MOSCOW. July 27 (Interfax) - Prominent human rights activists agree that Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer of the Hermitage Capital investment company, died in prison of great stress, but insist that this stress was originally caused by unlawful actions by the law enforcement system.

file photo
Dmitry Kratov, a former deputy director of the Butyrka detention facility, who is being tried for carelessness leading to Magnitsky's death, said earlier that Magnitsky died of acute cardiac insufficiency.

"Sure, Sergei Magnitsky's death is a result of his incarceration. His health would not have worsened had he not been put in the detention facility," Kirill Kabanov, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council and the head of the National Antiterrorist Committee, told Interfax on
Friday.

Kabanov took part in an independent investigation into Magnitsky's death as a Human Rights Council member.

"Those who put Magnitsky behind bars are primarily responsible for his death. If you follow the entire string, I insist that the primary blame is on those who put him in the detention facility. This was a form of pressure," Kabanov said.

"One of the questions that we addressed to the investigation and to which we have not received a definitive answer is about the cause-effect relationship between Sergei Magnitsky's arrest and his death," he said.

Civil activists were outraged to see that only one person, namely Dmitry Kratov, has been indicted for Magnitsky's death.

"Kratov is only one of the links in this story, and he is not the key one," Valery Borshchyov, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, who was also involved in the independent probe into Magnitsky's death, told Interfax on July 9.

None of the security, law enforcement and other officials dealing with Magnitsky's case has been held liable, Borshchyov said.

Magnitsky was held actually in "torturous conditions" at the Butyrka detention facility under Kratov's supervision, but he died in another detention facility, i.e. Matrosskaya Tishina, Borshchyov said.

"And it was not Kratov who forbade Magnitsky's medical examination but an investigator, who flatly denied lawyers' request," he said.

"Matrosskaya Tishina doctor Alexandra Gaus saw Magnitsky during the last hour of his life. She diagnosed 'acute psychosis' in Magnitsky, and the Serbsky Research Institute later revoked this diagnosis. She called eight security guards, and Magnitsky was handcuffed on her instructions. And documents show that Magnitsky was beaten with a rubber baton in Matrosskaya Tishina," Borshchyov said.

"Kratov is guilty of not providing adequate medical aid to Magnitsky. But Magnitsky died not in Butyrka but in Matrosskaya Tishina. I saw a video in which Magnitsky was carrying two huge bags while he was transferred to Matrosskaya Tishina. He was a capable man. This was just an hour and a half before his death. What happened in Matrosskaya Tishina is something that should be looked into," he said.

The Investigative Committee leadership said in spring when asked why secondary people were being prosecuted that "this is only the beginning."

"But this was in spring. Four months have passed, but Kratov is still the only one who has been indicted. The rest have been exempted from indictment, and this is outrageous," Borshchyov said.

Kratov has been accused of negligence leading to death through carelessness, a crime covered by Russian Criminal Code Article 293, Part 2.

The criminal case against Kratov has been separated from the main criminal case into Magnitsky's death, "within the framework of which investigative and procedural actions are continuing to determine all circumstances of the victim's death and other circumstances."

Magnitsky, a lawyer for the investment foundation Hermitage Capital, died in the Matrosskaya Tishina detention facility on November 16, 2009 at the age of 37. He was charged with tax evasion (a crime enshrined by Article 199 of the Russian Criminal Code). It was concluded officially that his death had been caused by acute cardiovascular insufficiency.

It was reported that Magnitsky repeatedly complained of bad health and asked for a checkup. His death drew a broad public response. Human rights defenders accused doctors and law enforcement officials of his death.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on charges of failure to provide assistance to a patient (Criminal Code Article 124) and negligence (Article 293).

In July 2011, the Investigative Committee completed extra medical analyses and charged Kratov with negligence and Butyrka laboratory worker Larisa Litvinova with causing death through carelessness.

Detectives concluded that Magnitsky was not given timely and adequate treatment and died of a combination of two diseases, namely dysmetabolic cardiomyopathy linked with diabetes and chronic hepatitis.

Hermitage Capital said on April 9, 2012 that the Investigative Committee dropped the charges against Litvinova due to expiration of statute of limitations. Hermitage Capital quoted an extract from an investigator's resolution as saying that Litvinova was guilty of "a minor case of culpable negligence."

Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin said in late November that he considered the investigation against Kratov and Litvinova complete.

