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Magnitsky Case Probed By Same Investigators — Hermitage

Memorial Flowers and Photo of Sergei MagnitskyMOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The Russian Interior Ministry's Investigative Department has not found grounds for replacing investigators in the reopened criminal inquiry against Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitisky who died in a Moscow jail in 2009, Hermitage Capital said.

"In his reply of October 7, 2011, to a complaint from the Magnitsky family, head of department P.V. Lapshov from the Russian Interior Ministry's Investigative Department says, "Under Article 67 part two of the Russian Penal Code, previous participation of the investigator in the preliminary criminal inquiry is not a ground for his disqualification," the company said.

Besides, regarding claims that investigators put psychological pressure on the lawyer's relatives, the Department said that, "having examined the materials of the criminal case, it has not found any violation of the criminal procedural legislation."

"Essentially, the reopening of the preliminary inquiry with respect to Magnitsky aims to ascertain. . all circumstances surrounding the case against Magnitsky," the Interior Ministry was quoted by Hermitage.

"According to the materials submitted with the Moscow City Court this week, not only does the Interior Ministry continue the criminal inquiry against Sergei Magnitsky 20 months after his death, it has entrusted it to the same investigators who were probing him when he was alive," the company said.

Magnitsky died in Moscow's Butyrka pretrial detention center on November 16, 2009, while awaiting trial on tax evasion charges.

Rights defenders insist that prison medics and law enforcement officers are to blame for his death that caused a huge public outcry in Russia and abroad.

On July 4, 2011, the Investigative Committee announced the results of an additional forensic examination. As a result, criminal charges were filed against Butyrka medics - Doctor Dmitry Kratov (Article 293 of the Criminal Code, "negligence") and laboratory doctor Larisa Litvinova (Article 109, "causing death by inadvertence").


Russia, Assassinations, Beatings, Prison Deaths - Russian News - Russia - Johnson's Russia List

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