Sergei Magnitsky
Encyclopedia
Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky was a Russia
n attorney
whose death in police custody generated international media attention and launched an investigation into allegations of abuse. 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. In total, Magnitsky served 358 days in prison. In December 2010, British human rights organization Redress
filed a 100-page report to United Nations
special rapporteurs on human rights. The Economist
calls Magnitsky's torture and killing "gruesome." His case has become an international cause célèbre
.
on trumped-up (as Western press claims) charges of tax evasion
and tax fraud. He was a specialist in civil law.
Over the years of its operation, Hermitage had supplied information to the press on a number of occasions related to corporate and governmental misconduct in alleged corruption within state-owned Russian enterprises. Company co-founder Bill Browder was soon expelled from Russia as a national threat, though Browder himself has indicated that he represented only a threat "to corrupt politicians and bureaucrats", believing that the ouster was conducted to leave his company open for exploitation. In November 2005, Browder arrived in Moscow to be told his visa had been annulled. He was deported the next day and has not seen his Moscow home for 10 years.
In June 4, 2007, Hermitage's office was raided by the police. The offices of Firestone Duncan, Hermitage's law firm, were also raided. In both cases, tax documents were stolen. In October 2007, Browder received word that one of the firms maintained in Moscow had a judgement against it for an alleged unpaid debt. This was the first Browder had heard of it, according to him.
. In spite of the initial dismissal of his claims, Magnitsky's core allegation that Hermitage had not committed fraud but had been victimized by it would eventually be validated when a sawmill foreman pled guilty in the matter to "fraud by prior collusion", though the foreman would maintain that police were not part of the plan. Before then, however, Magnitsky had himself been brought under investigation by one of the policemen he had testified was behind the fraud. According to Browder, Sergei was "the 'go to guy' in Moscow on courts, taxes, fines, anything to do with civil law."
According to Magnitsky's investigation, the documents that had been stolen in June 2007 were used to forge a change in ownership. The thieves then used forged contracts to claim Hermitage owed $1 billion to shell companies. Unbeknownst to Hermitage, those claims were later authenticated by judges. In every instance, lawyers unknown to Hermitage pled guilty on the organizations behalf.
The new owner, based in Tatarstan
, turned out to be Viktor Markelov, a convicted murderer released only two years into his sentence. The company's fake debt was then used to claim a tax break of $230 million, issued Christmas Eve of 2008. It became the largest tax rebate in Russian history.
Hermitage contacted the Russian government with the investigation's findings. The money, which was not Hermitage's, belonged to the Russian people. Rather than Magnitsky, the Russian authorities opened a criminal case against Hermitage.
, "denied visits from his family" and "forced into increasingly squalid cells." He developed gall stones, pancreatitis
and calculous cholecystitis
, for which he was given inadequate medical treatment during his incarceration. 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."
On November 16, 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. 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. 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. He was found dead in his cell a little over two hours later.
Journalist Owen Matthews described his suffering in Moscow's notorious prison, Butyrka.
An independent investigatory body, the Moscow Public Oversight Commission, indicated in December 2009 that "psychological and physical pressure was exerted upon" Magnitsky. 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."
An official investigation was ordered in November 2009 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
. 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. 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. 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. Mikhalkin was among those accused by Magnitsky of taking part in fraud.
Opalesque.TV released a video on February 8, 2010, in which Hermitage Capital Management founder Bill Browder revealed details of Sergey Magnitzky's ordeal during his eleven months in detention, while the Russian Untouchables group prepared a film Russian Untouchables. Episode 1: Artem Kuznetsov about his prosecutors. On 25 June 2010 radio-station Echo of Moscow
announced that Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Department for Own Security started investigations against Lieutenant Colonel
Artyom Kuznetsov, who has been accused of improper imprisonment of Magnitsky. The investigation was in response to appeal by the Hermitage Capital Management and United States Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton
. In February 2011, the investigation, which had not yet identified any suspects, was extended to May.
In November 2010, Magnitsky was given a posthumous award from Transparency International
award for integrity. Magnitsky, according to the wards committee, "believed in the rule of law and died for his belief." A film produced to highlight Magnitsky's persecution has been shown before in Canadian, German, Estonian, Polish, British, and European parliaments and the American congress. Hermitage's CEO, Bill Browder, created the film to help persuade foreign governments to issue a visa ban on sixty individuals believed to be involved in the scandal and cover up.
