The European Court communicated the complaint of the mother of Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a pre-trial detention center.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg accepted the complaint of the mother of Hermitage Capital auditor Sergei Magnitsky, who died in the capital’s pre-trial detention center, and notified the Russian authorities about it. This is reported on the ECHR website. In addition to the complaint from the mother of the deceased, Natalya Magnitskaya, Sergei Magnitsky’s own complaint, filed back in 2009, is being considered. After his death, Magnitsky’s widow, Natalya Zharikova, became the applicant for this complaint. Magnitsky’s mother believes that the Russian authorities violated her son’s right to life (Article 2 of the Human Rights Convention), and the prohibition of torture (Article 3 of the Convention) and the right to effective legal protection (Article 11) were also violated. Magnitsky himself believed that Russia had violated his right to freedom and personal integrity. The European Court posed ten questions to the Russian authorities. In particular, the judges are asked to provide information about the reasons for the arrest and the need to keep Magnitsky in custody, and also to answer whether violence was used against him in the detention center. Among the documents requested by the ECHR are all medical documents about Magnitsky’s health condition, the full text of the criminal case initiated into his death, as well as written justifications from investigators submitted to the court to extend the arrest of the auditor. Sergei Magnitsky was arrested in November 2008 on suspicion of tax evasion and died in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center on November 16, 2009.