Europe

Russian whistleblower’s lawyer ‘falls from fourth-floor window’

Nikolai Gorokhov was due in court on Wednesday in high-profile fraud case

A photograph of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky on his grave in the Preobrazhensky cemetery in Moscow. The whistleblower died in prison after uncovering a massive fraud that implicated government officials. Photograph: Mikhail Voskresensky/Reuters

Wed Mar 22 2017 - 11:43

A Russian lawyer who represents the family of Sergei Magnitsky is in intensive care after falling from the fourth floor of his apartment building in Moscow, according to unconfirmed reports.

The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta suggested Nikolai Gorokhov had fallen after a winch snapped as he tried to lift a bath to a fourth-floor apartment, though details of the incident remained murky.

Magnitsky uncovered a massive fraud that implicated government officials, but was himself arrested in 2008 and died in prison in 2009, amid allegations he had been tortured and medical care had been withheld. Russia later put him on trial posthumously for tax evasion.

Mr Gorokhov (53) has represented the Magnitsky family since 2011, and was due in court on Wednesday as part of a case brought by Magnitsky’s mother against some of those allegedly involved in the fraud he uncovered.

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A hearing was also due in Russia's case against William Browder, the chief executive of Hermitage Capital.

Magnitsky was acting as a lawyer for Hermitage, and after his death, Mr Browder launched a campaign to bring the Russian officials involved in Magnitsky's death to justice, including lobbying for the Magnitsky Act , which bans Russian officials implicated in rights abuses from entering the US.

Mr Gorokhov is also a witness in a case due to be heard in New York in May which the British government has brought against a Cyprus-based company alleged to have aided the laundering of proceeds from the fraud.

Hermitage Capital issued a press release stating Mr Gorokhov had been “thrown from the fourth floor of his apartment building” on Tuesday, but did not give any further details. Mr Browder did not respond to an emailed request for further comment.

Novaya Gazeta quoted an unidentified Hermitage spokesperson stating that in fact Mr Gorokhov had fallen in the stairwell while attempting to lift a bath up to the fourth floor.

The Russian Interfax news agency on Wednesday morning quoted a law-enforcement source as saying police did not believe there was criminal intent or anything suspicious about Mr Gorokhov’s fall.

Guardian service

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