| A meeting of Presidential Council on Human Rights and
Civil Society Development will take place in Stavropol today.
The President will receive a report on the investigation of
the circumstances of death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky,
lawyer of Hermitage Capital Foundation. Valery Borschyov,
YABLOKOs Bureau member and Chair of the Permanent Chamber
on Human Rights of the Political Consultative Council under
President of Russia, conducted independent investigation of
the death of Sergei Magnitsky and participated in the preparation
of the report.
The first report on the Magnitsky case was prepared in 2009,
however, it did not get the expected reaction then. There
were only words that Magnitsky had died due a heart disease,
Borschyov noted.
"In our report to the President we write that Magnitsky
died because he had been severly beaten. It is our version.
And it was a torture," he stressed.
I was several times present at the interrogations and also
gave my testimony. We were concerned by the fact that investigator
Oleg Silchenko was left outside the case, however, he had
been bearing the main responsibility for unlawful arrest and
tortures of Sergei Magnitsky. We have been seeking a thorough
investigation of the case, and the Investigation Committee
had to admit that a fact of not providing medical care to
Magnitsky had taken place", Borschyov said.
The report also contains a proposal to stop interference
of the Federal Penitentiary Service into medical care in prisons,
any possibility of pressure on physicians should be ruled
out, he noted.
"We believe it is necessary to transfer medical service
in prisons under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health, certainly, does not express much enthusiasm
about this, although until 1932 medical service in prisons
had been independent and had not been part of the Federal
Penitentiary system, Borschyov added.
According to Borschyov, death rate in Moscow remand prisons
has risen by 12 percent for the past year. "Certainly,
a political will is required so that to bring medical service
in prisons out of the Federal Penitentiary Service jurisdiction.
I am sure that our President will read our report very carefully.
The authorities have underestimated the position of the European
community, and the resolution on the case by the Parliament
of the Netherlands will be followed by corresponding resolutions
from parliaments of other countries, he added.
See also:
Human
Rights
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