By Ivan Anderzhanov
A police general linked to the case of British hedge fund Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in jail last month, has been sacked, according to a Russian presidential decree
Magnitsky, who was awaiting trial on tax evasion charges, died last month in prison after nearly a year of incarceration. The Russian Prosecutor General’s office said that he died of a heart attack. But Hermitage Capital founder Bill Browder claimed Magnitsky was “killed” after refusing to sign a confession implicating Browder.
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service has admitted its partial guilt in the death of the lawyer.
The dismissal of Major General Anatoly Mikhalkin, head of the tax crimes department in the Interior Ministry’s Moscow branch, was reported by Russian media to be over Magnitsky’s death. It was Mikhailkin’s department that started proceedings against the lawyer.
Mikhalkin’s departure comes after a series of sackings last week among Federal Penitentiary Service officials, including the head of Moscow’s prisons.
Investigators earlier said that Magnitsky had conspired with Browder, who has reportedly been banned from entering Russia, to establish dummy firms to illegally buy and sell Russian energy giant Gazprom’s stock.
