Rights commissioner denounces Magnitsky’s postmortem conviction

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 11, 2013) Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin has denounced the postmortem conviction of late Hermitage Capital auditor Sergei Magnitsky by Moscow’s Tverskoi Court.

“I object to trying people post mortem. There is an element of some ancient pagan mentality in this,” Lukin told Interfax on Thursday.

“Then let’s arrange the trial of Ivan the Terrible or, on the contrary, (Prince Andrew) Kurbsky, who supposedly committed high treason. All these are games that I don’t understand. I believe they reveal some weird twists in the people’s mindset,” he said.

Moscow’s Tverskoi Court found Magnitsky guilty of evading over 500 million rubles in taxes on Thursday. The case against him was closed due to his death, but the court said he could not be subject to rehabilitation.

Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison on November 16, 2009.