced that he had transferred documents to the Department of Internal Security (DSB) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, which stated that the family of police lieutenant colonel Artem Kuznetsov, who initiated the case against Magnitsky, had spent about $3 million on the purchase over the past 3 years movable and immovable property, despite the fact that Kuznetsov’s salary was $850 in ruble equivalent. Firestone stated that Kuznetsov fabricated the case against Magnitsky and played a key role in the theft of money from the Russian budget.
On June 29, 2010, a re-examination of the causes of Magnitsky’s death was completed, which confirmed that he died of acute heart failure. At the same time, the examination showed that in the pre-trial detention center he received insufficient and inadequate medical care. However, in September 2010, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported that “a cause-and-effect relationship between the actions of the isolation ward doctors and the resulting consequences was not established by forensic experts.” Despite this, it was decided to extend the investigation into the death of Magnitsky.
Since the beginning of 2011, a working group of the Human Rights Commission under the President of the Russian Federation has also conducted its own investigation into the Magnitsky case, on behalf of President Medvedev. As the Vedomosti newspaper reported in April 2011, this group came to the conclusion that there were significant violations committed by law enforcement agencies and the court both in the formulation and consideration of charges against the lawyer and in his detention in a pre-trial detention center. At the same time, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (into which the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation was transformed at the end of 2010) stated that its investigation “objectively is long-term and not completed.” On July 4, 2011, the day before the Human Rights Council was to present the results of the preliminary investigation to the president, the investigative committee released the results of the fourth medical examination, concluding that the lawyer’s death was caused, among other things, by “deficiencies in the provision of medical care to Magnitsky.” It was planned to initiate criminal cases against his doctors. The Presidential Council, in addition to these suspects, in its report mentioned the names of investigators Oleg Silchenko, Pavel Karpov and Artem Kuznetsov, the judges who illegally kept Magnitsky in custody and even the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika, who did not respond to the complaints of Magnitsky’s lawyers. Human rights activists also put forward the version that the late lawyer was tortured before his death. Almost a month later, it became known that the Ministry of Internal Affairs refused to carry out an inspection of the council’s conclusion and did not even include it in the case materials, “having found no violations in the activities of the investigators in the Magnitsky case.”
In August 2011, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation canceled the decision to terminate the criminal case against Magnitsky in connection with the decision of the Constitutional Court of July 14, 2011. According to the precedent decision, the investigation and the courts could no longer terminate criminal cases in connection with the death of suspects and accused without the consent of their relatives. Despite the protests of Magnitsky's mother and widow, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow in early December 2011 recognized the reopening of the case as legal. A similar decision was made by the Ostankino District Court of the capital in April 2012. Representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted that at the end of the trial, Magnitsky would either be acquitted or the case would be closed completely, without imposing a posthumous sentence.
At the end of the same month, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central Federal District separated the case of Magnitsky and Browder into separate proceedings, because, according to the investigation, the crime was committed “in complicity with other persons.”
In November 2010, Magnitsky was posthumously awarded the Transparency International Prize for his outstanding contribution to the fight against corruption.
In November 2012, the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs completed the investigation and sent materials on the case of Magnitsky and Browder to the prosecutor's office.
Magnitsky was married. He left behind two small children.
