MOSCOW, July 24 - RAPSI. Deceased lawyer Sergei Magnitsky's mother has requested that Moscow's Simonovsky District Court disclose the names of the 12 prosecutors investigating her son's case, the Hermitage Capital press service reports.
"The complaint filed by Natalia Magnitsky's lawyer reads that she has been trying for a whole year to find out from the Prosecutor General's Office the names of the prosecutors who are supervising the probe into her son's case and what decisions they have come to," says the press release.
Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer who worked with the Hermitage Capital investment fund, was arrested on tax evasion charges in November 2008, just days after accusing police investigators in a $230 million tax refund fraud, and died after almost a year in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow.
A probe into his death revealed that the lawyer, who was suffering from untreated pancreatitis and a heart condition, did not receive proper medical treatment. Rights activists pointed to multiple violations of the lawyer’s rights during his arrest and detention, including signs that he was beaten by prison guards hours before his death.
The U.S. State Department issued visa bans on several dozen Russian officials in connection to the Magnitsky case in July 2011. In response, Russia has imposed travel bans on several U.S. officials.
The Magnitsky case, along with the Jackson-Vanik amendment and the rift over the Syrian crisis, is a major stumbling block in the “reset” of U.S.-Russian relations.
In June 2011, the then President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Prosecutor General's Office to set up a special supervisory group over the investigation of cases related to Magnitsky. Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika assured him that the matter will be handled by top-notch professionals.