Benefits / 12.05.2022

Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky son of Nikita. Sergei Magnitsky is a victim of a soulless system. Magnitsky's investigation into embezzlement from the budget

The Investigative Committee of Russia said that it would consider the application of the former Interior Ministry investigator Pavel Karpov, who, after showing on TV a spy epic-fake about the agents of Solomon and Freedom - Bill Browder and Alexei Navalny, respectively, - filed a complaint about the crime. The bottom line is that Browder, the head of the Hermitage fund, ordered his own lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. And the Investigative Committee, which had already investigated the circumstances of the painful death of Sergei Magnitsky in a pre-trial detention center and did it so successfully that, in fact, did not identify the perpetrators, took up the audit again. And there is little doubt that a criminal case will be initiated. After all, even Magnitsky has already been tried - posthumously, at an infernal trial with an empty dock.

One can argue for a long time whether Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer or an auditor, whether Browder is a shark of capitalism or a fighter for justice, who stole money from the budget, and whether the actions of the Hermitage fund were part of a tax crime.

But the circumstances that led to Magnitsky's death are indisputable. He fixed them himself, in neat handwriting of an excellent student.

We have already printed excerpts from his prison diary and the complaints he filed.

Let's remember today.

This document is irrefutable.

Reference

37-year-old lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was arrested in November 2008. Before his arrest, he was absolutely healthy; on November 16, 2009, he died. Diagnosis by prison doctors: "heart failure".

In letters to lawyers and numerous petitions, he described in detail what was happening to him. In the middle of summer 2009, Magnitsky was transferred to Butyrka. A month earlier, the doctors of Matrosskaya Tishina discovered kidney stones in him. The diagnosis was made - "calculous cholecystitis", although initially they spoke of pancreatic necrosis. Doctors advised "surgical intervention" and continuous treatment. In the absence of the necessary conditions for treatment, such a diagnosis can be characterized by “severe cutting pains that turn into unbearable ones” and lead to necrosis of the pancreas (this is the diagnosis that was reported to Magnitsky’s lawyers in the pre-trial detention center).

Upon arrival in Butyrka, Magnitsky was denied a medical examination. To repeated written and oral appeals to the head of the Butyrka medical unit and the administration about the deterioration in his health, he was answered: “Get out into the wild, and there you will be treated, here no one is obliged to provide you with anything.”

In August, his health deteriorated so much that he "could not even lie down." Nevertheless, he was still denied a scheduled medical examination, citing “problems with transport and escort.” And the investigator, Major of Justice Silchenko, notified of the refusal to conduct an ultrasound, citing the fact that "the current legislation does not impose on the investigator the obligation to monitor the health status of suspects held under investigation."

All visits were denied to him. He could not see his relatives and practically remained with them without contact: “letters were often lost”, meetings with lawyers were difficult. “Because of the huge queues, the lawyers never managed to get a date with me before 15.00, and usually they manage to meet with them at 16.00 or 16.30. At the same time, at 5:30 p.m., the SIZO employees begin to demand that the visits be stopped.”

Sergei Magnitsky repeatedly wrote complaints and petitions to the Butyrka administration. From July to September alone, according to the report, there were fifty-three. Most of the complaints "were ignored". Moreover, the more petitions there were, the more intolerable the conditions of detention became.

“On September 1, I filed a complaint about the lack of hot water,” writes Magnitsky, “on the same day I was transferred to cell No. 59, where the conditions of detention turned out to be much worse.”

For five months, according to the testimony of his friends, Magnitsky was haunted in any of the cells. “He did not even have time to unpack his things, he was immediately transferred to another cell with new criminals,” says one of his acquaintances.

On November 16, in a critical condition, Magnitsky was taken from Butyrka to the prison hospital of the Matrosskaya Tishina SIZO, where he died under circumstances that are still completely unclear. It is only known that he was not provided with adequate medical assistance, but a reinforced convoy of 8 people was called to the man bending over in pain, which was with Magnitsky until his death, there were no doctors, and the ambulance brigade was not allowed into the pre-trial detention center for so long that in the end, the arriving doctors only had to ascertain death.

The death certificate recorded that Magnitsky died of toxic shock and acute heart failure. The column "diagnosis" indicates acute pancreatitis and closed craniocerebral injury. However, later, when the case was considered in the Tverskoy Court, a representative of Matrosskaya Tishina presented an act in which there was no longer any information about the injury.

According to lawyers, the main reason for the death of Sergei Magnitsky was the failure to provide the necessary medical care and the appalling conditions of detention.