Materials used
The “Magnitsky case” has been handed over to prosecutors: the lawyer will be convicted posthumously. - RBC, 13.11.2012
The case against Magnitsky will be transferred to the Prosecutor General's Office on Monday - source. - RIA Novosti, 12.11.2012
Arkady Sukholutsky. "The Magnitsky Act will affect everyone who violates human rights." - The New Times, 10.09.2012. - № 28 (255)
Olga Berezintseva. The British Foreign Office lost the “Magnitsky list”. - Kommersant-Online, 04.09.2012
The British Embassy in the Russian Federation commented on the introduction of the Magnitsky list. - RIA Novosti, 03.09.2012
The “Magnitsky list” was sent to the British Embassy in Moscow. - RBC, 02.09.2012
Anna Vvedenskaya. Ojuland on the “Magnitsky law”: the situation in Russia continues to worsen. - Day after day (dzd.ee), 11.07.2012
OSCE parliamentarians adopted the Magnitsky resolution. - RBC, 08.07.2012
Putin promises America a symmetrical response to the Magnitsky list. - Reuters, 20.06.2012
Andrey Artemov. Putin told how he would take revenge on the United States for the “Magnitsky list.” - Arguments and facts, 20.06.2012
Magnitsky’s criminal case will not be closed, but he will not be convicted. - BBC News, Russian service, 03.04.2012
The case of Browder and Magnitsky has been separated into separate proceedings. - RIA Novosti, 29.12.2011
The criminal case against the head of Hermitage Browder and Magnitsky has been separated into separate proceedings. - Interfax, 29.12.2011
The court recognized the legality of initiating a new case against Magnitsky. - RIA Novosti, 09.12.2011
The case against Magnitsky will not be closed until his loved ones agree. - BBC News, Russian service, 24.11.2011
Magnitsky's mother: judging her son after death is blasphemy. - BBC Russian Service, 05.08.2011
Vladislav Trifonov, Fedor Maksimov. Investigators are being drawn into the Magnitsky case. - Kommersant, 02.08.2011. - №140 (4681)
The Prosecutor General's Office canceled the decision to terminate the Magnitsky case. - RIA Novosti, 02.08.2011
The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not take into account the results of the report of the council under Medvedev on the case of Magnitsky’s death. - Gazeta.Ru, 02.08.2011
The investigation into the case against Magnitsky is being resumed. - BBC News, Russian service, 02.08.2011
Olesya Gerasimenko. The fate of a lawyer. - Kommersant Power, 11.07.2011. - № 27 (931)
Vladimir Shishlin. The death of Magnitsky: from beatings to torture. - Interfax, 06.07.2011
Dmitry Medvedev was presented with a list of those responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky. - Echo of Moscow, 06.07.2011
Alexander Zheglov, Viktor Khamraev. Sergei Magnitsky was simply undertreated. - Kommersant, 05.07.2011. - №120 (4661)
Death of Magnitsky: the medical unit is to blame. - Interfax, 04.07.2011
Yulia Taratuta, Alexey Nikolsky. Fabricated in Russia. - Vedomosti, 26.04.2011. - №74 (2840)
Natalia Kozlova. The Magnitsky case is not over. - Russian newspaper, 26.04.2011. - №5465 (89)
Medvedev signed the law creating the Investigative Committee. - Kommersant-Online, 29.12.2010
The European Parliament approved the resolution on the Magnitsky case. - BBC News, Russian service, 16.12.2010
Gabonese activist, Russian lawyer, and Sri Lankan journalist win Transparency International Integrity Award. - Transparency International, 12.11.2010
Ekaterina Savina. Law on the “Magnitsky list”. - Gazeta.Ru, 29.09.2010
Sergei Magnitsky was a 37-year-old tax and audit lawyer who worked for the Moscow law and auditing firm Firestone Duncan. He had a wife and two children.
Immigrant from Ukraine
Sergei was born in Odessa in 1972 and at the age of 9 he and his family moved to the south of Russia. As a child, he loved to read. During the summer holiday, when the rest of his family and friends were splashing in the sea, Sergei sat under a tree with a book. His diligence quickly gained recognition, and at the age of 15 he won the Republican Physics and Mathematics Olympiad. When he was 18 years old, he moved to Moscow and entered the prestigious Plekhanov University.
Sergey never made people feel uncomfortable, but his professional experience and knowledge were second to none. Magnitsky was philosophical, and his observations and views were insightful, interesting and complex. Sergei had a unique way of looking at things, and conversations with him were always enlightening and memorable.
He mentored a generation of auditors and tax consultants who to this day consider him their greatest mentor and look to him as a role model on both a professional and personal level.
Seeker of truth
Sergei believed in the law.
