Russia asks trial judge to close case against dead whistleblower
Flowers are pictured on the grave of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky at the Preobrazhensky cemetery in Moscow March 11, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Mikhail Voskresensky
MOSCOW | Wed Jul 3, 2013 6:58am EDT
(Reuters) - A Russian prosecutor asked a court on Wednesday to close the posthumous tax evasion case against late whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky and sentence his former boss William Browder to nine years in prison in absentia, news agencies reported.
The prosecutor made the request in closing arguments in the posthumous trial of Magnitsky, whose death in 2009 caused an international outcry and underscored the dangers faced by Russians who challenge the authorities.
Browder, the head of investment fund Hermitage Capital Management and once one of the biggest foreign investors in Russia, is being tried in absentia in the case, which has added to Western concerns about the rule of law in Russia.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Douglas Busvine)
