MOSCOW, October 24 - RAPSI. The Foreign Ministry has called the European Parliament's recommendations to limit entry to the EU for Russians on the Magnitsky list an attempt to place pressure on Russia's judicial system.

On Tuesday, MEPs approved a report containing sanction proposals regarding officials who are thought to have been involved in the death of Hermitage Capital auditor Sergei Magnitsky.

"Such a step by the MEPs has nothing to do with rectifying an injustice," the ministry said in a statement. "Moreover, we consider these actions to be another attempt to politicize the issue and to place pressure on the Russian judicial system, which does not correspond with the MEPs commitment to the principles of the rule of law that they have proclaimed."

Magnitsky was charged with involvement in large-scale corporate tax evasion. He died in a Moscow pretrial detention center on November 16, 2009, after spending nearly a year behind bars.

According to investigators, Magnitsky and his accomplices stole hundreds of millions of rubles from the state by manipulating tax returns between September and October 2007.

Hermitage Capital maintained that it had paid 5.4 billion rubles ($186.5 million) in taxes, but the money was stolen, abetted by law enforcement officials. Magnitsky's prosecution has been attributed to this theft.