14 April 2016 – Last night, the Kremlin’s main TV propaganda channel, Rossiya-1, distributed a video showing fake documents claiming that the CIA had organised the withholding of medical care to Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian detention center to cause his death. To support this claim, the TV channel showed a CIA report dated 20 September 2009, which according to one of the program’s participants, was authenticated in a forensic report by a UK company headed by a senior ex MI-6 agent.
“The Kremlin’s propaganda is in contradiction with all official Russian documents describing the torturous conditions that had been created by Russian authorities for Sergei Magnitsky during his 358 days in detention and the fact that senior officials in the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office refused his written requests for medical attention,” said a representative of Magnitsky Justice Campaign.
As a result of his mistreatment for the first six months in detention, Sergei Magnitsky lost nearly 20 kg, and developed pancreatitis and gallstones, which were diagnosed on 1 July 2009, as shown by reply from Matrosskaya Tishina detention center (http://russian-untouchables.com/docs/D05.pdf). He was prescribed surgery. But one week before the scheduled surgery, Sergei Magnitsky was moved to a new detention center, Butyrka, which did not have any medical facilities. The decision was sanctioned by Russian Interior Ministry investigator Silchenko and serving head of the Russian Penitentiary System Petrukhin. All requests from Sergei Magnitsky and his lawyers for medical care were refused by officials from the Interior Ministry, General Prosecutor’s Office, detention system, and judges (see The Torture and Murder of Sergei Magnitsky report – http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/P01E.pdf).
In May 2009, the Council of Europe’s Rapporteur asked Russian General Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the torturous conditions Sergei Magnitsky was subjected to in detention. She received an official response that Sergei Magnitsky had not been arrested and that the named police officer did not work in the Russian Interior Ministry. The UK Law Society wrote to Russian General Prosecutor Chaika in July 2009 urging him to release Sergei Magnitsky from custody. In October 2009, General Prosecutor’s Office responded that there was no need to intervene, and that there was no violation of his rights in custody.
On 16 November 2009, after nearly 12 months in custody Sergei Magnitsky was moved from Byturka to Matrosskaya Tishina, allegedly for hospitalisation. But instead of being admitted to the hospital, Sergei Magnitsky was put in an isolation cell and beaten by eight guards. Civilian doctors were not let into his cell until he was dead. In spite of an application from Sergei Magnitsky’s mother to bring to justice over 50 officials from the General Prosecutor’s Office, Interior Ministry, FSB and Penitentiary System for the murder of her son, the Russian Investigative Committee closed the case into his death claiming absence of crime.
The journalist behind yesterday’s fake “evidence” on the alleged CIA Plot to kill Sergei Magnitsky is Evgeniy Popov, who works for Rossiya-1, and has been sanctioned by Ukraine for his role in the disinformation campaign about the war in Ukraine. Earlier in April, Evgeniy Popov travelled to London to obtain a video footage of William Browder’s office there. Police had to be called in because of disruption he caused.
For more information please contact:
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
+44 207 440 1777
e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
