Russia rules out crime but aims to prosecute dead man

Published on 20/03/2013 00:00

A PROBE into the death in ­custody of an anti-corruption lawyer has been dropped by the Russian authorities.

Whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky, 37, died while awaiting trial on charges of tax evasion and fraud in 2009.

Human rights campaigners accused the Kremlin of a cover-up after the state Investigative Committee decided to end its inquiries into his death yesterday.

The Kremlin’s own human rights council said in 2011 that Magnitsky, who had accused state officials of stealing £150 million in a tax fraud, was probably beaten to death.

President Vladimir Putin has said Magnitsky was not tortured and that he died of heart failure.

“No objective facts have been established regarding a crime in relation to Sergei Magnitsky,” the Investigative Committee said. “A decision has been taken to end the criminal case because of the absence of a crime.”

It announced the decision three days before the posthumous trial of Magnitsky is set to start in Moscow, the first time Russia has tried a deceased ­person.

The case has raised tension in relations between the United States and Russia and intensified criticism of a lack of independence in Russia’s judiciary, although the Kremlin says it does not interfere in legal cases.