DAVOS, January 23. /TASS/. Guilty parties still at large must be hunted down while mystery continues to cloud the death-in-custody 16 years ago of Russian finance sector lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, financial world elites were told at the Davos economic forum on Friday.
Absence of criminal proceedings in the riddle of Magnitsky’s death, unsolved since 2009, were “an outrage”, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told a session in the Swiss resort.
“This man did not just die,” Shuvalov said of the Hermitage Capital investment fund expert’s death. “He was not given aid, or something else happened."
“If those guilty of Magnitsky‘s death do not face criminal proceedings and are not punished, this is an outrage,” he said. “For this, people should be jailed or punished in some other way. I do not know why this was not done.”
Magnitsky’s death in jail came as he faced charges of involvement in a 522 million-rouble ($16.8 million) alleged tax evasion scheme.
He was arrested and taken to Moscow’s Butyrskaya detention centre in November 2008 and died a year later aged 37 in the intensive care ward of Matrosskaya Tishina detention centre’s hospital in Moscow.
In November 2009, the then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave instructions for an investigation into Magnitsky’s death. Forensic experts concluded that Magnitsky was not provided with timely treatment for acute health issues.
His death prompted the United States to enact in 2012 a law imposing sanctions on officials thought to be involved.