"Last Friday, a decision was made regarding Browder to initiate a criminal case for creating a criminal organization and directing it, that is, for the crime provided for by Part 1 of Article 210 of Russia's Criminal Code,” Atmonyev said at a briefing of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office.
He said Russia would soon put Browder on an international wanted list under the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.
READ MORE: Browder Asks US Not to Hand Him to Russia, Claiming It Will Be 'Death Sentence'
Earlier in August, a Nicosia court turned down a request by Hermitage Capital Management for a ban on the cooperation of Cypriot authorities with Russia in its investigation into William Browder's fraudulent investment schemes involving offshore assets.
Browder Had Plenty to Gain From Magnitsky's Death
The CEO of Hermitage Capital Management had a lot to gain from the death of Sergei Magnitsky, as a means of avoiding exposure, an adviser to the Russian prosecutor general said at a briefing.
"Based on the documents that were shown, an obvious conclusion can be made that, having received a false statement from Magnitsky… Browder was interested in Sergei Magnitsky's death more than anyone else in order to avoid exposure," Nikolai Atmonyev said.
The version about the poisoning of lawyer Sergey Magnitsky in the interests of the Hermitage Capital founder William Browder is confirmed by the testimony of journalist Oleg Lurie, who was kept with him in a pre-trial detention centre, Russian Prosecutor General's Office spokesman Alexander Kurennoy said at a briefing on Monday.
"The credibility of the version about the poisoning of Sergey Magnitsky in the interests of Browder is also confirmed by the testimony of journalist Oleg Lurie, who was kept with Magnitsky in one detention centre and communicated with him shortly before his death," Kurennoy said.
READ MORE: Connecting the Dots on Bill Browder and Mikhail Khodorkovsky
The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a case on the murder of accomplices of Browder — Valery Kurochkin, Oktay Gasanov and Sergei Korobeinikov — according to Mikhail Aleksandrov, an official with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.
Aleksandrov added that it "could be assumed with a high degree of probability" that Kurochkin, Gasanov and Korobeinikov "had been killed as a way to get rid of accomplices who may have given testimony exposing Browder."
Browder was sentenced in absentia to nine years in prison for tax evasion and falsely claiming tax breaks for hiring disabled persons by a Moscow court back in 2013, but the UK, where he resided then, has denied the extradition to Russia.