MOSCOW, December 9 (Itar-Tass) —— The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow found legitimate a ruling of the investigation, which found auditor of the British Hermitage Capital Management Foundation Sergei Magnitsky as a defendant in the money laundering of 5.4 billion roubles.
So, the lawyer’s appeal was turned down to find the actions of the police investigation department illegal “that is seeking to mar his name.”
After the arguments of the litigating parties the court ruled that the actions of the detectives from the police investigation department meet the law requirements. “There are no reasons to satisfy the appeal of Magnitsky’s relatives,” the court said in the ruling.
Lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov noted that the ungrounded criminal case opened by the main investigation department without the investigation in the evidence over Magnitsky’s involvement in this crime violated his legitimate rights and interests.
“The actions of the investigator and the negligence of the chief of the main police investigation department inflicted the damage to legitimate, constitutionally protected interests of Magnitsky and members of his family, dishonoured his fair name and reputation through the slander already after his death over a crime he allegedly committed, but the crime was actually solved through his active participation and the names of several criminals were made public,” the lawyer noted.
For his part, the prosecutor asked the court to turn down the lawyer’s appeal, as he considers the actions of the investigation absolutely lawful and grounded.
This criminal case, in which Magnitsky was found as a defendant, was opened under Article 174 Part 4 of the Criminal Code for major money laundering by a criminal group.
All accomplices in this crime were found, a source in the main police investigation department said earlier. Two of them were convicted, other four accomplices, including Magnitsky, died under various circumstances.
The main investigation department noted that Sergei Magnitsky was not charged with this crime over his death. However, the lawyer believes that he is actually found as a defendant, because the investigators claimed he is found guilty in this crime.
Magnitsky, 37, died at the intensive therapy ward at the Matrosskaya Tishina detention prison on November 16, 2009, after 11 months of keeping in custody and a week after the accusations were brought against him. He was being kept at the Butyrka detention prison before the transfer to the hospital. The detectives found that Magnitsky was not prescribed timely to undergo treatment and did not receive the adequate therapy, when his health worsened sharply.
Two medics of the penitentiary system, who are accused of negligence that entailed Magnitsky’s death, are the defendants in his death case.
Russian human rights activists do not rule out that Magnitsky could have been killed at the detention prison. Meanwhile, the main investigation department stated that the fact of Magnitsky’s beating in custody was not confirmed and he died of heart failure.
Meanwhile, the criminal case against the auditor, who was found as the mastermind of a criminal tax evasion scheme in the British foundation, was terminated over his death on November 30, 2009. However, then the investigation was resumed under the instructions from the Prosecutor General’s Office under the verdict of the Russian Constitutional Court.
All close relatives of the defendant should give their consent for the termination of the criminal case, the main investigation department said earlier.