MOSCOW, December 8 - RAPSI. The court has upheld the decision to separate the criminal case against doctors working at a Moscow pretrial detention center from the death case of Hermitage Capital fund lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) reports from the courtroom on Thursday.

The Moscow district court has dismissed Magnitsky's mother's complaint against the investigators. Her lawyer Alexander Gorokhov said the investigators actually barred Magnitsky's relatives from accessing the case materials by separating the two cases.

Investigators have charged Magnitsky's doctor Larisa Litvinova and her immediate superior Dmitry Kratov in the lawyer's death.

Magnitsky, 37, who was accused of corporate tax evasion in relation to his work for the investment fund, died in an investigative isolation ward in November 2009. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, his death was caused by cardiovascular insufficiency.

The Investigative Committee closed a criminal case against Magnitsky due to his death, but the Prosecutor General's Office decided to resume the investigation. Magnitsky's relatives have demanded that the case against him be dropped.