Investigation against the suspects who may have been involved in the pretrial death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky will continue until January 2012, Russia’s top investigator Alexander Bastrykin said on Thursday.
Magnitsky was arrested and jailed without trial in November 2008 and died in police custody a year later after being denied medical care. The 37-year-old lawyer had accused tax and police officials of carrying out a $230-million tax scam.
“It [the investigation] will go on until we fully establish a circle of officials and employees of medical institutions that were directly or indirectly responsible for this death,” Bastrykin said.
In July, the Kremlin's rights body said Magnitsky's death was the result of "calculated, deliberate and inhumane neglect." A separate investigation into the doctors' involvement in the case was launched in mid-July.
Two doctors, Larisa Litvinova, the chief doctor of the Butyrka prison where the lawyer died, and Dmitry Kratov, were charged with "causing death through negligence." The date for the court hearing has not yet been announced.
In July 2011, the U.S. State Department banned visas for Russian officials over their involvement in the detention and death of Magnitsky, the so-called "Magnitsky list." The Washington Post said there were about 60 names on the list.
Moscow responded in kind, compiling its own list of 11 "undesirable" U.S. officials barred from entry to Russia. The officials are reportedly linked to the notorious Guantanamo prison.
