Russia bans prison in tax cases
Source: Agencies |
December 30, 2009, Wednesday
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RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill banning the jailing of people suspected of tax crimes and has fired another senior prison official following the death in custody of a tax lawyer.
Medvedev, who has advocated more lenient punishment for economic crimes, signed a law banning the jailing of people under suspicion of tax crimes and allowing those convicted of a first tax offense to be fined without being held criminally liable, the Kremlin said in a statement yesterday.
Separately, the president fired Alexander Piskunov, deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service.
Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, 37, died last month after pancreatitis he developed while in custody went untreated. His death triggered a wave of criticism of Russian officials.
Medvedev has since fired 20 senior Federal Penitentiary Service officials, including the Moscow prisons chief and the head of the jail where Magnitsky spent his last months. Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov acknowledged last week that the firings were due to Magnitsky's death.
Magnitsky spent nearly a year in jail after being arrested on tax-evasion charges linked to his work with Hermitage Capital Management, a multibillion-dollar fund headed by US-born British investor William Browder.
Hermitage has accused Interior Ministry officers of illegally taking over assets it managed and using them to fraudulently reclaim US$230 million in taxes from the state.
Medvedev, who has advocated more lenient punishment for economic crimes, signed a law banning the jailing of people under suspicion of tax crimes and allowing those convicted of a first tax offense to be fined without being held criminally liable, the Kremlin said in a statement yesterday.
Separately, the president fired Alexander Piskunov, deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service.
Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, 37, died last month after pancreatitis he developed while in custody went untreated. His death triggered a wave of criticism of Russian officials.
Medvedev has since fired 20 senior Federal Penitentiary Service officials, including the Moscow prisons chief and the head of the jail where Magnitsky spent his last months. Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov acknowledged last week that the firings were due to Magnitsky's death.
Magnitsky spent nearly a year in jail after being arrested on tax-evasion charges linked to his work with Hermitage Capital Management, a multibillion-dollar fund headed by US-born British investor William Browder.
Hermitage has accused Interior Ministry officers of illegally taking over assets it managed and using them to fraudulently reclaim US$230 million in taxes from the state.
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