“Deliberate neglect and torture.” An independent medical report implicates Moscow prison authorities in the death of a Russian lawyer who accused the police of corruption.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/16758309 w=400&h=225]

Justice for Sergei – English tv-version from ICU Documentaries on Vimeo.

This is a huge story in the world, and it is definitely worth knowing about; watch this short documentary, and see and explication of the extensive corruption occurring today.  This is a breaking story, those responsible for what the physicians for human rights study determined as torture are coming closer to seeing punishment.

Please Mr. Medvedev, Mr. Putin; I beseech you to act swiftly to show that you will not tolerate this blatant corruption, abuse, torture, such vile acts.  Show that Russia is changed, that Russia can be a responsible global citizen, where other nations may not act towards justice.  Embarrasment is better than a rotten core.  Do not continue to pile cover-ups on top of injustice, become a leader, rather than a victim of intenational criminal actions.  Corruption hurts Russia, it hurts Russians, it will not remain contained in rural regions, without action rampant corruption can degrade your ability to move forward as a nation.

Sergei Magnitsky was a 37 year-old tax lawyer and auditor who worked for the Moscow legal and audit firm, Firestone Duncan. He was married and a father of two.

Sergei was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1972, and emigrated with his family at the age of 9 to Southern Russia. As a child Sergei loved to read. On family vacations, while the rest of the family and friends would be splashing in the sea, Sergei would sit under a tree with a book. His studiousness was quickly recognized and at the age of 15, he won the Republican Physics and Mathematics Olympiad. When he was 18, he moved to Moscow and attended the prestigious Plekhanov Institute.

The “Russian Untouchables” page collecting videos on Mr. Magnitsky’s murder is a great source for clips on the topic.

To learn more about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky please read below

• Sergei Magnitsky
  • Why was Sergei Magnitsky arrested?
  • Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison
  • President’s investigation sabotaged and going nowhere
  • The corrupt officers attempt to arrest 8 lawyers
  • Past crimes committed by the same corrupt officers
  • Petitions requesting a real investigation into Magnitsky’s death
  • Worldwide reaction, calls to punish those responsible for corruption and murder
  • Complaints against Lt.Col. Kuznetsov
  • Complaints against Major Karpov
  • Cover up
  • Press about Magnitsky
  • Bloggers about Magnitsky

The death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, a young Russian lawyer, remains one of the darkest scandals in the blotchy history of Russia‘s criminal justice system. One year on, this HD documentary brings the full details of his tragic story to light.

“Conditions were terrible. In one of the cells the toilet broke and flooded the room with sewage. A mentally ill person would sleep with the prisoners some nights.” These were the conditions in which Sergei lived out his last days in Butyrka Prison in Moscow. After making 450 official complaints about his treatment, and suffering the constant stabbing pains of Pancreatitis, his investigator ‘Silchenko’ tightens the screws – issuing a file stating that Sergei had already been medically treated. “There is a clear feeling he had been put in such conditions, which could bring him to death”, says the independent watchdog who investigated Sergei’s case.

“This is my country and I don’t want such things to happen here. Such lawlessness- I will fight it.” Sergei’s story begins with twenty plain-clothes government officials storming the offices of three Hermitage Fund companies and seizing hundreds of official documents. Investigating the incident, company lawyer Sergei discovered the largest tax fraud in Russian history; $230 million of tax refund – the exact amount the Hermitage Fund companies had paid in taxes the year before – had turned up in the bank accounts of the government officials. When the officials started threatening the company’s lawyers with criminal action, head of Hermitage, Bill Browder said: “‘This isn’t worth it. Get out of harm’s way'”.

Yet Sergei would not be silenced. He testified against the officials, and was immediately thrown into pre-trial detention, without bail, trial, or phone contact with his family. According to the wife of one of Sergei’s cell mates, prisoners were told to inflict “humiliation and beatings” upon Sergei to try to get him to withdraw his confession. And though we hear a confident and well-prepared Sergei in the recordings of his first hearing, his arguments were ignored.”You wanted to scream at the prosecutor who laughed and told jokes whilst [Sergei] spoke”, cries Sergei’s aunt.