He knew how to distinguish between good and evil and was ready to defend his beliefs. When Sergei discovered that senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had appropriated his client's investment fund, the Hermitage Fund, and then stole 5.4 billion rubles from the state budget. ($230 million), he had no doubt about the correctness of his actions and immediately decided to testify.
Why did Sergei put himself in danger defending the foundation and testify against dangerous people? He did it because it was the right thing to do, he believed in the rule of law, and he was disgusted by government officials using their power to harm the people they were supposed to serve.
Arrest
Sergei testified against employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is how the Magnitsky affair began. The arrest did not take long to arrive. A little over a month later, the same officers arrested him and threw him behind bars. There they kept Sergei in intolerable and ultimately deadly conditions in an attempt to force him to retract his words and incriminate himself and his client.
As the investigator constantly told him, Magnitsky’s case would take a completely different course if he stopped drawing attention to the theft of $230 million from the Russian budget. Sergei's position was simple. These officials are the real criminals, they should sit in his place and not handle the Magnitsky case. Prison did not scare the lawyer. He had no intention of helping officials cover up his crime. If necessary, he was ready to spend his entire life in pre-trial detention, but to expose the real criminals.
Magnitsky case: death
On November 16, 2009, after spending a year in inhumane conditions of detention in which his health was completely destroyed, after several months of constant pain and suffering, when he was denied treatment, Sergei died. In his last days he was in such terrible pain that he was placed in a so-called hospital for the weekend. a “medical” isolation ward where there were no doctors or equipment.
On Monday morning, November 16, he became so ill that the doctor decided to transfer him to where he could receive emergency medical care. But investigators delayed his transfer until 5 p.m. Magnitsky was eventually transferred to another prison, where he was again denied treatment. At about 8 pm, police officers, instead of providing medical assistance and saving his life, locked him in solitary confinement, handcuffed him and beat him with rubber batons. Sergei died an hour and eighteen minutes later. All this time, the medical team was outside the door, but they were not allowed to enter.
Hand washes hand
None of Sergei's friends, relatives or colleagues could ever imagine that he would die in pre-trial detention. Everyone was stunned by his death and the impunity of Interior Ministry officials.
But something happened that probably surprised his killers. The case of Sergei Magnitsky and his death caused resonance throughout the world. People's outrage knew no bounds.
The large-scale theft reported by Sergei Magnitsky was confirmed by Russian officials, but they refused to investigate the activities of the officials who appeared in his testimony. On the contrary, the leadership deliberately brought the matter to the point of absurdity when it appointed the perpetrators to investigate their own crimes.
Sergei was an extraordinary man, one of the people Russia needs most today, and he was killed by those whom the country should have gotten rid of long ago.
How did he die?
The defendants decided to complete the Magnitsky case in their own way. Sergei’s death, according to official data, was due to acute heart failure and toxic shock caused by pancreatitis.
An investigation by the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council found that he had been severely beaten. This was confirmed by his family.
According to Browder, the owner of the Hermitage Fund, his tax lawyer was tortured and beaten in prison.
Magnitsky case: untouchable caste
A formal investigation by Russian authorities was launched in November 2009 by then-President Dmitry Medvedev, and several officials, including the deputy head of the Russian Federal Prison Administration (FSIN), were fired. Officials initially said the deaths were caused by cramped conditions and an inability to provide adequate medical care.
In June 2010, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs opened an investigation into Magnitsky's improper imprisonment, but no suspects were named.
In 2011, a prison doctor was charged with manslaughter, but the charges were later dropped. Another doctor was accused of medical negligence but was later acquitted. No other suspects were named.
In its July 2011 report, the Human Rights Council pointed out a conflict of interest in the case, since some of those whom the murdered man accused of large-scale corruption were involved in the Magnitsky case.
The investigation was closed on March 19, 2013. The Investigative Committee said Magnitsky was lawfully arrested and detained and that he was not tortured.
How did it start?
