Moscow Judge Finds Deceased Whistleblower Guilty of Tax Evasion

Compared to Stalin era legal moves

The courtroom cage stood empty on Thursday as a Moscow judge found the late whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky and his London-based employer guilty of tax evasion in a move similar to Stalin-era justice.

The case against the two defendants – Magnitsky, allowed to die an excrutiating death in prison in 2009, and William Browder, banned from entering Russia since 2005 – has come to symbolise the brutality of Russia's system and the penalties incurred by those who uncovering official wrongdoing.