Written declaration No. 490 | Doc. 12744 | 09 February 2012

The Sergei Magnitsky case

Signatories: Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Pedro AGRAMUNT, Spain, EPP/CD ; Ms Khadija ARIB, Netherlands, SOC ; Mr Mörður ÁRNASON, Iceland, SOC ; Ms Ankie BROEKERS-KNOL, Netherlands, ALDE ; Mr Mikael CEDERBRATT, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Boriss CILEVIČS, Latvia, SOC ; Mr Georges COLOMBIER, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Ahmet Berat ÇONKAR, Turkey, EDG ; Mr Joseph DEBONO GRECH, Malta, SOC ; Mr Arcadio DÍAZ TEJERA, Spain, SOC ; Mr József ÉKES, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Joseph FENECH ADAMI, Malta, EPP/CD ; Ms Jana FISCHEROVÁ, Czech Republic, EDG ; Ms Pernille FRAHM, Denmark ; Mr Hans FRANKEN, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Jean-Charles GARDETTO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Ms Sylvi GRAHAM, Norway, EPP/CD ; Ms Olha HERASYM'YUK, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Andres HERKEL, Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Françoise HOSTALIER, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Mats JOHANSSON, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Ferenc KALMÁR, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Giorgi KANDELAKI, Georgia, EPP/CD ; Mr Burhan KAYATÜRK, Turkey, EPP/CD ; Ms Kerstin LUNDGREN, Sweden, ALDE ; Ms Nicole MANZONE-SAQUET, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Ms Christine MARIN, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Dick MARTY, Switzerland ; Mr José MENDES BOTA, Portugal, EPP/CD ; Mr Jean-Claude MIGNON, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Akaki MINASHVILI, Georgia, ALDE ; Ms Cora van NIEUWENHUIZEN, Netherlands, ALDE ; Ms Zaruhi POSTANJYAN, Armenia, EPP/CD ; Ms Marietta de POURBAIX-LUNDIN, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Christos POURGOURIDES, Cyprus ; Mr Janusz RACHOŃ, Poland ; Mr Frédéric REISS, France, EPP/CD ; Ms Mailis REPS, Estonia, ALDE ; Mr François ROCHEBLOINE, France, EPP/CD ; Ms Tatiana ROSOVÁ, Slovak Republic, EPP/CD ; Mr Ilir RUSMALI, Albania, EPP/CD ; Mr Indrek SAAR, Estonia, SOC ; Mr Kimmo SASI, Finland, EPP/CD ; Mr André SCHNEIDER, France, EPP/CD ; Ms Marina SCHUSTER, Germany, ALDE ; Ms Maria STAVROSITU, Romania, EPP/CD ; Mr Christoph STRÄSSER, Germany, SOC ; Ms Chiora TAKTAKISHVILI, Georgia, ALDE ; Mr Latchezar TOSHEV, Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Imre VEJKEY, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Luca VOLONTÈ, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Klaas de VRIES, Netherlands, SOC ; Mr Piotr WACH, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Johann WADEPHUL, Germany, EPP/CD ; Mr Jordi XUCLÀ, Spain, ALDE ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

Origin - Written Declaration first published on 4 October 2011 with 53 signatures.

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

Sergei Magnitsky was the legal representative of the Hermitage Fund in Russia. He discovered the largest tax fraud in Russian history perpetrated by members of the Russian government. After testifying against them, he was arrested, tortured and killed in police custody.

In July 2011, the Council of the President of the Russian Federation for the promotion of civil society and human rights conducted an independent investigation and found that Sergei Magnitsky had been falsely arrested and prosecuted by officers with a conflict of interest, been beaten by eight guards with rubber batons prior to his death, and that state bodies failed and resisted to investigate the corruption he had uncovered. The Council named specific perpetrators in the Government. Requests by Mr Magnitsky's family for an independent medical evaluation have been refused.

The Russian Interior Ministry and the General Prosecutor’s Office have since rejected the findings of the Human Rights Council as inadmissible, exonerated the officers involved, reopened the case against Mr Magnitsky nearly two years after his death and the same officers who persecuted Sergei Magnitsky called his mother and his widow for interrogation.

We call on Russia to immediately prosecute the people named in the Human Rights Council's report, cease the intimidation of Magnitsky's family and allow an independent evaluation in his case