Before the scandal broke, Bill Browder and his HCM investment fund were among the largest private equity firms investing in Russia.
In 2005, after he exposed details of a large-scale corruption scheme involving many high-ranking officials, Browder's visa was revoked and he was expelled from the country as a threat to national security. Despite the ban, he continued to investigate corruption in Russia in close contact with Sergei Magnitsky.
As part of his work at HCM, the tax lawyer discovered that some Russian companies were registered under new owners, in whose favor VAT refunds were calculated with the knowledge of the tax service and the police. The Magnitsky case, the essence of which is that the government stole money from the Russian budget, showed the depth of corruption in the Russian political system.
His death prompted human rights activists and HCM to draw up the so-called. Magnitsky list, which included about 60 officials, including employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, police and tax authorities, whom the Hermitage Fund employee accused of involvement in the crime.
The height of cynicism
In 2013, 4 years after Sergei’s death, Magnitsky’s case was closed by a court decision with the admission of his guilt in tax evasion. The posthumous conviction was unprecedented in modern times, even in a country with a history of show trials.
Changes in Russian legislation in 2011 made it possible to acquit an arrested person after his death. Apparently, in the case of Sergei, it was used for the opposite purpose - to denigrate the victim.
Consequences
In December 2012, the United States passed the Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which imposed restrictions on entry into the United States, frozen assets, and prohibited transactions of those involved in the arrest, torture, and death of Sergei Magnitsky, as well as others, severely violating human rights.
As of early June 2016, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control had sanctioned 39 Russian citizens, including 33 who played a role in the Magnitsky case and six who were accused of gross human rights violations.
A current list of individuals indicating their date and place of birth can be found on the US government website sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov under the MAGNIT program.
In June 2014, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Sergei Magnitsky Global Rule of Law Accountability Act. Passed by the Senate on December 17, 2015. At the next stage, the bill must be voted on by the US House of Representatives.
In April 2014, the European Parliament issued a recommendation to the Council of Ministers to impose entry restrictions and asset freezes on 32 individuals involved in the Magnitsky case.
On 28 January 2014, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved a resolution and report entitled “Refusal to exonerate the killers of Sergei Magnitsky”, which revealed a massive cover-up involving senior government officials, the judiciary and the police, and called on Russian authorities to The Federation should stop persecuting Magnitsky's family, Hermitage Fund employees and lawyers. The document recommended that member states follow the example of the United States in adopting visa sanctions and freezing assets in the absence of an appropriate response from the Russian authorities.
In July 2012, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling on all OSCE member states to impose visa sanctions and freeze the assets of people responsible for the illegal detention, torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky and the corruption he uncovered.
Political acts around the world
Canada. On October 16, 2013, Canadian MP Irwin Cotler introduced a bill called “Condemnation of Russian Corruption,” which would impose sanctions on those responsible for the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky, with a ban on entry and stay in Canada.
Italy. In May 2012, the Italian Parliament adopted an appeal to the government calling on it to introduce visa restrictions and freeze the assets of those responsible for the Magnitsky case.
United Kingdom. In March 2012, the House of Commons unanimously called on the government to impose visa sanctions and freeze funds on Russian officials responsible for the arrest, torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky, and the subsequent cover-up of this crime.
In its report in October 2012, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee recommended that the names of those whose visas are refused on grounds of human rights abuses should be made public as a means of upholding the UK's high standards in this area.
Holland. In July 2011, the Dutch parliament unanimously adopted a decision demanding the introduction of visa sanctions and freezing the assets of those responsible for the Magnitsky case.
Response measures
Just days after the US passed the Magnitsky Act, Russia retaliated by banning Americans from adopting Russian orphans.
Another clause suspended the activities of non-profit organizations that received funds and other assets from the United States and that participated in political activities in the Russian Federation. Human rights activists in Russia were targeted.
