PRESS RELEASE

10 July 2013 – Today, at the Tverskoi district court in Moscow, judge Igor Alisov, is expected to find Sergei Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion in the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history. It is also expected that judge Alisov will find William Browder guilty of the same crimes in absentia. The proceedings against Magnitsky and Browder have been condemned around the world as illegitimate, politically motivated andincompatible with international and Russian law.

“This show trial confirms that Vladimir Putin is ready to sacrifice hisinternational credibility to protect corrupt officials who murdered an innocent lawyer and stole $230 million from the Russian state,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

The motivation for the posthumous trial has been to cover-up the complicity of Russian tax officials, police officers and judges in the largest tax theft in the history of Russia.

In June 2007, police officers raided the offices of Hermitage and its law firm and seized corporate documents that were then used by corrupt officials and criminals to steal $230 million from the Russian state. Hermitage complained to the Russian authorities in December 2007 about the involvement of Interior Ministry officers in the crime. Two months later, some of the same officers opened a retaliatory criminal case againstMr Browder. In June and October 2008, Sergei Magnitsky testified to the Russian authorities about the involvement of the same Interior Ministry officers in the theft. Shortly thereafter, he was added to the same criminal case as Browder and arrested. In pre-trial detention, Sergei Magnitsky was held for 358 days, denied medical care, family visits, access to clean and hot water, and sleep, in order to force him to retract his testimony. He refused and was subsequently beaten by riot guards with rubber batons, until he was found dead on the cell floor on November 16th 2009.

In response to the impunity of all the Russian officials involved in SergeiMagnitsky’s false arrest, torture and death, the US Congress passed thethe Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which imposes visa and financial sanctions on all the Russian officials involved in the ill-treatment and death of Mr Magnitsky and in other gross human rightsabuses in Russia. In July 2012, the OSCE Parliamentary Assemblypassed the Magnitsky Resolution calling on all OSCE countries to impose similar sanctions as the US. In June 2013, the Rapporteur to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued a report on the Magnitsky case in which he found the allegations by the Russian government to be legally and factually unfounded.

Specifically the Rapporteur to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe found that:

“The detailed and well-documented replies received have gone a long way to convince us that Hermitage did not violate the law. This was also confirmed by an audit carried out by the competent tax authorities…“

He went on to say that the case couldn’t be tried because the statute of limitations had already elapsed:

 

“Legal pursuits for any tax underpayments concerning 2001 would also appear to be time-barred…Consequently, the formal indictments dated 22 March 2013 and the posthumous trial against Sergei Magnitsky and the trial in absentia against Bill Browder appear to violate Russian law.”

Lawyers for Mr Browder have identified numerous violations of the law and falsifications in the criminal case file. After they filed a series of complaints against the Russian authorities detailing the falsifications, the Russian court denied them any further access to case files, thereby preventing them from fulfilling their professional duties. Subsequentlystate-funded lawyers were appointed for the posthumous trial to create an impression of a legal representation.

For further information, please see:

Law and Order in Russia

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – A Russian journalist was shot dead outside of Mackhachkala, the capital of the violent Russian Republic of Dagestan, on Tuesday.

Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, deputy editor for the local newspaper Novoe Delo and a contributor to Kavkazky Uzel, an online news publisher, was fired on while in his car just outside of his house at about 7:00AM local time.

While no particular motive or any specific articles authored by Akhmednabiyev are currently tied to the murder, the Investigative Committee has stated the “most likely version is that Akhmednabiyev’s murder is linked to his professional activities.”

Akhmednabiyev was notorious for accusing local authorities of persecuting and kidnapping Muslims in an extrajudicial manner. He also regularly reported on human rights violations during counterterrorism operations. According to Khadzhimurad Sagitov, editor in chief of Novoe Delo, Akhmednabiyev regularly received threatening phone calls and text messages from anonymous sources.

“We expected this… We knew that if not today, then it would happen tomorrow, or the next day,” Sagitov stated.

Russia is widely considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, as 55 assassinations of individuals in the media have been confirmed since 1992. Just last month, a preliminary hearing was held in Moscow for the trial of five men charged with the murder of prominent investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was similarly gunned down near her apartment back in 2006.

The North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan is viewed as a particularly perilous region for journalists, as Akhmednabiyev is the 17^th journalist to be killed in the region since 1993. The region has reportedly seen continuing low-level Islamist insurgency, high levels of organized crime, and regional corruption.

In 2009, Akhmednabiyev’s name was included on a “hit-list” of individuals that were being targeted allegedly as revenge for the deaths of security forces and civilians. The list was distributed on leaflets in Mackhachkala.

Another journalist included on the list, Khadzhimurad Kamalov, the founder of the Chernovik newspaper, was shot to death outside the newspaper’s office in Mackhachkala in 2011.

