Ex-investigator Karpov's suit against Hermitage Capital partially upheld
MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - A court in Moscow on Tuesday partially upheld a lawsuit against the Hermitage Capital foundation and its founder and against the head of the Firestone Duncan British law firm, filed by an ex-investigator who probed the criminal inquiry into the case of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
Moscow's Meshchansky court ruled that ex-investigator Pavel Karpov, who demanded 6 billion rubles in damages, be repaid 100,000 rubles.
Karpov argued, according to the case files, that information posted on the Internet by the respondents, William Browder and Jamison Firestone, defamed his reputation. The Hermitage Capital foundation earlier claimed that Karpov, an entry on the Magnitsky List, was partially responsible for Magnitsky's death.
After hearing the parties' arguments, the court announced that Karpov had the right to a compensation. The respondents did not attend the hearings.
Magnitsky, who was charged for tax evasion, died in a detention facility in 2009. Magnitsky's colleagues said that he was arrested after he exposed corrupt schemes in which Russian officials were involved.
President Barack Obama in 2012 signed the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act which envisions visa and financial sanctions against Russian officials who Washington believes were responsible for Magnitsky's death and were involved in other violations of human rights.