“The pain was so intense I couldn’t lie down” Sergei writes in August 2009, “the guard promised to call a doctor, but no doctor arrived”. As Sergei’s health deteriorated rapidly, his investigator Silchenko offered him a deal: ‘testify against Hermitage and go free’. At his second trial, his mother and aunt noticed an extreme physical change in Sergei “he looked exhausted, but he still smiled”. It took only fifteen minutes for Judge Stashina to extend his detention. His heartbroken family left him chained to a radiator in a hallway. Four days later he died. “The death of Sergei showed that there was something severely wrong in Russia”, says his friend Vladimir, “we must acknowledge this, and do something to change it”.

After global outrage at the death of Sergei Magnitsky, Russian President Medvedev ordered an investigation. One year later not a single person has been indicted or charged. All of the Russian officials involved denied an interview.

Russian Untouchables. Episode 1: Artem Kuznetsov

Russian Untouchables. Episode 2: Pavel Karpov

Russian Untouchables. Episode 3. Olga Stepanova.

The Physicians for Human Rights have recently released a report that is the culmination of in depth examination of the facts in the Magnitsky case.

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To date, no one has been charged or prosecuted in Russia. Russian investigations have concluded that sudden heart failure caused Mr. Magnitsky’s death.

On April 15, 2011 U.S. Representative James McGovern (D-MA), helped introduce “The Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act (H.R. 1575) to “make certain individuals ineligible for visas or admission to the United States and to revoke visas and other entry documents previously issued to such individuals, and to impose certain financial measures on such individuals, until the Russian Federation has thoroughly investigated the death of Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky and brought the Russian criminal justice system into compliance with international legal standards, and for other purposes.”

Speaking from the floor of the House of Representatives, Rep. McGovern said, “In the absence of a formal and independent investigation into his death, the exact circumstances leading to his death remain shrouded under a veil of government secrecy.”

On July 13, 2011 President Obama met with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and discussed issues of democracy and human rights, including the tragedy surrounding the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

In the fourth medical study of the case released in early July 2011, official Russian experts admitted that inadequate medical care had a cause and effect relationship on Mr. Magnitsky’s death. However, the investigation ignored significant findings about the continuously worsening and cruel conditions Mr. Magnitsky endured. During Mr. Magnitsky’s final hours, he did not receive any necessary medical attention.

A team of PHR forensic experts reviewed official documents made available through the victim’s mother. Our report Our report concludes that:

• Mr. Magnitsky suffered prolonged severe pain, was denied regular contact with his family, denied medical evaluations for his complaints, fed meals irregularly, and kept under inhumane conditions.
• The official Russian autopsy protocol (on which all subsequent Russian medical studies were based) was inconsistent with best international practice and deviated significantly from standard US protocols.
• Tissues from injuries found on Magnitsky’s body after his death were not removed during the autopsy and their forensic analysis has not been carried out.

In June 2011, a lawyer for Mr. Magnitsky’s family filed a lawsuit demanding release of the tissue samples to the family for an independent study. A hearing is set for July 19, 2011. PHR has agreed to examine tissue samples from Mr. Magnitsky if the government releases them and Mr. Magnitsky’s mother provides them to the organization.

Download the Report (pdf)

PHR’s Forensic Experts:

• Robert Bux, MD
• Stefan Schmitt, Director of the International Forensic Program

Press Coverage:

• Sergei Magnitsky: Russian officials named as suspects (BBC – 07/18/2011)
• Doctors’ NGO Says Magnitsky’s Death Documentation Incomplete (Radio Free Europe – 07/21/2011)
• Jail Officials Targeted Over Magnitsky (The Moscow Times – 07/19/2011)
• Criminal case against Magnitsky docs (The Moscow News – 07/18/2011)

-http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/breakingviews-us-gets-serious-on-russian-mega-corruption-case/

-http://russian-untouchables.com/eng/2011/06/empty-words/

-http://russian-untouchables.com/eng/2010/12/is-russia-a-mafia-state/

-http://www.economist.com/node/21013016

-http://www.youtube.com/user/RussianUntouchables#p/u

Related articles

• Prison doctors charged with causing Magnitsky’s death (rt.com)
• Sergei Magnitsky case: its down to Dmitry Medvedev to act (telegraph.co.uk)
• US ‘slaps travel ban on Russian officials implicated in Sergei Magnitsky death’ (telegraph.co.uk)
• Russia resurrects criminal investigation against whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky (telegraph.co.uk)
• Russia launches two criminal cases into Magnitsky’s death (rt.com)