Magnitsky's diary

“During my stay at Matrosskaya Tishina, around June 2009, my health deteriorated. Conducted in late June - early July 2009, a medical examination revealed stones in the gallbladder and inflammation of the pancreas, I was diagnosed with calculous cholecystitis, a second medical examination was scheduled for the first days of August 2009 and planned surgical treatment. Prior to my detention, I did not have these diseases or their symptoms. The MT doctors provided me with medical assistance, gave me the necessary medicines on a daily basis and gave advice on obtaining other medicines that were not available in the medical unit of the MT and which I could receive from relatives.

Upon arrival at BT ( Butyrskaya prison. — Ed.) I immediately, on July 26, 2009, applied to the administration with a written application to admit me to the doctor, since on the day of admission to the BT the doctor did not examine me, although this is mandatory in accordance with the internal regulations (hereinafter: PVR), which governs the activities of pre-trial detention centers.

The doctor did not see me that day or the next. On 09/08/09 I applied for admission to the head of the prison, indicating that my health was in danger. I received no response to this statement.

On August 11, 2009, I again applied for a doctor's appointment, indicating that the deadline for the medical examination prescribed for me had long passed, but they never took me to the doctor and did not give an answer to my application.

In addition to the written statements mentioned above, I repeatedly addressed orally during the morning checks to the paramedics, who attend these checks once or twice a week, with questions about when I would be taken to see a doctor. The paramedics answered: “Write a statement. Already written? Then wait."

On 14/08/09 I applied with a written application with a request to transfer to me from my relatives the medicines prescribed to me by the MT doctors. I did not receive a response to this application, so for a long time I did not know if permission had been given to transfer the medicines and how my relatives would be able to transfer them to me. I asked paramedics twice about whether my application was considered. The first time the paramedic said he didn't know. The second time he said that the head of the medical unit considered the application, but did not remember whether he allowed the transfer of medicines or not. As a result, I managed to receive the medicine only on 04/09/09.

On August 24, 2009, my pains became so aggravated that I could not even lie down. Then my cellmate started knocking on the door, demanding that I be taken to the doctor. This was around 4:00 pm. The guard promised to call a doctor, but he still didn't show up, despite the repeated demands of my cellmate. I was taken to the doctor only after 5 hours.

I informed the doctor about my disease, complained that during the whole month of my stay in the BT, the doctor had never examined me. The doctor was very unhappy, she leafed through my medical record and said: “What examination do you need? What is the treatment? Look, it says here that you have already been treated. What do you treat every month? I asked if I needed diet food and what I need to do to get it assigned to me. The doctor said that she did not know that I should make an appointment with a surgeon and he would solve this issue.

On August 25, 2009, I wrote an application for admission to a surgeon to resolve the issue of my treatment and prescribe me, if necessary, dietary nutrition. Like all previous ones, this statement remained without any answer.

On August 26, 2009, the deputy head of the BT, including, as I understand it, the head of the medical unit, conducted a tour of the cells. I complained that I was not being provided with medical assistance, that the prescribed medical examination was not being carried out. I was told that there is no medical examination in BT, that there is no equipment. I tried to show the copy of the letter I had to MT, in which the disease diagnosed in me was indicated and an examination was scheduled, but they didn’t even let me get this letter, saying: “You are detaining us.”

On August 31, 2009, during a similar tour, I managed to deliver the said letter, because some other boss, who was not there the previous time, agreed to listen to me on this issue. The head of the medical unit, who was present, was indignant: “Why do you have this paper in your hands? This information should not be with you, but in the medical record, but they are not there, how do we know that you are scheduled for a medical examination?

I objected that, firstly, this information is in the medical record, the doctor who I had an appointment with on 08/24/09 read it to me from the medical record itself, and that, obviously, no one had read my medical record before , as I myself asked about it, but after reading it, did not take any measures, and, secondly, I myself repeatedly applied in writing for a month to see me as a doctor, pointing to the scheduled medical examination, which has not yet been carried out, but, despite all my appeals, no action was taken by the administration. The head of the medical unit promised to sort it out, took the copy of the letter mentioned above, said that the planned surgical treatment, which it says, “when you get out, no one is obliged to provide you with it,” and left.

The next time I saw him was on 09/04/09 when he brought me medicines given by my relatives. He said that he had written a report on my transfer to MT for a medical examination, which I was assigned, and if the issue was resolved positively, I would be transferred there, but not earlier than in 3 weeks. I asked if I could be taken there for 1 day, because the examination takes only a few minutes (ultrasound). He replied that this was not possible due to transport and convoy problems. However, when it becomes necessary to bring me to court to extend my detention, this problem usually does not arise.

Until now, I have not been provided with any medical assistance (except for permission to transfer the medicines bought by my relatives to me) in connection with the diseases identified in me in BT, despite the fact that I have spent 8 weeks here and literally the next day after arriving here for medical help.

“Yesterday, exactly one month after my arrival in the Butyrka prison, I finally got to see a doctor. This happened under the following circumstances.