In addition, a list of US citizens allegedly associated with violations of the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens abroad was created. The list, for example, includes Judge Jed Rakoff, who convicted the pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was involved in drug trafficking, and Preet Bharara, the main prosecutor in the case of the illegal sale of weapons by the largest “merchant of death” in the world, Russian citizen Viktor Bout, etc.
Panama Papers: Liksutov received the money
The Magnitsky case, the essence of which is that anyone who dares to speak out against employees engaged in plundering the state whose interests they are called upon to protect will be killed, showed how corruption has affected the vertical power in Russia. And the fact that 39 criminals are far from the last on the sanctions list can be seen thanks to new evidence provided by the German newspaper Süddeutschen Zeitung.
The publication connected the Magnitsky case with Deputy Mayor of Moscow Maxim Liksutov. According to a study conducted jointly with the Swiss company Sonntagszeitung, information from the so-called “Panama Papers”, which made public information about the offshore savings of more than a hundred politicians and officials from around the world, in 2012, Zibar Management transferred more than $336,000 to the account of an Estonian Transgroup Invest. At that time, Liksutov owned half of this company.
Zibar Management participated in the theft of 5.4 billion rubles from the state budget of the Russian Federation, which was committed by Russian officials using William Browder’s Hermitage Capital company they seized.
Thanks to the discovery of new facts, it becomes obvious that the Magnitsky case, whose story did not end with the death of the truth-seeker, is only the tip of a “corruption tangle” that has yet to be unraveled. Not under the current government, of course.
Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky is a Russian lawyer and auditor. He was posthumously awarded the Honor and Dignity Award by Transparency International, an international anti-corruption non-governmental organization.
Basic biographical information
S. Magnitsky was born in Odessa on April 8, 1972. He was a citizen of Russia and lived in Moscow. He was married and raised two children.
1995 – Becomes auditor for Firestone Duncan. This company was engaged in auditing and tax consulting. Magnitsky became one of the managing partners of the said company, as well as the head of the tax consulting division.
2008 – testified in the case of theft of funds from the state budget by government officials. On November 24, he was arrested and charged with facilitating tax evasion by the Hermitage Capital investment fund.
"Magnitsky case"
In 2007, the investment fund Hermitage Capital was suspected of tax evasion. All persons who provided legal and auditing services to the fund, including S. Magnitsky, revealed facts that confirmed the re-registration of these companies and the theft of state property. In October 2008, when giving evidence, Magnitsky indicated that the seized documents of a number of Hermitage companies were used to re-register the latter with new owners and illegally refund taxes, the amount of which amounted to 5.4 billion. According to Novaya Gazeta journalists, the beneficiary of this budget theft was A. . Serdyukov, who during 2004-2007. headed the Federal Tax Service.
The case against Magnitsky in 2008 was initiated by police lieutenant colonel A. Kuznetsov. The investigation was carried out by Major P. Karpov. According to documents provided by Firestone Duncan, the family of Lieutenant Colonel Kuznetsov spent $3 million over the course of 3 years, and the Karpov family spent more than $1 million.
S. Magnitsky was interrogated about 5 times. No other investigative actions were carried out with him. Nevertheless, Magnitsky more than once called himself a hostage. On July 14, 2009, Magnitsky was diagnosed with “calculous cholecystitis” (gallbladder disease) and treatment was prescribed. A week later he was transferred to Butyrka prison. On August 26, Magnitsky’s lawyers filed a petition in which they asked the investigator to facilitate an ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity for the defendant. Investigator O. Silchenko refused to satisfy the request.
Circumstances of death
Sergei Magnitsky ended his life in a pre-trial detention center hospital. At first, the pre-trial detention center administration named pancreatic necrosis as the cause of death. The death certificate stated that Magnitsky died of acute heart failure and toxic shock. In the “diagnosis” column, closed head injury and acute pancreatitis are mentioned. According to the lawyers, the death of the defendant was the result of the refusal of the administration of the pre-trial detention center to provide Magnitsky with the necessary medical care. A repeat forensic medical examination was refused.