Akhmednabiyev survived an assassination attempt earlier this year, when his car had been shot at in a similar fashion to the incident Tuesday, but the police only investigated property damage in that case.

“He said that he will remain here, no matter what. I think he understood something like this could happen to him,” Sagitov stated.

Hundreds of mourners carried Akhmednabiyev’s body in a procession from a mosque to a local cemetery in Mackhachkala on Tuesday.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Journalist Shot Dead in Russia’s Dagestan – 9 July 2013

The Independent – Russia: Journalist Murdered in Dagestan – 9 July 2013

New York Times – Journalist Assassinated in Violent Russian Republic – 9 July 2013

Reuters – Journalist Shot Dead in Russia’s Dagestan Province – 9 July 2013

RIA Novosti – Journalist Gunned Down in Dagestan – 9 July 2013

Impunity Watch – Five Defendants in Russian Journalist’s Murder Are Granted Jury Trial – 4 June 2013

Impunity Watch – Human Rights Watch Researcher’s Life Threatened – 8 October 2012

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine – In response to public outrage over the alleged rape of a woman by two policemen, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych promised that people in privileged positions will not escape justice.

On 26 June 2013, two police officers allegedly raped Irina Krashova on her way home. The 29-year-old mother received a fractured skull, cuts and bruises. Krashova provided a clear statement that identified her attackers. However, the first arrest took place four days later, and an accused officer remained free for much longer after claiming he was on duty.

“This is not true,” Krashova said. “I know 100 percent that he was there. Because he was the first to rape me; he beat me and called me all kinds of names.”

On 1 July, a police officer was released from pretrial detention. In response, 1000 protestors stormed a police station with Molotov cocktails. Police fought the protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Locals allege that, to produce better statistics, the initial investigators beat confessions out of innocent people.

Ukrainians are deeply frustrated with official corruption and a sense that the police and state officials sit above the law. Last year, a teenage girl was raped and set on fire in Krashova’s region. Protests were sparked after Ukrainians learned that two released suspects were the children of former government officials.

Many Ukrainians still believe the ruling elite dictates what constitutes justice. At the hospital where Krashova was treated, senior medical officials pressured professionals to falsify her medical records, downplay her injuries, and question her lifestyle. Public outrage intensified upon allegations that senior police officials also attempted to hide key evidence.

Since the protest, three suspects have been arrested, including two police officers.

“I will not tolerate impunity, especially when it comes to those who should protect people and not violate any laws,” President Yanukovych announced. “Those who are guilty have no place in law enforcement. They should be punished with all the rigour of the law.”

By 4 July, Yanukovych appointed Olena Lukash as the new justice minister. Lukash replaces Oleksandr Lavrynovych, who was recently elected as a member of the Supreme Council of Justice of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko fired a public prosecutor and two senior regional police officers. However, he offered no apology to the victim’s family.

Investigators believe Krashova’s case could assist several unsolved crimes in the Vradiyevka district. Thus far, investigators have arrested the deputy head of the regional police in connection with the Krashova case as well as four other murders over the past three years, including the murder of a 15-year-old girl.

While protests for Krashova initiated a stronger investigation, one wonders how long President Yanukovych’s promise will last, or if instead the promise will both last and spread to other regions of the country.

For further information, please see:

Scotsman – Rape Claims against Ukranian Police Lead to Riots – 5 July 2013

RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty – Ukrainian President Appoints New Justice Minister – 4 July 2013

Euro News – Ukraine: Two Police Officers Named as Suspects in Rape Case – 3 July 2013

InSerbia News – Ukraine: Policeman Accused of Raping 29-year-old Woman Staying in Jail – 3 July 2013

RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty – Ukrainian Policeman Suspected in High-Profile Rape Case Arrested – 3 July 2013

RT News – ‘I wanted to die’: Police Gang Rape Case Ignites Ukraine – 3 July 2013

RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty — Ukrainian Protesters Demand Justice for Rape Victim – 2 July 2013

PRESS RELEASE

3 July 2013 – Today, the Russian prosecutor has asked the Tverskoi court in Moscow to declare that Sergei Magnitsky was guilty and that he should be refused rehabilitation. The request was made during the last session of the trial of Sergei Magnitsky who has been deceased for three and a half years after being tortured and killed in police custody.

The prosecutor asked the court not to apply any punishment to Sergei Magnitsky, and to cease the case with the verdict of guilty and no chance of future rehabilitation.

“Magnitsky is fully incriminated, and there are no grounds for his rehabilitation,” said prosecutor according to Interfax news agency (http://www.interfax.ru/russia/txt.asp?id=316392).