On Sunday, August 23, 2009, while walking at about 4:30 pm, I felt pain in the solar plexus, which usually accompanies me with attacks of intercostal neuralgia. The walk that day lasted up to an hour and a half instead of the usual hour, but there was a bench in the walking yard so that I could lie down on it and endure the pain. After returning to the cell, I immediately took the medicine and went to bed. Despite this, the attack intensified, severe pains began in the region of the ribs on the back, so that at times they could only be endured while squatting, bending over. The attack was accompanied by pain in the heart and the inability to take a deep breath, as this increased the already sharp pain in the solar plexus. About an hour later I took the medication again, but I didn't seem to feel any relief from it. By 20.00 my pains were gone, I began to feel better, and even my cellmate Eric and I did a general cleaning in the cell. During the night and for most of the next day, I felt fine.

On Monday, August 24, 2009, at about 4:00 pm, Eric was taken to the investigator. Left alone in the cell, I lay down and tried to sleep, but then a new attack began with the same symptoms, so that I could not even lie down, but walked around the cell or squatted, bent over. I took medication again, but I did not feel any relief.

At 17 or 17.30 Eric returned and, seeing me in such a state, called the warden and asked to call a doctor. The warden said that she called the doctor and he will come soon.

Half an hour later, Eric again began to knock on the door of the cell, but no one came up. He repeated this attempt in another half an hour, someone's voices were heard outside the door; a male voice asked, "Which camera?" "267," Eric replied. “I’ll come right now,” we heard, but after a while the voices died down, and no one approached us.

My condition did not improve, and at about 9.00 pm Eric again began to knock on the door of the cell ... After another half an hour, I was taken to the prefabricated department, where, as it turned out, there was a doctor's office. Only five hours later.

When I went there, a doctor was sitting behind bars and a policeman was standing… I was told to stand aside. It was hard for me to stand, and I squatted down ... This went on for about a quarter of an hour. Finally, the doctor asked what happened to me. I described my pains, she said that I must have caught a cold in my back, but I explained that these pains are spasmodic in nature, that I used to have the same attacks once every three to four months, as I treated them, and that now they have been repeating for four days in a row, and the medicines do not help. The doctor said she would give me a stronger medicine and gave me three melocan tablets.

I also complained that the doctor did not examine me when I arrived at the pre-trial detention center, that I repeatedly applied for a doctor's appointment, but no one saw me. He said that I was scheduled for a medical examination, but it is not carried out. The doctor began to resent, took a medical card and said:

How was it not looked at? You were examined where you were brought from.

I said that in "Matrosskaya Tishina" I was examined, a disease was revealed, an examination was prescribed, and here I have been for a whole month, and no one is conducting this examination and is not prescribing treatment. The doctor leafed through my card and was indignant:

- When did they bring you? Just a month ago? Do you want to be treated every month? I see that you have already been treated, it is written that you were seen by a surgeon, that you were given baralgin and mezim. But we have no opportunities, no equipment, no doctors, you should have been treated in the wild.

- In the wild, I didn’t get sick, inflammation of the pancreas and stones in the gallbladder were diagnosed in Matrosskaya Tishina, I got these diseases while already in prison.

- Don't tell stories. Here it is written: “in the anamnesis”, the surgeon writes, which means that it happened before.

- I don’t know what “history” means, the doctor who examined me at Matrosskaya Tishina really asked me if I had these diseases before, whether I had been examined for them, whether I received treatment. I then answered these questions in the negative. Well, what kind of treatment do I need now for these diseases and what should I do to get it?

- I don't know, write an application to be accepted by the surgeon. There are no doctors in the corps, but the surgeon still remains ...

- Ok, I will write. Give me sleeping pills, diphenhydramine, or give me an injection, otherwise I'm afraid that I won't be able to sleep because of this pain.

- We do not have such drugs, it is only in psychiatry.

After that I was returned to the cell. I took the pill that the doctor gave me. The pain not only did not subside, but even intensified, perhaps due to the fact that I had to walk back and forth and even stand there in front of this doctor. Half an hour later I was vomiting, accompanied by severe pain in my chest and back, but immediately after that I seemed to feel better. I lay down on the bed, the pain still remained, but not so acute.

I talked to Eric, it distracted me, and after an hour and a half I managed to fall asleep.

When I woke up in the morning, I felt fine. I wrote a statement to the surgeon and now I am writing this letter, hoping that tonight and at night I will not have a new attack.

Like all previous ones, this statement remained without any answer.

From a complaint prepared to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee, dated September 20, 2009:

Until now, I have not received any medical assistance (except for permission to transfer the medicines bought by my relatives to me) in connection with the diseases identified in me at the BT, despite the fact that I have already spent 8 weeks here and literally the next day after my arrival I applied here for medical help.

