US proposes to revoke visas of 60 Russian officials due to the Magnitsky case

American Senator Benjamin Cardin, who heads the US Congressional Helsinki Commission, has proposed a ban on US visas for 60 leading Russian officials who, in his opinion, are responsible for the death of Hermitage Capital Management lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a pre-trial detention center, reports BBC Russian.

A letter with the corresponding proposals was sent by the senator to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The 37-year-old lawyer died in “Matrosskaya Tishina” on 16 November 2009. According to forensic evidence, the cause of death was acute heart failure. Magnitsky’s lawyers and human rights activists claim that Magnitsky was not provided with medical assistance. Previously, the Public Oversight Commission for the implementation of human rights monitoring in places of detention in Moscow released a report “On the inspection of the detention of Sergei Magnitsky in Moscow SIZO”, in which it noted that the lawyer “was intentionally subjected to physical and psychological pressure with the aim of forcing him to give false testimony”. For this purpose, the lawyer was denied medical assistance, human rights activists claim.