Last week, Sergei Magnitsky, a young (he was 37 years old), honest and hard working lawyer, who had courageously and outspokenly exposed widespread corruption and fraud among Russia's police force, was left to die a painful and preventable death in terrible conditions in an isolated Russian prison cell. How could this come about? Under what circumstances would such a man - who would be a model citizen in all democratic countries that uphold standards of human rights - find himself behind bars? Under who's watch would a prisoner who is seriously ill - he was suffering from pancreatitis - and is in screaming agony not only not be treated but actively ignored and fatally denied medical assistance? Magnitsky died from a rupture in his abdominal membrane, the direct result of a lack of medical treatment for the pancreatitis that he had been diagnosed with in August this year. The prison authorities originally confirmed the rupture to be the cause of death, but in official reports that were subsequently released, cause of death was given as heart failure. An autopsy on his body was refused.
There can only be one culprit for this crime: the Russian administration. Vladimir Putin; Dmitri Medvedev; the handpicked corps of Russia's political elite; the FSB; the police forces - from the top down, the arms of the Russian state are dangerous and corrupt, even ‘criminal', in the words of Hermitage Capital chief Bill Browder, on behalf of whom Magnitsky was bringing corruption charges against some of Russia's biggest corporations.
Despite President Medvedev's bold words in his recent State of the Nation speech and his promises to introduce tough new anti-corruption measures, Magnitsky's death is another indication that the rhetoric from Russia falls far short of the reality. Having exposed serious fraud and corruption - Magnitsky claimed that a cabal of police officers, lawyers, tax officials and gangsters had conspired to steal over $230m (£139m) through tax fraud - the only one punished was Magnitsky himself, and for what? He was slung in prison on charges of tax evasion!
Despite having not yet received a trial, Magnitsky had been in prison for a year, living in the most squalid conditions with rats, sewers, and sometimes two other convicted criminals sharing his 8 squared meter cell. Magnitsky had yet to stand trial for his so called crimes. The authorities were putting further pressure on him to admit to the spurious charges of tax evasion, but he maintained his innocence. In fact, under Russian law, Magnitsky would have had to either stand trial or be released from prison on 24th November. Instead, he died on 16th November, as a direct result of his pancreatic condition, having lodged numerous complaints to the prison authorities about the deteriorating state of his health and the lack of medical treatment. In short, Magnitsky was killed.
Not only was the lawyer slung in prison, it has now transpired that death threats were being sent to one of Magnitsky's colleagues at the Hermitage Capital hedge fund. Sent from an anyonymous Russian mobile phone, a text message quoting the Godfather said: "If history has taught us anything, it is that anyone can be killed - Don Michael Corleone." Is this what Russia considers to be acceptable treatment of its citizens? To be persecuted shamelessly and to have their colleagues, loved ones and friends harassed simply because they have dared to question their leaders?
How many more innocent deaths do there need to be at the hands of the Russian authorities before the international community finally begin to put real pressure on Russia to change, before the Russian people themselves can take no more?
Medvedev can pretend to appease an international capitalist community by paying lip service to reforming Russia's corrupt commercial infrastructure, but the fact is that nothing will change until he takes seriously the need for total democratic reform and renewal in his country; until the press are finally given the freedom to report wrongdoing as they see it and not be kowtowed by either thuggery and oppression or by official state censorship; until NGO's and international human rights organisations feel safe enough to operate effectively and to work with the worst off in Russian society who have been all but abandoned and sometimes actively persecuted by the state. That is when things will start to change in Russia.
Until that point, we will continue to witness the individual tragedies of people who have disclosed crime and corruption and called for change and they will continue to be silenced one by one. But we who are working for the introduction of proper rule of law and the respect of human rights in Russia and all of its regions refuse, as a whole, to be silenced. We will remember Magnitsky, as we remember our friends before him, and we will keep reminding the world of their unacceptable fate.
Ivar Amundsen,
Director, Chechnya Peace Forum |
