The film "Magnitsky's Law: Behind the Scenes"

For 6 years after his death in prison, Sergei Magnitsky personified the cruelty in Russia of President Vladimir Putin. And now there was a documentary, which caused a furore and attempts to prevent its demonstrations, in which the victim is depicted as an accomplice in the crime.

Gloom over memory

Demonstration of the film "The Law of Magnitsky. Behind the scenes "in Europe was canceled after warnings were issued about the initiation of libel suits from financier William Browder. He fell out of favor with the government of Russia and hired auditor-lawyer Sergei Magnitsky to investigate the grandiose scheme of fraud with tax compensation after the government appropriated three of its funds.

Andrei Nekrasov "The Magnitsky Law. Backstage "was going to be shown in the private museum of the news industry Newseum. The lawyers of Mr. Browder and mother of Magnitsky Natalia Nikolaevna sent a written request to cancel the event. After a press conference, the leadership of Newseum refused to do so.

"We support freedom of speech and expression," said museum director Scott Williams. "We can not let them show the film." According to him, the museum is not a sponsor of the film show, but leases a cinema. "We often rent rooms for events that many would not like to see," he said in response.

The Magnitsky Law

Mr. Browder accused Andrei Nekrasov of defaming him and mocking the memory of the deceased. According to the film "The Magnitsky Law. Behind the Scenes, "the well-known version of the death of a lawyer is incorrect: the police did not beat him before his death, he did not testify that civil servants conspired to steal $ 230 million of fraudulently received tax benefits. In fact, Nekrasov argues that the fraud was organized by Mr. Browder.

The legacy of Sergei, who was 37 at the time of his death, is complicated by the fact that he became such a powerful symbol. In 2012 Congress passed the Magnitsky Law, the essence of which is to create a list of Russian officials involved in human rights violations. List figurants are prohibited from entering the US territory and using the country's banking system. The Kremlin imposed sanctions on several American citizens and imposed a ban on the adoption of Russian children by Americans.

Lawmakers now intend to adopt a similar Magnitsky Law that would impose sanctions on people anywhere in the world for human rights violations that surfaced in the case of a murdered lawyer. To the great disappointment of the Russian government, the bill will again bear his name. Demonstration of the film "The Law of Magnitsky. Behind the scenes "in Newseum is particularly controversial, because it can attract lawmakers or their assistants. In the huge museum, which is on Pennsylvania Avenue, at the Capitol, the text of the First Amendment is carved over its main entrance.

The hypochondriac director

Nekrasov is an experienced documentaryist, whose work sometimes had a critical character for the Russian government. He made films about Russia's resistance to resistance in Chechnya and the poisoning of former intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, financed by Boris Berezovsky.

Speaking in Berlin, the director said that he had no intention of refuting the death of lawyer Browder. Director Nekrasov "The Law of Magnitsky. Behind the scenes "is seen as a documentary drama depicting the last days of a lawyer's life, and says that he consulted with Browder, whom he planned to use to read the voiceover text. But as soon as he began to investigate the original documents of the case, according to Nekrasov, he began to doubt the version of Browder's events.

"It's hard to say at what point I thought it was a lie, a fictitious story," he said. One of the key moments was that "there were no signs of reporting on the facts of corruption or illegal activities" on the part of Magnitsky.

Public response

People familiar with the Magnitsky case expressed doubt that he was involved in the conspiracy. "When I was in the government," said Michael McFaul, a former United States ambassador to Russia, "we carefully studied his tragic case and had a fundamentally different assessment."

In April, the film "The Law of Magnitsky. Behind the scenes "in the European Parliament at the last minute did not take place after Browder's lawyers began to threaten legal action. British law firm Carter-Ruck also sent a letter to the German-French television network Arte, which planned the broadcast of the film.

Who pays?

In the United States, Nekrasov hired a small lobbying firm, Potomac Square Group, which worked for Kuwait, Bahrain and Azerbaijan, along with the governments of other countries. It is directed by the former reporter of the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Cooper. He rented a movie theater in the Newseum museum and refused to say who pays for his company's services. "I'm organizing this event for the director," he said.

Cooper said that after the demonstration of the film with Mr. Nekrasov, a question and answer session will be held, moderated by the investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. Also, the organizers considered the possibility of inviting Mr. Browder to take part in this action.

Trying to sow doubts

He did not respond to requests for comment. But he already opposed the film in the past, calling it "a calculated attempt to damage our campaign and sow doubts in the people of the legacy of Sergei Magnitsky."

Browder's attorneys produced serious documentary evidence, including photographs of beatings of a lawyer in his prison cell. They also refer to the transcript of Magnitsky's testimony, in which the lawyer named the people involved in the tax fraud.