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

MOSCOW. July 27 (Interfax) - Prominent human rights activists agree that Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer of the Hermitage Capital investment company, died in prison of great stress, but insist that this stress was originally caused by unlawful actions by the law enforcement system.

file photo
Dmitry Kratov, a former deputy director of the Butyrka detention facility, who is being tried for carelessness leading to Magnitsky's death, said earlier that Magnitsky died of acute cardiac insufficiency.

"Sure, Sergei Magnitsky's death is a result of his incarceration. His health would not have worsened had he not been put in the detention facility," Kirill Kabanov, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council and the head of the National Antiterrorist Committee, told Interfax on
Friday.

Kabanov took part in an independent investigation into Magnitsky's death as a Human Rights Council member.

"Those who put Magnitsky behind bars are primarily responsible for his death. If you follow the entire string, I insist that the primary blame is on those who put him in the detention facility. This was a form of pressure," Kabanov said.

"One of the questions that we addressed to the investigation and to which we have not received a definitive answer is about the cause-effect relationship between Sergei Magnitsky's arrest and his death," he said.

Civil activists were outraged to see that only one person, namely Dmitry Kratov, has been indicted for Magnitsky's death.

"Kratov is only one of the links in this story, and he is not the key one," Valery Borshchyov, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, who was also involved in the independent probe into Magnitsky's death, told Interfax on July 9.

None of the security, law enforcement and other officials dealing with Magnitsky's case has been held liable, Borshchyov said.

Magnitsky was held actually in "torturous conditions" at the Butyrka detention facility under Kratov's supervision, but he died in another detention facility, i.e. Matrosskaya Tishina, Borshchyov said.

"And it was not Kratov who forbade Magnitsky's medical examination but an investigator, who flatly denied lawyers' request," he said.

"Matrosskaya Tishina doctor Alexandra Gaus saw Magnitsky during the last hour of his life. She diagnosed 'acute psychosis' in Magnitsky, and the Serbsky Research Institute later revoked this diagnosis. She called eight security guards, and Magnitsky was handcuffed on her instructions. And documents show that Magnitsky was beaten with a rubber baton in Matrosskaya Tishina," Borshchyov said.

"Kratov is guilty of not providing adequate medical aid to Magnitsky. But Magnitsky died not in Butyrka but in Matrosskaya Tishina. I saw a video in which Magnitsky was carrying two huge bags while he was transferred to Matrosskaya Tishina. He was a capable man. This was just an hour and a half before his death. What happened in Matrosskaya Tishina is something that should be looked into," he said.

The Investigative Committee leadership said in spring when asked why secondary people were being prosecuted that "this is only the beginning."

"But this was in spring. Four months have passed, but Kratov is still the only one who has been indicted. The rest have been exempted from indictment, and this is outrageous," Borshchyov said.

Kratov has been accused of negligence leading to death through carelessness, a crime covered by Russian Criminal Code Article 293, Part 2.

The criminal case against Kratov has been separated from the main criminal case into Magnitsky's death, "within the framework of which investigative and procedural actions are continuing to determine all circumstances of the victim's death and other circumstances."

Magnitsky, a lawyer for the investment foundation Hermitage Capital, died in the Matrosskaya Tishina detention facility on November 16, 2009 at the age of 37. He was charged with tax evasion (a crime enshrined by Article 199 of the Russian Criminal Code). It was concluded officially that his death had been caused by acute cardiovascular insufficiency.

It was reported that Magnitsky repeatedly complained of bad health and asked for a checkup. His death drew a broad public response. Human rights defenders accused doctors and law enforcement officials of his death.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on charges of failure to provide assistance to a patient (Criminal Code Article 124) and negligence (Article 293).

In July 2011, the Investigative Committee completed extra medical analyses and charged Kratov with negligence and Butyrka laboratory worker Larisa Litvinova with causing death through carelessness.

Detectives concluded that Magnitsky was not given timely and adequate treatment and died of a combination of two diseases, namely dysmetabolic cardiomyopathy linked with diabetes and chronic hepatitis.

Hermitage Capital said on April 9, 2012 that the Investigative Committee dropped the charges against Litvinova due to expiration of statute of limitations. Hermitage Capital quoted an extract from an investigator's resolution as saying that Litvinova was guilty of "a minor case of culpable negligence."

Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin said in late November that he considered the investigation against Kratov and Litvinova complete.