In July 2011, Russia’s Investigate Committee for the first time acknowledged that Mr. Magnitsky died because prison authorities restricted medical care for him. Russian authorities also opened criminal cases against the two doctors who treated him, Dr. Larisa Litvinova who managed his treatment towards the end and Dr. Dmitri Kratov who was the chief medical officer at Butyrskaya Prison. Dr. Kratov was demoted soon after Mr. Magnitsky’s death. Dr. Litvinova can get up to three years of prison, if convicted of causing death through professional negligence; while Dr. Kratov was charged with involuntary manslaughter from negligence and is facing five years in prison. An independent prison watchdog commission reported that prison doctors were pressured by investigators to deny treatment, and Dr. Litvinova disclosed to the Public Oversight Commission that she was trying to get approval for Mr. Magnitsky’s treatment. However, investigators looking into the death of Mr. Magnitsky cleared Oleg F. Silchenko, who oversaw the investigation of Mr. Magnitsky, of any wrongdoing.
calling for 60 officials believed to be connected to Magnitsky's death to be banned from entering the European Union
and the Parliament of Canada
resolving to deny visas to and freeze the Canadian assets of allegedly involved officials. The EU Parliament has also urged members to freeze assets of officials, while similar measures are under consideration in the United States. There, in October 2010, Senator John S. McCain co-sponsored the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act, which would forbid entry to the U.S. to 60 individuals named in court documents related to the Magnitsky case. McCain says the law will help to "identify those responsible for the death of this Russian patriot, to make their names famous for the whole world to know, and then to hold them accountable for their crimes." The law is considered analogous to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 in the precedent it hopes to create. In July 2011, the U.S. revealed that dozens of Russian officials were barred from entering the U.S. for their possible involvement in the detention of Mr. Magnitsky.
The Russian Foreign Ministry described the Canadian resolution as "an attempt to pressure the investigators and interfere in the internal affairs of another state", while in a November statement the head of the lower house's
international committee Konstantin Kosachyov criticized the European Parliament's conclusions, indicating that sanctions violated the "presumption of innocence
" principle and should wait the resolution of the Russian court. Bloomberg
reported in December that, according to an Interfax story, "identical measures" would be taken by Russia if a European Union ban was effected. In mid-December, the European Parliament passed the resolution allowing the officials to be banned by member states and their assets to be seized.
In January 2011, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture
, Juan E. Méndez, opened an investigation into Magnitsky's treatment and death.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n attorney
Attorney at law
An attorney at law in the United States is a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court on the retainer of clients. Alternative terms include counselor and lawyer...
whose death in police custody generated international media attention and launched an investigation into allegations of abuse. 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. In total, Magnitsky served 358 days in prison. In December 2010, British human rights organization Redress
Redress (charitable organisation)
Redress, or The Redress Trust is a human rights organisation based in London, England that helps survivors of torture to obtain justice and reparation, in the form of compensation, rehabilitation, official acknowledgement of the wrong and formal apologies...
filed a 100-page report to United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
special rapporteurs on human rights. The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
calls Magnitsky's torture and killing "gruesome." His case has become an international cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
.
Background
Magnitsky was a Firestone Duncan attorney representing a UK-based investment advisory firm Hermitage Capital ManagementHermitage Capital Management
Hermitage Capital Management is an investment fund and asset management company specializing in Russian markets founded by Bill Browder and Edmond Safra...
on trumped-up (as Western press claims) charges of tax evasion
Tax evasion
Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...
and tax fraud. He was a specialist in civil law.
Over the years of its operation, Hermitage had supplied information to the press on a number of occasions related to corporate and governmental misconduct in alleged corruption within state-owned Russian enterprises. Company co-founder Bill Browder was soon expelled from Russia as a national threat, though Browder himself has indicated that he represented only a threat "to corrupt politicians and bureaucrats", believing that the ouster was conducted to leave his company open for exploitation. In November 2005, Browder arrived in Moscow to be told his visa had been annulled. He was deported the next day and has not seen his Moscow home for 10 years.