According to further investigation, the death of the defendant was preceded by the escort of Magnitsky to a separate cell. This measure was explained by his constant complaints about poor maintenance, lack of medical care and threat to life. In 2012, the international organization Physicians for Human Rights accused the investigation of deliberately shielding people involved in the death of Magnitsky. The head of the international program of forensic medical examinations, S. Schmit, noted that in the Magnitsky case, more and more evidence of intentional medical negligence and the use of torture is being discovered.
Reaction to death
November 2009 - D. A. Medvedev instructed Prosecutor General Yu. Chaika and Minister of Justice A. Konovalov to understand the circumstances of Magnitsky’s death. On November 26, a hearing was held on the causes of his death. Deputy Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service A. Smirnov partially admitted his department’s guilt in the events that happened.
June 2010 - The Investigative Committee operating under the Russian Prosecutor's Office refused to prosecute those employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who were involved in the case of S. L. Magnitsky.
December 2010 – The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for a ban on entry into the European Union for Russian officials who have any connection to the Magnitsky case. State Duma deputies opposed this resolution.
December 2012 - the so-called “Magnitsky law” came into force in the United States, which introduced sanctions against Russian citizens involved in the death of S. Magnitsky: restrictions on entry into the United States and sanctions regarding their financial assets located in American banks.
January 2013 - The British business newspaper Financial Times called for the Magnitsky Act to be extended to EU countries.
The United States responded to the death of Sergei Magnitsky by passing a law providing for the imposition of sanctions against persons suspected of involvement in this death. But who is Magnitsky?
Activity
Magnitsky Sergei Leonidovich was born on April 8, 1972 in Odessa. A citizen of the Russian Federation living in Moscow was married, had two children, and his place of work was the consulting company Firestone Duncan. The company in which Magnitsky headed the department provided legal services to the Hermitage Capital fund. In 2007, the foundation was suspected of tax evasion; on this basis, documentation and seals were confiscated. Subsequently, Magnitsky and other persons conducting the audit revealed facts of re-registration of the fund’s companies using the seized details. Under the cover of these companies, theft of state property took place; in particular, Magnitsky pointed to an amount of 5.4 billion rubles.
Conclusion
On November 24, 2008, Magnitsky was arrested, accused of helping the head of Hermitage Capital, William Browder, evade taxes. While under investigation, Magnitsky accused a number of Russian security officials of corruption. The investigation sought from the suspect to renounce his testimony. In particular, it is known that the investigator repeatedly suggested that Magnitsky voluntarily admit his guilt and thus lighten the punishment, using the relevant norm of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In July 2009, in the pre-trial detention center, Magnitsky underwent an ultrasound examination with a diagnosis of calculous cholecystitis, and appropriate therapy was prescribed. On July 25, the suspect was transferred to another (Butyrskaya) prison; the lawyers were explained that this was done due to renovations at Magnitsky’s previous place of detention. Investigator Silchenko did not take into account the doctors’ recommendations and refused to provide Magnitsky with the necessary assistance.
Death
11 months after his arrest, Sergei Magnitsky died in the hospital of the pre-trial detention center. The first cause of his death was named pancreatic necrosis, although later the administration of the pre-trial detention center began to insist on the version of acute cardiovascular failure. Despite requests from relatives, a re-examination was refused. The death certificate states that Sergei Magnitsky died due to acute heart failure and toxic shock. The diagnosis indicated closed craniocerebral injury and acute pancreatitis. However, when the report was submitted to the court, there were no indications of a traumatic brain injury in the death report.
Lawyers claim that Magnitsky died because the administration refused to provide him with medical care. It was established that immediately before his death, eight guards transferred Sergei to a separate cell, where he was diagnosed with “psychological inadequacy.” Arriving ambulance doctors did not immediately confirm death. The international organization Physicians for Human Rights stated that representatives of the investigation destroyed samples of the deceased’s organs, thus hiding criminal traces and shielding those involved in Magnitsky’s death. Obviously, international organizations do not face the question of who Sergei Magnitsky is.