I did not have the prescribed medical examination, I did not receive any consultations about my disease, I was not seen by a surgeon, I was not only not prescribed a dietary food, but the question of whether I needed it or not was not even considered.

About the conditions of detention

On July 25, 2009, I was transferred from FBU SIZO‑1 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (hereinafter: “Matrosskaya Tishina” or MT) to FBU IZ‑77/2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Moscow (hereinafter: “Butyrskaya Prison” or BT).

No. 267 - from 07/25/09 to 09/01/09 - a cell with an area of about 10.8 m 2, 2 more people were kept at the same time with me for 1 day, then I spent one day alone, after which the rest of the time Another person was kept with me, there were 4 beds in the cell.

No. 59 - from 01/09/09 to 08/09/09, a cell with an area of about 8.2 m 2, 3 more people were kept at the same time as me, there were 4 beds in the cell.

No. 35 - from 08/09/09 to 10/09/09, a cell with an area of about 10.1 m², 2 more people were kept at the same time as me, there were 6 beds in the cell.

No. 61 - from 10/09/09 to the present, a cell with an area of about 8.2 m², two more people are being held with me at the same time (one day there were 3 more people), there are 4 beds in the cell.

The toilet in all the BT cells where I was kept is just a hole in the floor in the corner of the cell, above which there is a brick platform with a so-called. floor bowl. These floor bowls are so dirty that it’s terrifying to look at them (a brush for cleaning them is not issued, it is not sold in the BT store, you can get it in the transfer from relatives only with the special permission of the head of the BT or his deputy). And if in cell No. 267 we succeeded in cleaning this floor bowl, then in all the other cells it did not work out.

In cell no. 267, water gushed out of the floor bowl so much that after using the toilet one had to wash one's feet, but in any case, the toilet was separated from the rest of the cell by a brick partition 1.5–1.7 m high. did not have. In order to use the toilet not in front of everyone, we have to hang it up with the sheets given to us, which, of course, cannot be used as bed linen after that.

In order to prevent the toilet from smelling, we once made a cork from a plastic cup with porridge and plugged the hole with it. The next morning it turned out that a hole the size of a medium-sized apple was gnawed in the glass, and the porridge from the glass was eaten by rats, which, apparently, run freely through the sewers. It is surprising that they do not crawl out of it into the cell, but I have seen these rats repeatedly running along the corridor and their squeaking is often heard at night.

The distance between the toilet and all the beds of prisoners in cells no. 59 and 61 is no more than 1 meter. In other cells, some of the beds were further away.

In cells no. 59 and 61, the only sockets are directly above the toilet. Therefore, you have to boil water by holding the kettle in your hands over the floor bowl, and in order to heat the water for washing in the bucket, you have to put it directly on the elevation in which the floor bowl is located, since the insufficiently long cord of the boiler does not allow you to put the bucket in another place.

In cell No. 59 on the evening of September 8, 2009, sewer water began to rise in the floor basin. It did not spill onto the floor, but, as I know, the neighboring cell No. 60 was flooded. That same evening we were transferred to cell no. 35. In cell no. 35 there was no glass in the windows, the walls were damp. At first we did not pay attention to this, but the next day the reason for the dampness became clear. At about noon, sewage water began to flow into the cell from the sewer drain under the sink, which quickly flooded half the floor of the cell. We asked to call a plumber, but he came only at 22.00 and could not fix the problem. We asked to be transferred to another cell, but we were told to stay where we were until the morning. The next day, the plumber did not come in the morning, so by the evening the entire floor of the cell was already flooded with sewage water in a layer of several centimeters. It was no longer possible to walk on the floor, so we moved around the cell, climbing on the beds like monkeys. The plumber came only at 22.00, fiddled for a long time, but could not fix anything. Both the plumber and the overseer who brought him were indignant at the conditions in which we had to be. We asked to be transferred to another cell, but the guard could not do this without the permission of some superior. Permission was received only at 23.00, after which we were transferred to cell no. 61, that is, 35 hours after cell no. 35 was flooded with sewage water.

In cell no. 35 there was no glass in the window frames. On 09/09/09 we filed a complaint about this, but did not receive a response. Cell No. 61 did not even have window frames. On September 11, 2009, I submitted an application in which I asked for glass frames to be installed. Because of the cold in the cell, I had to sleep in clothes, covering myself with a blanket and jacket, but the frames were not inserted. On 09/18/09 we filed a complaint that due to the lack of window frames and the resulting cold, we all caught a cold, and only on 09/19/09 the window frames were finally inserted. But, as it turned out, not double, but single glasses were installed in the frames. This is acceptable for September weather, but with the onset of cold weather, such windows will not save you from frost.