In June 4, 2007, Hermitage's office was raided by the police. The offices of Firestone Duncan, Hermitage's law firm, were also raided. In both cases, tax documents were stolen. In October 2007, Browder received word that one of the firms maintained in Moscow had a judgement against it for an alleged unpaid debt. This was the first Browder had heard of it, according to him.
Exposing of Scandal
In his investigations into the charges against Hermitage, Firestone Duncan attorney, Magnitsky came to believe that tax fraud had been perpetuated, but not by Hermitage: evidence he discovered suggested a group of conspirators had stolen the seals and documents of Hermitage and used them to fraudulently reclaim $230m (£140m) of Hermitage's taxes. Magnitsky's testimony implicated police, the judiciary, tax officials, bankers and the Russian mafiaRussian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
. In spite of the initial dismissal of his claims, Magnitsky's core allegation that Hermitage had not committed fraud but had been victimized by it would eventually be validated when a sawmill foreman pled guilty in the matter to "fraud by prior collusion", though the foreman would maintain that police were not part of the plan. Before then, however, Magnitsky had himself been brought under investigation by one of the policemen he had testified was behind the fraud. According to Browder, Sergei was "the 'go to guy' in Moscow on courts, taxes, fines, anything to do with civil law."
According to Magnitsky's investigation, the documents that had been stolen in June 2007 were used to forge a change in ownership. The thieves then used forged contracts to claim Hermitage owed $1 billion to shell companies. Unbeknownst to Hermitage, those claims were later authenticated by judges. In every instance, lawyers unknown to Hermitage pled guilty on the organizations behalf.
The new owner, based in Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...
, turned out to be Viktor Markelov, a convicted murderer released only two years into his sentence. The company's fake debt was then used to claim a tax break of $230 million, issued Christmas Eve of 2008. It became the largest tax rebate in Russian history.
Hermitage contacted the Russian government with the investigation's findings. The money, which was not Hermitage's, belonged to the Russian people. Rather than Magnitsky, the Russian authorities opened a criminal case against Hermitage.
Illness and death
Magnitsky was arrested and imprisoned at the Butyrka prison in Moscow in November 2008 after being accused of colluding with Hermitage. Held for 11 months without trial, he was, as reported by The TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, "denied visits from his family" and "forced into increasingly squalid cells." He developed gall stones, pancreatitis
Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas. It occurs when pancreatic enzymes that digest food are activated in the pancreas instead of the small intestine. It may be acute – beginning suddenly and lasting a few days, or chronic – occurring over many years...
and calculous cholecystitis
Cholecystitis
-Signs and symptoms:Cholecystitis usually presents as a pain in the right upper quadrant. This is known as biliary colic. This is initially intermittent, but later usually presents as a constant, severe pain. During the initial stages, the pain may be felt in an area totally separate from the site...
, for which he was given inadequate medical treatment during his incarceration. 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."
On November 16, 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. 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. 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. He was found dead in his cell a little over two hours later.
Journalist Owen Matthews described his suffering in Moscow's notorious prison, Butyrka.
According to [Magnitsky's] heartbreaking prison diary, investigators repeatedly tried to persuade him to give testimony against Hermitage and drop the accusations against the police and tax authorities. When Magnitsky refused, he was moved to more and more horrible sections of the prison, and ultimately denied the medical treatment which could have saved his life.
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."An independent investigatory body, the Moscow Public Oversight Commission, indicated in December 2009 that "psychological and physical pressure was exerted upon" Magnitsky. 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."
An official investigation was ordered in November 2009 by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
. 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. 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. 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. Mikhalkin was among those accused by Magnitsky of taking part in fraud.
Opalesque.TV released a video on February 8, 2010, in which Hermitage Capital Management founder Bill Browder revealed details of Sergey Magnitzky's ordeal during his eleven months in detention, while the Russian Untouchables group prepared a film Russian Untouchables. Episode 1: Artem Kuznetsov about his prosecutors. On 25 June 2010 radio-station Echo of Moscow
Echo of Moscow
Echo of Moscow is a Russian radio station based in Moscow, broadcasting in many Russian cities, in some of the former-Soviet republics , and via the Internet, which some observers describe as "the last bastion of free media in Russia"...
announced that Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Department for Own Security started investigations against Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Artyom Kuznetsov, who has been accused of improper imprisonment of Magnitsky. The investigation was in response to appeal by the Hermitage Capital Management and United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
. In February 2011, the investigation, which had not yet identified any suspects, was extended to May.
