We are your treating doctors

The Investigative Committee refused to allow Sergei Magnitsky's mother, Natalya Magnitskaya, to conduct an independent medical study. They don’t want to show her the archive materials of his organs. According to the investigator, “the participation of victims in forensic medical research ... does not imply that they conduct research on their own.”

Lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, representing Magnitskaya’s interests, filed a complaint with the Basmanny Court. According to Gorokhov, the investigators’ refusal violates the constitutional rights of the victim and limits her ability to collect evidence, as enshrined in Russian criminal procedure legislation.

In addition, in the absence of access to samples of Sergei Magnitsky’s organs, relatives will not be able to take independent actions to collect evidence - thus, an independent study of Magnitsky’s death in “Matrosskaya Tishina” will be blocked.

The Hermitage Capital fund, with which Magnitsky collaborated, recalls that this is not the first time that government authorities have refused requests from the lawyer’s relatives to conduct independent medical research. Immediately after his death, the family was denied access to an independent expert to participate in the official forensic examination, explaining the refusal by saying that all experts were “equally independent.” They also refused to conduct an independent pathological examination, and the body was released to the family only on the condition of immediate burial.

Nikolai Gorokhov claims that during the year and a half of the preliminary investigation, the archive of Magnitsky’s tissues and organs, without the knowledge of his mother, was significantly reduced.

The petition for the provision of tissue samples pointed out “numerous contradictions in the testimony and statements of officials of the Investigative Committee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, who were responsible for the detention of S.L. Magnitsky. in custody and responsible for his life and health - regarding the place, time, causes, diagnosis and other significant circumstances of his death.” In this regard, Natalya Magnitskaya “has reasonable doubts regarding the accuracy, reliability, completeness and validity of the results of examinations carried out in state institutions of the Russian Federation that are under the control, supervision or influence of these officials, whose actions could lead to the death of S. Magnitsky. L., and therefore personally interested in concealing the truth in a criminal case, and at the same time possessing power and administrative resources to put pressure on experts.”