Participation in court hearings

During my stay in BT, I was taken to court four times to participate in court hearings, and each time such a trip was accompanied by the fact that I was subjected to ill-treatment, bordering on torture.

The departure to the court is notified late in the evening or even at night on the day preceding the day of the session. The subject of the session, what question will be considered, what case will be decided, is not notified at all, so I usually found out about this only after I was taken to court. It is, of course, impossible to effectively prepare for a court session under such conditions.

They are taken out of the cells at 7.00-7.30, that is, before breakfast. Then they are kept in the cells of the prefabricated section of the prison until 9.00-10.00, after which they are sent to court. Prisoners are transported in vehicles with compartments approximately 3.2 m long, 1.2 m wide and about 1.5 m high. In such a compartment, which, according to the guards, is designed to transport 15 people, up to 17-18 people are placed, so that some have to ride standing, bending over in an uncomfortable position. The journey from prison to court usually takes about an hour, but one day I had to spend 1 hour in such a car in the morning and about 4.5 hours in the evening, because the car from the court did not go directly to the prison, but also drove to other courts, to take away the prisoners.

On the days when prisoners are taken to court, they are given dry rations, but it is impossible to use them, since in court prisoners are not given boiling water, which is necessary for brewing dry soups or cereals included in the ration. The escorts of the court refer to the fact that they do not have a kettle, but I saw a kettle in the escort room of the court. On August 13, 2009, I sent a complaint to the chairman of the Tverskoy Court in Moscow about not being given boiling water. I received no response to this complaint. On September 14, 2009, the court did not give me boiling water again.

A car with prisoners arrives at the prison in the evening, usually at 19.00-19.30, but usually they don’t let them out of the car until 20.00, they say that they are preparing documents.

Arriving prisoners are not immediately taken to their cells, but are kept in the cells of the prefabricated department for 3-3.5 hours, so I never got into the cell before 23.00.

In a cell of a prefabricated compartment with an area of 20-22 m 2 without windows and forced ventilation, 70 people can be placed, so that there is nowhere not only to sit down, but also to stand. Many of the prisoners in the prefabricated cell smoke, so it is very difficult to breathe without ventilation. There are toilets in these cells, but in most of them they are not fenced off in any way from the main room of the cell, so they are rarely used by anyone. Some cells have taps with tap water, but it is impossible to drink it without boiling it.

Since the prisoners only get to their cells after the trial at night, they, of course, do not receive a hot supper that day either. The result is that the time that elapses between hot meals can be 38 hours (from 11.00 the previous day, when the prisoner gets dinner, until 8.00 the next day, when breakfast is served). And if court sessions last several days in a row, then this interval between hot meals can increase even more.

On September 14, 2009, during the court session, I pointed this out to Judge Krivoruchko and asked to give me the opportunity to get hot food before the start of the court session, but the judge refused me this, citing the fact that this is not the duty of the court.

In view of the above circumstances, it turns out that people are judged hungry, sleepy, exhausted by being kept in the cells of the prefabricated section of the prison and being transported in cars for prisoners, which especially affects those who have to participate in court hearings for several days in a row. It is, of course, impossible to defend oneself effectively in court under such circumstances. I heard from many prisoners that they would rather agree to a trial without their participation than to suffer so much on the days when they are taken to court.

From a letter dated August 10:“One prisoner was placed in a solitary compartment (there were two of them in the car). He was asked why he was placed separately, if not because he was a former police officer. He replied that he did not, but they put him separately because he had tuberculosis. However, then another person was brought in, who was probably a former employee, then the patient with tuberculosis was transferred to the general department, and the former employee in his place.

From a letter to a lawyer dated 08.08.09:“I am informing you of the circumstances connected with the delivery of me to the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow on August 06, 2009.

... On August 6, I was brought to the court and immediately asked the court escort officer to hand over to the judge a written request I had prepared in advance to familiarize myself with the case materials at least an hour and a half before the start of the court session. The employee refused to hand over the petition to the judge, said that I could only make such a petition directly at the court session and that in the escort room where I was kept, there was no opportunity to familiarize myself with the case materials provided by the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Nevertheless, after some time, they brought me the materials of the case. I got acquainted with them, sitting on a bench in the corridor of the escort room. At the same time, I was not provided with a table, which made it very difficult to make the extracts I needed from the materials ... It should be noted that in the above-mentioned notice of Judge Podoprigorov, neither the date of my complaint nor what actions I appealed were indicated. Taking into account the fact that at present there are three complaints filed by me and still not considered by the court against the actions of officials of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (dated 18.06, 04.07 and 23.07.09), I still do not know exactly which of my complaints was appointed ... Nevertheless, the case materials were not provided to me in full. I spent the whole day in the escort room of the court. During all this time, I and other prisoners were not given the opportunity to get hot meals. At about 18.30 an employee of the escort service came to the cell of the escort room and told everyone to get ready to be taken back to the pre-trial detention center. He said that there would be no meeting that day, and the hearing was postponed to 10.08.09. I was not given any document confirming that I was brought to court and that the hearing was postponed.

