The mother of Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian lawyer who died in remand prison in 2009, has applied to a Moscow district city court for the names of the twelve prosecutors overseeing the investigation into her son’s detention and death be revealed, the press service of Hermitage Capital said on Tuesday.
“The claim filed by Natalia Magnitskaya’s lawyer says that for more than a year Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office has not been telling her whom the group of prosecutors overseeing the case of her son involves and what decisions these people have taken,” a press release prepared by Hermitage Capital said in Russian.
“The complaint also says that Russian law binds the General Prosecutor’s Office to act openly, securing the rights and the freedoms of citizens, other than acting in respect of secrets of state,” the text of the press release read.
RIA Novosti asked the Prosecutor General’s office for comment but it was not immediately available.
Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer who worked with the Hermitage Capital investment fund, was arrested on tax evasion charges in November 2008, just days after accusing police investigators in a $230 million tax refund fraud, and died after almost a year in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow.
A probe into his death revealed that the lawyer, who was suffering from untreated pancreatitis and a heart condition, did not receive proper medical treatment. Rights activists pointed to multiple violations of the lawyer’s rights during his arrest and detention, including signs that he was beaten by prison guards hours before his death.
The U.S. State Department issued visa bans on several dozen Russian officials in connection to the Magnitsky case in July 2011. In response, Russia has imposed travel bans on several U.S. officials.
The Magnitsky case, along with the Jackson-Vanik amendment and the rift over the Syrian crisis, is a major stumbling block in the “reset” of U.S.-Russian relations.
