Moscow City Court authorized opening a criminal case against Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in Moscow pretrial detention in 2009 of untreated health problems and, allegedly, a beating by prison guards.
Magnitsky’s supporters called the decision “unfounded and immoral,” and a lawyer for his family promised to appeal in the Supreme Court.
The Interior Ministry reopened the case against Magnitsky in 2011, accusing him and five others of embezzling 5.4 billion rubles ($185 million) of state money through fraudulent tax returns.
Magnitsky claimed the money, intended for companies managed by Hermitage, was stolen by state officials, including Interior Ministry investigators. He was detained in 2008, shortly after voicing his whistleblowing allegations, and died after 11 months in prison.
His supporters insist that cases against him are retaliation for his exposes. Russian legislation allows posthumous investigation and trial, but only in case relatives of a deceased suspect request it. Magnitsky’s relatives have repeatedly said they want the ongoing case closed, but the investigators have refused.
The incident has significantly damaged Russia’s ties with the European Union and the United States, especially after the U.S. State Department blacklisted for entry last year unspecified officials linked to the Magnitsky case.