After that, we were taken to the building of the Presnensky Court, where they offered to move to another car. In the section of the second car there were already so many prisoners that there was not even a place to stand ... Then I was placed in another section of the same car, where it was freer, but still very crowded ...

We were brought to the pre-trial detention center at about eight o'clock in the evening. I, like many who were with me, hoped that we would soon be taken to our cells, so that we could finally get hot meals and tea, go to the toilet, but all of us, about 20 people, were placed in the cell of the prefabricated department, where we were at first for an hour. This cell is about 22 meters in area, without windows, without forced ventilation... There was a floor vase in the cell, but it was not separated by a floor partition, so no one dared to go to the toilet there. There is no water tap in this cell. Since many began to smoke, this soon filled it with clouds of smoke, so that my head began to hurt and my eyes watered. We knocked on the cell door, but no one came for a long time. Finally, some employee of the pre-trial detention center came and said that we would soon be taken to our cells. Half an hour later, the locks rattled, and I heard that the cell door was opening, but instead of taking us out of the cell, at least 20 people were brought into it. Almost all of them immediately began to smoke, so that there was absolutely nothing to breathe. In total, at that time there were at least 40 people in the cell, most of them had to stand. So we spent about an hour and a half more, until we were finally taken to the cells ...

In general, it can be worse: 70 or 80 people in 21 square meters for about an hour and a half. Here, apparently, this is considered the norm ... I got into my cell only at half past eleven.

I can’t imagine how it is possible in such conditions to go to court every day, participate in meetings, defend oneself, without receiving for many days, while the trial is going on, neither adequate food, nor hot drinks, nor the opportunity to sleep enough time to recuperate.

Justice in such conditions turns into a process of grinding human meat into minced meat for prisons and camps. A process in which a person can neither effectively protect himself, nor even be aware of what is happening to him, thinking only about when will it all finally end, when will he be able to get rid of this physical and emotional torture and get into the camp ( no one hopes for acquittal by the court, they say that in our courts there are no more than 2% of acquittals), where the degree of suffering that a person undergoes while serving a sentence, as many here say, turns out to be less than while you, who have not yet been found guilty a person is subjected here while being pulled through this meat grinder.

Magnitsky Sergey Leonidovich(born April 8, 1972, Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, USSR - died November 16, 2009, Moscow, RF) is a Russian accountant and auditor, an employee of the Firestone Duncan consulting company. The personality of Sergei Magnitsky and his tragic death gained international notoriety in connection with the so-called Hermitage Capital case.

Sergei Magnitsky graduated from the Russian Academy of Economics named after G.V. Plekhanov with a degree in finance and credit in 1993. Since 1995, he worked as an auditor in the Firestone Duncan consulting company (Firestone Duncan CJSC), which was founded two years earlier by American lawyers Jameson Firestone and Terry Duncan and was engaged in tax consulting and auditing. Magnitsky was head of tax and audit at Firestone Duncan, a firm that provided legal services, including to Hermitage Capital Management.

According to the foundation, the persecution of Magnitsky was connected with an attempt by corrupt structures to prevent the exposure of their crimes. According to Novaya Gazeta, the criminal scheme that Magnitsky tried to expose was not only applied to companies owned by the Hermitage Capital Management fund.

November 24, 2008 Sergei Magnitsky was arrested on charges of tax evasion. Since his arrest, Magnitsky has been interrogated a total of four or five times. No other investigative actions were carried out with him. Magnitsky himself called himself a hostage. In court, he said: Your Honor, I've actually been taken hostage. Few people are interested in my person, everyone is interested in the person of the head of Hermitage". Magnitsky refused to plead guilty.

On July 14, 2009, after an ultrasound examination, Magnitsky was diagnosed with calculous cholecystitis (gallstones) in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center and prescribed planned treatment with a second examination. On July 25, Magnitsky was transferred to Butyrskaya prison, as explained to the lawyers, due to repairs at Matrosskaya Tishina. On November 16, 2009, after 11 months of pre-trial detention, Magnitsky died in the hospital of the pre-trial detention center. Magnitsky's death caused significant international outcry and was the reason for the adoption in the United States of a law imposing sanctions on Russian officials allegedly involved in his death.

In 2010, Transparency International, an international anti-corruption non-governmental organization, posthumously honored Sergei Magnitsky with the Integrity Award.

