#Magnitsky family blasts Green Party in European Parliament for premiere of 'false and offensive' film about Sergei Magnitsky

The premiere is sponsored to be shown at the European Parliament by the Greens/EFA Group, and hosted by Heidi Hautala, Finnish MEP, Vice President of the Green/EFA Group. The Magnitsky family expressed their indignation in the letter about this new attempt to blacken Sergei Magnitsky’s name. They view this film as promoting the interests of those who Sergei Magnitsky (pictured) exposed and who are afraid of the truth he had uncovered.

"This film has been made in the interest of those who are scared of the truth uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky," said Sergei Magnitsky’s mother and widow. "By this letter the family of Sergei Magnitsky state their highly negative reaction to this film and protest against unconscionable attempts to blacken Sergei Magnitsky’s name. We are categorically against public viewing of Andrei Nekrasov’s film, against its distribution in any form."

The letter from the Magnitsky family states that the film?contains false information and lies about Sergei Magnitsky. They are categorically against any showing or distribution of this film, including and especially at the European Parliament.

"We believe that the film by Andrei Nekrasov, based on his inventions, and not on documents and facts, is degrading to the dignity of Sergei Magnitsky, degrading to the deceased, who cannot defend himself," says the letter from the Magnitsky family.

The film by Andrei Nekrasov and producer Torstein Grude of Piraya Films (Norway) is designed to perpetuate a Russian government disinformation campaign about the Magnitsky case for a Western audience. The film claims?that Sergei Magnitsky was not beaten in custody, was not a lawyer, did not testify against Russian officials, did not investigate the US$230 million fraud, but instead committed it himself.

These false claims are contradictedby numerous documents. In particular, the claim that he wasn't beaten is refuted by the photos of his injuries from the state autopsy; his death certificate stating he had a suspected cerebrial cranial injury; certificates from the detention centre where he died recording the application of rubber batons; the Russian state forensic opinion finding that Sergei Magnitsky’s injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma.

Magnitsky’s profession as a lawyer is demonstrated by his role in representing his multiple clients in court, providing them legal advice, and his own testimony identifying himself as a lawyer.

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The fact that Sergei Magnitsky’s testified against police officers is proven by his testimony from 5 June 2008 in which he described the theft of Hermitage’s companies and fraudulent claims against them, mentioning police officer Kuznetsov 14 times and police officer Karpov 13 times, his 7 October 2008 testimony in which he confirmed his 5 June 2008 testimony and testified that the same group who stole Hermitage’s?companies stole US$230m from the Russian budget.

The claim that Sergei Magnitsky stole US$230m is refuted by the discovery of the illicit proceeds from the fraud on accounts connected to the Russian officials and members of their families; the joint travel of the criminals and Russian government officials involved in the fraud; the fact that Magnitsky helped Hermitage report the crime three weeks before the criminals applied for the fraudulent tax refund, and the fact that the same criminal organization committed similar crimes before and after.

The false and defamatory allegations about Sergei Magnitsky that Nekrasov tries to make have been refuted in the past by independent international institutions including the Council of Europe, the EU Parliament, the US State Department and many others who have studied the case in detail. Furthermore, the allegations in the film are also contradicted by the Russian government’s own evidence, court records, and expert conclusions.

In Sergei Magnitsky’s own hand-written statement, 4 days before his death, on 12 November 2009, he wrote: "By now it has been a year that I am being held hostage in prison in the interests of the persons, who are interested to ensure that those actually guilty in the theft of 5.4 billion rubles [US$230m] from the budget will never be brought to justice...Investigator Silchenko does not want to identify the other persons, who made this fraud possible. He wants the lawyers of the Hermitage Fund, who pursued and continue to pursue attempts for this case be investigated, be forced to emigrate from their country, in which criminal cases were fabricated against them on phony grounds, or like me be detained in custody.

"My detention in custody has absolutely nothing in common with the purpose of criminal justice, which I referred to earlier. It has nothing in common with the legal purpose of restraint listed in Article 97 of the Russian Criminal Procedural Code, but this is a punishment to which I have been subjected for merely defending the interests of my client and, ultimately, the interests of the Government, because should my client’s interests be realized, should the law enforcement agencies stop obstructing the interests of my client and instead assisted them, then the theft of 5.4 billion rubles from the state would not be possible. The actual purpose of my criminal prosecution and my detention in custody are in conflict with the law."

The mother of Sergei Magnitsky has previously written to the producer of the film, but received no reply.

Letter from Sergei Magnitsky family

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