“We are witnessing a Kafka show trial in real time,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

The court will announce its decision next week, on 11 July. The presiding judge in the Tverskoi District Court in Moscow is Igor Alisov, the same judge who refused in 2011 to hear the application from Sergei Magnitsky’s mother who challenged the posthumous proceeding against her son as immoral and being contrary to the Russian Constitution. Magnitsky’s mother has since received a letter from the Constitutional Court which reiterated that the posthumous proceedings are only allowed at the relatives’ request and only for the purpose of rehabilitation. In this case, the posthumous trial was initiated by the prosecutor’s office against the will of Magnitsky’s family.

Judge Igor Alisov was also responsible in 2011 for exonerating all officials implicated by Sergei Magnitsky in the theft of Hermitage Fund’s companies and their $230 million tax payments. Instead, in a fast-track hearing in which he heard no evidence, he placed the blame for the $230 million theft on an unemployed ex convict, Mr Khlebnikov, relying exclusively on Mr Khlebnikov’s own testimony.

The posthumous trial against Sergei Magnitsky has been condemned by numerous international bodies, including Amnesty International and International Bar Association.

For further information, please see:

Law and Order in Russia

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, European Union – The European community has related US surveillance to Cold War behavior that threatens privacy and trade agreements. Simultaneously, the EU’s highest court vetoed the “right to be forgotten” when it comes to Google and other entities that are not “controllers” of information.

On June 6, Edward Snowden revealed Prism and Tempora, US and UK surveillance programs that received mass data from several companies operating with similar capacities in both the US and Europe.

Through Tempora, the UK taps into approximately 200 cables that connect Britain to the global internet. While holding content for three days and metadata for thirty days, British and US authorities filtered everything to discover information of interest. Additionally, Britain is considered one of the world leaders in CCTV, which monitors public spaces.

Professor Richard J. Aldrich of Warwick University in Britain said, “It’s about what the CIA calls the electronic exhaust fumes of our lives, and the algorithms that allow patterns to be found.”

While the US generally considers privacy a matter of liberty, the European Convention on Human Rights and UK’s Human Rights Act require European countries to respect the right to private life.

In response to the programs, EU officials demanded more details as assurances that fundamental privacy rights were not violated.

European countries issued various responses, based on their legal and historical philosophies. Germany has been particularly sensitive about its citizens’ privacy since the Soviet Era. Previously, Germany has forced Google to allow citizens to blur their own homes on “Street View” of Google Maps. France, Italy and Greece also expressed outrage upon learning that they were targets of US surveillance. Nevertheless, no country has granted Snowden asylum.

In a state visit by US President Barack Obama to Germany, President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on the benefits of sharing surveillance and intelligence. “Although we do see the need for information gathering,” said Chancellor Merkel, “there needs to be due diligence.”

Frank La Rue, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Expression and Opinion urged countries to consider communications surveillance as “a highly intrusive act that potentially interferes with the rights to freedom of expression and privacy and threatens the foundations of a democratic society.”

Nevertheless, on June 25, the EU’s highest court ruled against the European “right to be forgotten” on the internet. In that case, a Spanish man complained that Google refused to delete the auction for his repossessed house from searches. Google argued that there are “clear societal reasons why this kind of information should be publicly available.”

Advocate General Niilo Jääskinen stated in his opinion that “[r]equesting search engine service providers to suppress legitimate and legal information that has entered the public domain would entail an interference with the freedom of expression.”

Where Britain, through the BBC, could make surveillance of “legitimate and legal information” part of the public domain and argue that both national security and government transparency require the information’s availability, the lines marking the reasonableness of secret and confidential surveillance are blurred.

For further information, please see:

CNN International – Snowden’s Asylum Options Dwindle – 2 July 2013

Al Jazeera – Bugging row threatens EU-US trade deal – 1 July 2013

Al Jazeera – UK Surveillance Exposes Lack of Privacy – 28 June 2013

Reuters – German Minister Challenges Britain over Spying Program – 26 June 2013

BBC News – Google Not Obliged to Delete Data, Rules EU Lawyer – 25 June 2013

The Independent – EU Court Rules in Google’s Favour: ‘Right to be Forgotten’ – 25 June 2013

Reuters – UPDATE 1-Google Vindicated by EU Court Opinion on Search Index – 25 June 2013

Reuters – UPDATE 2-Google Vindicated by EU Court Opinion on Search Results – 25 June 2013

New York Times – Obama Says Surveillance Helped in Case in Germany – 19 June 2013

The Sydney Morning Herald – Germany Widens Its Web of Surveillance – 17 June 2013

New York Times – Differing Views on Privacy Shape Europe’s Response to U.S. Surveillance Program – 14 June 2013

Bloomberg Businessweek – Europeans Ask if Prism Has Been Spying on Them, Too – 11 June 2013

The Guardian – Europe Warns US: You Must Respect the Privacy of Our Citizens – 11 June 2013

The Guardian – Prism Scandal: European Commission to Seek Privacy Guarantees from US – 10 June 2013