Russia Date of death: Mother:

Natalia Magnitskaya

Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky(April 8, Odessa - November 16, Matrosskaya Tishina, Moscow) - accountant and auditor, partner of a British law firm Firestone Duncan. The death of Magnitsky in the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center in 2009 caused a significant resonance in society.

Biography

Citizen of the Russian Federation, lived in Moscow. He was married and had two children.

"The Magnitsky Case"

Magnitsky's investigation into embezzlement from the budget

S. L. Magnitsky was the head of the tax and audit department at Firestone Duncan, which provided legal services, including to the Hermitage Capital Management fund. In the summer of 2007, the Russian branch of the Hermitage Capital fund was suspected of tax evasion. During the searches, the fund's documentation was seized, and in the auditing firm Firestone - the seals of firms with which the fund worked in Russia. Fund lawyers, including Magnitsky, revealed the fact of re-registration of firms. In October 2008, he testified to the investigator in connection with the case of lawyer Eduard Khairetdinov, pointing out that the seized documents and seals of a number of Hermitage firms were used to re-register them with new owners and subsequently illegally refund taxes in the amount of 5.4 billion rubles. According to Novaya Gazeta in its issue of April 28, 2010, the criminal scheme that Magnitsky tried to expose was directed not only against his company:

“For several years, tens of billions of rubles were withdrawn from the budget in this way, business was taken away from Russian entrepreneurs, and they themselves were sent to prison on trumped-up charges. Many officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, employees of the prosecutor's office, tax authorities, judges, and lawyers were involved in this scheme.

According to Hermitage experts, the former head of the Moscow tax number 28, Olga Stepanova, bought a chic mansion in the Moscow region and real estate in Dubai with money stolen from the budget. In Dubai, there is a luxurious villa registered to her ex-husband Vladlen Stepanov, as well as four apartments registered to him and two more deputies of Olga Stepanova at the Moscow tax office number 28. Payment for the purchase of real estate was made from accounts in the Swiss bank Credit Suisse, which in 2011 arrested by the Swiss investigating authorities.

According to the same schemes that Sergei Magnitsky exposed, the same people withdrew more than 11 billion rubles from the budget from 2009 to 2010.

Arrest

Colleagues of S. L. Magnitsky say that during the investigation he accused a number of employees of the Russian law enforcement agencies of corruption, and they tried to get him to retract these testimonies.

Since his arrest, Magnitsky has been interrogated a total of four or five times. No other investigative actions were carried out with him. Sergei called himself a hostage. In court, he said: “Your Honor, I was actually taken hostage. Few people are interested in my person, everyone is interested in the person of the head of Hermitage.”

The investigator repeatedly asked if Magnitsky was ready to enter into a special procedure for the trial, when the suspect voluntarily pleads guilty. Magnitsky was twice introduced to the new head of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation on a deal with the investigation, immediately after it began to operate in August 2009.

Despite the orders of the SIZO doctors, on September 2, 2009, an investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Silchenko refused the lawyers' request for medical assistance to Sergei Magnitsky:

I bring to your attention that your petition dated August 19, 2009 ... in defense of the interests of the accused S. L. Magnitsky, in which you ask the investigator to apply to the head of FBU IZ-77/2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for Moscow with a statement on ensuring the conduct of control ultrasound examination (ultrasound) of the abdominal cavity of the detained accused Magnitsky S. L. ... was considered and on August 31, 2009 a decision was issued to completely refuse to satisfy it ... The current legislation does not impose on the investigator the obligation to monitor the state of health of suspects and accused persons held in custody , and the defense's reference to in this case is illegal.

Death

The death certificate, signed on November 16 by the doctors of the Matrosskaya Tishina hospital, states that Magnitsky died of toxic shock and acute heart failure. The column "diagnosis" indicates acute pancreatitis and closed craniocerebral injury. In 2011, when a representative of the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center submitted an act to the Tverskoy court, there was no information about a closed craniocerebral injury.

Law Society of England and Wales [ which?] sent a letter to the President of Russia calling for a full investigation into Sergei Magnitsky's allegations of misconduct by Russian law enforcement agencies.

According to lawyers, Magnitsky's death was the result of the refusal of the SIZO administration to provide the necessary medical assistance to the person under investigation.

Further investigation showed that Magnitsky's death was preceded by his escort to a separate cell by 8 escorts to diagnose "psychological inadequacy" due to his periodic complaints about poor conditions of detention, lack of medical care and threat to life (about 100 complaints in total). The ambulance crew who arrived did not immediately declare death.

The Russian authorities are deliberately hiding the causes of the death of Sergei Magnitsky, continuing to sabotage any attempts to conduct an effective investigation into the circumstances of his death.

