“I deeply regret Mr Bastrykin’s inability or refusal to read the statements and appeals of Sergey Magnitskiy, which have prompted a humane reaction in the entire world. One gets the impression that officials who were ordered to investigate the murder of Magnitskiy are morally blind and deaf,” the head of the company, William Browder, said in a statement that was distributed on Tuesday [7 September].

Jamison Firestone, head of the [Firestone Duncan] law firm, where Sergey Magnitskiy was employed, doubted the competence of the investigations bodies that are investigating the death of the lawyer.

“It is absurd to draw any conclusions about the arrest and death of Sergey [Magnitskiy] before the completion of the investigation into all the complaints related to Interior Ministry officers’ involvement in embezzling state funds,” Firestone said.

“Only apathetic people have not read the complaints over Magnitskiy’s illegal arrest by police officers, whom he caught engaging in corruption, denying medical assistance and victimizing [inmates] at the remand centre,” the Hermitage Capital report said.

Magnitskiy’s death is not connected to the actions of investigators, the head of the Investigations Committee under the Russian Prosecutor’s Office, Aleksandr Bastrykin, said in an interview that was published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta on Tuesday [7 September]. [Passage omitted]

[In a later report, Ekho Moskvy news agency quoted a press-release by Magnitskiy's friends and colleagues that said: "Bastrykin's interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, in which he said that Magnitskiy had allegedly not complained about the investigation's illegal activities related to pressuring him, is just plainly irresponsible and false".

"Bastrykin does not have the right to occupy the post of the highest investigations body of the country after what he said," the press release said.]

Magnitsky's funeral