In November 2010, Magnitsky was given a posthumous award from Transparency International
Transparency International
Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...
award for integrity. Magnitsky, according to the wards committee, "believed in the rule of law and died for his belief." A film produced to highlight Magnitsky's persecution has been shown before in Canadian, German, Estonian, Polish, British, and European parliaments and the American congress. Hermitage's CEO, Bill Browder, created the film to help persuade foreign governments to issue a visa ban on sixty individuals believed to be involved in the scandal and cover up.
In July 2011, Russia’s Investigate Committee for the first time acknowledged that Mr. Magnitsky died because prison authorities restricted medical care for him. Russian authorities also opened criminal cases against the two doctors who treated him, Dr. Larisa Litvinova who managed his treatment towards the end and Dr. Dmitri Kratov who was the chief medical officer at Butyrskaya Prison. Dr. Kratov was demoted soon after Mr. Magnitsky’s death. Dr. Litvinova can get up to three years of prison, if convicted of causing death through professional negligence; while Dr. Kratov was charged with involuntary manslaughter from negligence and is facing five years in prison. An independent prison watchdog commission reported that prison doctors were pressured by investigators to deny treatment, and Dr. Litvinova disclosed to the Public Oversight Commission that she was trying to get approval for Mr. Magnitsky’s treatment. However, investigators looking into the death of Mr. Magnitsky cleared Oleg F. Silchenko, who oversaw the investigation of Mr. Magnitsky, of any wrongdoing.
Increasing international tension
In late 2010, international attention to the matter intensified, with the European ParliamentEuropean Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
calling for 60 officials believed to be connected to Magnitsky's death to be banned from entering the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and the Parliament of Canada
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
resolving to deny visas to and freeze the Canadian assets of allegedly involved officials. The EU Parliament has also urged members to freeze assets of officials, while similar measures are under consideration in the United States. There, in October 2010, Senator John S. McCain co-sponsored the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act, which would forbid entry to the U.S. to 60 individuals named in court documents related to the Magnitsky case. McCain says the law will help to "identify those responsible for the death of this Russian patriot, to make their names famous for the whole world to know, and then to hold them accountable for their crimes." The law is considered analogous to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 in the precedent it hopes to create. In July 2011, the U.S. revealed that dozens of Russian officials were barred from entering the U.S. for their possible involvement in the detention of Mr. Magnitsky.
The Russian Foreign Ministry described the Canadian resolution as "an attempt to pressure the investigators and interfere in the internal affairs of another state", while in a November statement the head of the lower house's
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
international committee Konstantin Kosachyov criticized the European Parliament's conclusions, indicating that sanctions violated the "presumption of innocence
Presumption of innocence
The presumption of innocence, sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat, is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. Application of this principle is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial, recognised in many...
" principle and should wait the resolution of the Russian court. Bloomberg
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
reported in December that, according to an Interfax story, "identical measures" would be taken by Russia if a European Union ban was effected. In mid-December, the European Parliament passed the resolution allowing the officials to be banned by member states and their assets to be seized.
In January 2011, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, Juan E. Méndez, opened an investigation into Magnitsky's treatment and death.
External links
- Who was Sergei Magnitsky?, profile on russian-untouchables.com
- Investigation of Serget Magnitsky death by the Council to the President of Russia
- Суть времени №28 ("The essence of the time #28", in Russian). Famous Russian politologist Sergei Kurginyan sets out his version of the deep roots of Sergei Magnitsky case: Kurginyan explores Magnitsky's case ties with transnational finance structures of the late 1990s and present; Magnitsky's case ties with the financial "jobbery" of Russian default times (1998) by Bill Browder and Edmond J. Safra; Magnitsky's case ties with present scenario of "orange revolution" being prepared for Russia (Stanislav Belkovsky, Alexey Navalny, Yungers, Karaganov, Gene Sharp).