The Russian Prosecutor General's Office will prolong a probe into the case of Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, who died in custody last November, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee said on Thursday.
"The Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office has decided to prolong the investigation into this case because we are continuing to receive additional relevant information that needs additional assessment," Vladimir Markin said.
Sergei Magnitsky, 37, who was defending a British investment company, Hermitage Capital Management, against tax evasion charges, died in Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center last November.
Magnitsky was kept in a 8.2 sq m cell with two others for almost a year and died after being refused essential medical treatment for an embolism. Hermitage CEO William Browder said Magnitsky was "killed" after refusing to sign a confession admitting his role in the company's alleged tax scam.
Markin said investigators are trying to determine whether police had the right to arrest Magnitsky in the first place, and why the prison officials refused his repeated requests for medical help.
The death provoked uproar both in Russia and abroad, with President Dmitry Medvedev calling for a full investigation into the case. Earlier this year, the president pushed through a law allowing suspects in economic crimes to be released on bail.
In April, human rights advocate Lyudmila Alexeyeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group appealed to the Committee to press charges against the investigators of Magnitsky's death, but her appeal was turned down.
Later in April, a 53-year-old businesswoman, who had been suffering from severe diabetes, died in the same detention center after being refused medical treatment.
MOSCOW, September 16 (RIA Novosti)
