Magnitsky’s death ‘tragedy,’ but not crime - Putin

The death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow pre-trial detention facility in 2009 was a “tragedy,” Russian President Vladimir Putin says on Saturday.
“Investigation bodies came to the conclusion that there was no ill intention, no criminal negligence,” Putin said in an interview with the state-run Rossiya-1 TV channel. “A tragedy occurred.” Magnitsky’s death sparked tensions between Russia and the United States, which late last year introduced sanctions against Russian officials accused of human rights violations.
The adoption of the so-called Magnitsky Act came after heavy lobbying from Browder and anti-Putin protest movement figures, notably Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister who in 2012 met with senior members of Congress to push for the law.
Just weeks after the law was enacted, Russia banned US nationals from adopting Russian children. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the ban had been triggered by the Magnitsky Act, although this was later denied by other officials, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Putin said late last year that the “politicization” of Magnitsky’s death “is not our fault.” “Magnitsky was not some human rights activist, he was not fighting for the rights of all,” Putin told journalists at a massive news conference on December 20. “He was a lawyer for Mr. Browder, whom our law enforcement agencies suspect of committing economic crimes in Russia.”