According to the organization, the actions of Russian investigators are contrary to generally accepted international standards of legal proceedings. Stefan Schmitt, director of the organization's international forensic programs, said

This case unearths ever-increasing evidence of torture and deliberate professional medical malpractice. Two and a half years have passed since the death of Magnitsky, however, those responsible for his arrest, which led to his death, have not been brought to justice.

Reaction to death

year 2009

2010

The inability or unwillingness of Mr. Bastrykin to read the statements and complaints of Sergei Magnitsky, which caused a human response around the world, is deeply regrettable. One gets the impression that the officials tasked with investigating the murder of Magnitsky are morally blind and deaf

2011

“Despite widely publicized evidence of criminal behavior in the Magnitsky case, the Russian authorities have failed to bring those responsible to justice. […] However, we will continue to call for all those responsible for Magnitsky's unjust imprisonment and criminal death to be held to account. We will continue to support the efforts of those individuals in Russia who are trying to bring them all to justice.”

2012

“The law will not put an end to impunity. However, he will express the determination of Britain not to turn a blind eye to the huge violations of the most fundamental human rights. Those who resort to torture and murder to silence the voice of freedom should not be able to buy property in Chelsea or fly into the Kings Road Christmas sales as if nothing had happened.”

Resignations of Russian officials

Libel case against investigator Kuznetsov

In addition to the entry ban, the European Parliament proposes that the law enforcement agencies of the EU countries freeze the assets of the Russian officials involved in the Magnitsky case on their territory. The chairperson of the European Parliament subcommittee on human rights, Heidi Hautala, commented on the result of the vote:

With this vote, the European Parliament is calling for justice to be done for an innocent person who died in prison. His death transcends all boundaries. There comes a time when there is no way to remain silent.

Heidi Hautala also said that Russian State Duma deputies lobbied hard against the adoption of the European Parliament resolution, but noted that this measure received support among many opposition politicians in Russia.

Awards

Sion Assidon, Chairman of the Committee for the Honor and Dignity Award, said:

Sergei believed in law and justice and died selflessly defending them in an unequal battle with large-scale corruption in Russian law enforcement agencies. Mr. Magnitsky's commitment to the principles of openness and transparency of state power was fully demonstrated in his resolute struggle against the arbitrariness of the authorities.
His extraordinary courage and unrelenting will in the face of difficult trials give strength to all of us, she will serve as an example for other fighters for justice.

Memory

Death anniversary

The anniversary of Magnitsky's death on November 16, 2010 was marked by the Russian and world community:

We need an arbitrator in this situation. You can also conduct an independent investigation, as is customary all over the world, which works great in high-profile cases.

The British weekly The Economist, in an article dedicated to the anniversary of the death of S. L. Magnitsky, wrote:

A year later, his death has become a symbol to the mind of the incomprehensible corruption and lawlessness that reigns in the Russian system and the inability or unwillingness of the Kremlin to change this.

original text(English)

A year later, his death has become a symbol of the mind-boggling corruption and injustice perpetrated by the Russian system, and the inability (or unwillingness) of the Kremlin to change it

In works of art

About Sergei Magnitsky, a year after his death, a documentary film Justice for Sergei was made. Directed by: Hans Hermans and Martin Maat. Studio: ICU Documentaries, Netherlands. The film was shown on March 30, 2012 in St. Petersburg at the film festival "Open your eyes!" .

The documentary play "Hour Eighteen" was written about Magnitsky, its author, Elena Gremina, used Magnitsky's diaries and letters to create the play. Director Mikhail Ugarov (Teatr.doc) created a play based on the play about the last minutes of Magnitsky's life; the premiere took place in November 2010 in Moscow. .

Notes

Magnitsky was not a lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management - UK under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. RIA Novosti (November 15, 2010). Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
Radio ECHO of Moscow:: Report of the Public Monitoring Commission on the Magnitsky case
Director of Hermitage Capital threatened with death for exposing Lieutenant Colonel Kuznetsov
Gazeta.Ru - 06/25/10 "You can't take money from a policeman"
Forbes: "Magnitsky was offered a deal with the investigation".
Punishment for Magnitsky - Novaya Gazeta, April 28, 2010
Vladlen Stepanov, involved in the "case of Sergei Magnitsky": "The mansions in Dubai and the Moscow region are mine. I bought them with my own, not with stolen money” - “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, June 28, 2011
Russia says attorney died from lack of medical aid in jail, activist blames beating by guards - The Associated Press, David Nowak - 4 July 2011
Russian Accounts Frozen at Credit Suisse - BARRON'S, Bill Alpert - May 5, 2011
Hermitage Capital: accounts of Russian officials involved in the Magnitsky case arrested in Switzerland Ru - May 6, 2011
The answer to Stepanov is Kasparov. Ru, Oleg Volgin - June 6, 2011
"Makhaon", "Parfenion" and he - "Novaya Gazeta", Roman Anin - September 28, 2011