Evidence of Medvedev's advisers

The ill-treatment of Magnitsky in prison is unlikely to be questioned. The Russian authorities initially claimed that he died of sudden cardiac arrest. But after persistent questions, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered prosecutors to conduct an investigation.

In 2011, a group of Medvedev's advisers on human rights published a report in which it was concluded that Sergei Magnitsky was beaten. His illnesses were not healed during the 11 months he was imprisoned. The report says that the investigators and staff of the prison administration have a common responsibility for his death.

Raider seizure

William Browder was once one of the largest foreign investors in the Russian stock market. He spoke on the side of Putin, and in 2005 told the reporter that the newly elected president of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko needs to develop closer ties with the Russian Federation. But after he was deported from the country, Browder began to wage a tough fight against corrupt Russian officials.

Last year, he published the book "Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder and Lone for Justice", in which the details of the circumstances of Sergei Magnitsky's death were described.

Criminal talent

June 13, 2016 Andrei Nekrasov showed an updated version of his film against Magnitsky private audience in the Newseum museum in Washington, in which he tries to justify Sergei Roldugin, cellist and childhood friend Putin, whose participation in the scam was discovered in April 2016 due to leakage of "Panamanian documents ".

In his new version of "The Law of Magnitsky. Behind the scenes, Nekrasov claims that a friend of President Putin could not be the recipient of $ 230 million in fraudulent tax fraud charges found by Sergei, claiming that the money had come to Roldugin's accounts even before the Magnitsky case.

Nekrasov argues in his film that "the money transfer that was supposed to link fraud and Putin's friend was held in July and October 2007, that is before fraud took place in late December, when the tax refund was approved by Russian officials" .

In fact, according to the "Panamanian documents", as well as the Project on Combating Organized Crime and Corruption, $ 2 million related to $ 230 million fraud came to Delco Networks SA on February 27, 2008, 2 months after And from there $ 800,000 were transferred to the company of Sergei Roldugin International Media Overseas SA under a contract dated May 2008. The company was registered on February 1, 2008 and opened an account with a branch of Gazprombank in Switzerland.

Admirers-recidivists

"These latest statements by Andrei Nekrasov clearly show his commitment and that the purpose of his film is to justify corrupt Russian officials and individuals involved in the $ 230 million fraud that Sergey uncovered," said William Browder, leader of the global movement "Justice for Magnitsky."

The main allies of Andrei Nekrasov in the promotion of his film are Natalia Veselnitskaya and Russian lawyer Denis Katsyv, whose company is currently accused by the US Department of Justice and the Swiss Prosecutor General of laundering money in connection with the 230 million fraud uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky. Information about Veselnitsky's participation in filming and the interrupted demonstration in Brussels was made public by the pro-Kremlin TASS news agency, which she described as "one of the Russian organizers of the tape preview."

Other supporters of the film are Andrei Nekrasov's "Magnitsky Law." Behind the scenes "are Pavel Karpov, a former police officer who was in charge of storing documents used to commit budget theft, and Andrei Pavlov, a" family adviser ", an organized criminal group Klyuev, who was involved in a conspiracy that became an instrument of swindlers. They both flew to Brussels for a canceled European premiere.

Billion for snacks

The premiere of the film "Magnitsky Law" in Russian was held at the Moscow International Film Festival, whose president, Nikita Mikhalkov, who underwent a course of treatment for pneumonia, left the hospital for viewing. Such enthusiasm was probably heated by the billion rubles that he asked from the budget to open his new snack chain.

In his film, Nekrasov rejects the evidence, conclusions and conclusions of several bodies and journalists engaged in independent investigations, confirming that Magnitsky was arrested after testifying against corrupt Russian police officers and died in custody.

Evidence of human rights defenders

The list of the deliberate lies of Andrei Nekrasov is set out in the 50-page presentation of the Justice for Magnitsky movement. It is based on official documents, testimony of Sergei and the results of independent investigations.

The lie of Nekrasov in the film was also established by Russian human rights activists, who stated that his goal was to attack the Magnitsky list in the interests of corrupt officials affected by the sanctions. A corresponding statement was made by the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseeva and the head of the Moscow Public Oversight Commission, who conducted a forensic medical examination of the death of a lawyer in custody, Valery Borshchev.

Magnitsky was a lawyer for the Hermitage Capital Management Foundation, who disclosed a scam about a $ 230 million kidnap from the state budget and testified to the involvement of Russian officials. He was arrested on false charges, detained for 358 days without trial, tortured and was killed while in prison at the age of 37. These events are described in the best-selling New York Times "Red Mark" by William Browder and in a series of videos on the Youtube channel "Russian untouchables".