Russia Prosecutes Magnitsky Posthumously

A Moscow court had to postpone a preliminary hearing in the posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky on Monday, following a boycott from his relatives. The dead lawyer is charged with tax evasion.  The court had to appoint a defense attorney to represent Magnitsky, a lawyer with Hermitage Capital who died from a lack of medical care in custody in November 2009, after his mother and lawyers refused to take part in Monday’s hearing. “Today’s preliminary hearing was postponed till February 18, 11 a.m.,” because Magnitsky’s representatives didn’t show up, court spokeswoman Alexandra Berezina told journalists, the RAPSI news agency reported. In order to preserve the principle of equality in the trial, the judge appointed the defense, she said. Amnesty International criticized the trial as “Kafkaesque,” saying Russian prosecutors violated a fundamental right of a defendant to represent himself in person. Magnitsky was arrested in November 2008 on tax evasion charges, after he exposed what he believed was a $230 million tax fraud scheme implemented by Russian officials. Suffering from serious health problems, he died untreated of heart failure at Moscow’s prison hospital. He was 37 years old. An independent investigation ordered by the Kremlin’s human rights council unveiled that he had been beaten with batons shortly before his death. The only prison official who faced trial over his death was acquitted in December.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130129/179091348/Russia-to-Start-Posthumous-Trial-of-Magnitsky.html