PRESS RELEASE

6 October 2014 – The Russian Investigative Committee has for the fourth time refused the application from Sergei Magnitsky’s mother to investigate the murder of her son in Russian police custody after he uncovered and testified about the theft of $230 million from state coffers by members of the criminal gang and corrupt Russian officials. 

The latest refusal was issued by General Major Alyshev. In his refusal, he did not address any of the arguments posed by Ms Magnitskaya’s lawyer, and simply rejected the application in general terms, stating:

“The decree to close the criminal case was checked using the case materials…This decision is lawful and justified, and no grounds are seen to cancel it.”

The rejection letter issued by General Alyshev ignored every one of the points made in Ms Magnitskaya’s complaint seeking the reopening of the investigation, including that she has been refused the right to conduct an independent medical evaluation of her son’s tissues; that none of the officials that she named from the FSB, Interior Ministry and General Prosecutor’s Office have been questioned; that the documents she requested for collection have not been gathered from state bodies; that no investigation was done into the death threats sent to Mr Magnitsky’s colleagues shortly before his killing, and that the findings of the Council of Europe’s report about the falsification, disappearance and concealment of evience have been ignored.

“Numerous facts shows that after S.Magnitsky exposed the fraudsters who stole 5.4 billion rubles [$230 million] from the country’s budget, he was repressed, and on 16 November 2009 cruelly murdered…During the next three years, investigators faked an investigation of a criminal case, and the officials mandated to supervise the investigation and its length, including Mr Veseliev, simply symbolized such supervision,” says the complaint from Ms Magnitskaya’s lawyer.

 “The nature and location of bodily injuries demonstrate that brutal violence was used against him [Sergei Magnitsky]. The body of the deceased was found …on the floor of the cell of the collection unit of Matrosskaya Tishina detention center where he was delivered for emergency medical treatment during an acute stage of his disease. It is an incontrovertible fact that unlawful acts were carried out against S.L. Magnitsky by officials of the Tax Crime Department of the Moscow Interior Affairs Department….who made false statements in reports to justify his unlawful detention. During less than a year in custody, Magnitsky was transferred 22 times between three detention centers… None of these facts have been examined in a fair, legal way, none of the guilty in these violations, in fact, crimes, have been brought to justice,” says the complaint.

“40 months have been spent by investigators to conduct knowingly partial judicial medical examinations, the conclusions of which had been artificially made to comply with a particular diagnosis to enable to close the case and not to bring to account those responsible for the death, in fact, murder of S.L.Magnitsky,” says the complaint.

In his refusal, General Alyshev also ignored the requests from Ms Magnitskaya to allow her an independent medical examination of her son’s tissues, to question Russian law enforcement officials and to heed the findings of the Council of Europe’s comprehensive international investigation into Sergei Magnitsky’s killing.

This is the fourth refusal by the Russian Investigative Committee of requests from Magnitsky’s mother to re-open an investigation into her son’s murder in custody. Previously, refusals were issued by Investigator Strizhov and senior Committee officials named А.М. Veseliev and D.V. Kolesnikov.

Ms Magnitskaya’s complaint said that the Investigative Committee has created a “regime of uncontrolled impunity” which is exemplified by the fact that no one has been brought to justice for the heinous murder of her son.