Update: Russian lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, attorney for the family of Sergei Magnitsky, has been upgraded from “critical” to “serious” in the Botkin Hospital in Moscow and is now conscious, colleagues report.
The previous issue is here.
Recent Analysis and Translations:
‘Hybrid Cyberwars’: Are the Russian Hackers’ Arrests About American or Internal Russian issues?
Don’t Forget About ‘Soft Power’ Part of Russia’s ‘Hybrid War’ in Ukraine: Russian Activist Yashin’s New Report
Russia’s Propaganda War Against Ukraine: Interview with Russian Opposition Activist Ilya Yashin
How Many Russians Are Fighting for ISIS? A Brief History of The Kremlin’s Arbitrary Numbers
UPDATES BELOW
The ruble is trading at 57.76 to the dollar and 62.36 to the euro. Brent crude is selling for $50.76.
The following news items are taken from Arab News, McClatchy, the Times, Reuters, Meduza, Novaya Gazeta, Navalny, and RBC.
The Compromising of America (Snowden NSA Controversy) by Edward Jay Epstein [English]
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
Russian lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, attorney for the family of Sergei Magnitsky, has been upgraded from “critical” to “serious” in the Botkin Hospital in Moscow and is now conscious, Stop the Untouchables, a site devoted to Magnitsky’s case reported.
Russian lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, who represents Sergei Magnitsky’s family, remains in the intensive care unit at Moscow Botkin hospital. His condition is presently assessed as serious, but not critical. He is conscious and responsive and this morning Nikolai was able to speak to doctors.
“Our thoughts and prayers are now with Nikolai and his family at this difficult time,” said William Browder, leader of the global Magnitsky justice campaign.
Since Gorokhov fell yesterday, there have been contradictory reports as to whether he slipped or was pushed, as we reported. As Browder, the head of the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management reports:
The details presented by life.ru and other Russian state-controlled media contradict the information available from eyewitnesses. The notable differences concern the number of workers at the scene who were delivering a bathtub to the upper floor of the apartment building where the lawyer lives, and the whereabouts of the people at the scene during the incident.
The Telegraph reported an eye-witness describing Gorokhov’s fall as an accident:
“They were lifting a Jacuzzi through the window,” according to Anastasia Berezina, 22, a neighbor who called an ambulance for Gorokhov, told the AP.
Ms Berezina said that the equipment Mr Gorokhov and other workers were using was “ramshackle.”
Suspicion about the accident has been warranted as Gorokhov was supposed to appear in court today regarding a new complaint in the case of Magnitsky, a tax specialist for Hermitage Capital who blew the whistle on a $230 million tax fraud in 2009 and then died of torture in detention.
Gorokhov was also due to testify in New York City in May in the Prevazon case, involving money-laundering charges alleged to be related to the tax fraud uncovered by Magnitsky.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick