MOSCOW, June 21 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) - The Tverskoy District Court in Moscow has postponed the hearing into the Magnitsky-Browder case until June 26 due to the absence of Browder's attorney, RAPSI reports from the courtroom on Friday.

The prosecutor has asked for an adjournment until Kirill Goncharov, the attorney of Hermitage Capital Fund CEO William Browder, shows up. The hearing was rescheduled for June 26.

On Friday, Goncharov once again failed to show up in court and was replaced by a defense lawyer appointed by the court. He said at the beginning of the hearing that he has studied the case and is ready to participate.

Meanwhile, Nikolai Gerasimov, who represents Sergei Magnitsky, refused to present evidence in court because the late Hermitage lawyer's family had asked defense attorneys not to take part in the hearing.

Goncharov missed the Monday hearing, which was adjourned to determine the cause for his absence, but the lawyer could not be reached by telephone. Goncharov did not attend the hearing on Tuesday either, for the third time. Magnitsky's lawyer said that Goncharov was ill. 

As a result of the lawyer's absence, the court decided to request that Moscow Bar Chamber President Genri Reznik settle the issue and postponed the hearing until June 21.

Browder is believed to have illegally purchased Gazprom stock when foreign ownership of the world's largest natural gas producer was restricted.

He is also on trial in absentia alongside Magnitsky for the alleged embezzlement of hundreds of millions of rubles from the federal budget by manipulating tax returns between September and October 2007.

Hermitage Capital maintains that it paid 5.4 billion rubles ($180 million) in taxes, but the money was stolen by corporate raiders with the help of law enforcement officials.

Magnitsky, who died in pretrial detention in Moscow in 2009, was prosecuted for this theft. The case was closed after his death, only to be reopened later. Under Russian law, a person can be prosecuted after their death.

In March 2013, Browder announced that Hermitage Capital would cease its operations in Russia.