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Putin Spokesman Says Probe Into Magnitsky Death 'Over'


Opposition People's Freedom Party co-Chairman Boris Nemtsov holds a portrait of Sergei Magnitsky while protesting against police lawlessness in front of the Interior Ministry Moscow in late March.
Opposition People's Freedom Party co-Chairman Boris Nemtsov holds a portrait of Sergei Magnitsky while protesting against police lawlessness in front of the Interior Ministry Moscow in late March.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the investigation into the 2009 death of whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky while in pretrial detention is over and there is no reason to review it.

In a wide-ranging interview with Russia's Channel 1 television on April 14, Peskov criticized the so-called Magnitsky list of Russian officials targeted for sanctions by the United States, saying the Magnitsky case is an internal matter for Russia.

MAIN STORY: U.S. Targets 18 Individuals On 'Magnitsky List'

On April 12, Washington imposed visa bans and asset freezes on officials thought to have been connected with Magnitsky's death and others accused of human rights abuses.

Moscow responded by slapping entry bans on an equal number of U.S. officials.

An unprecedented posthumous trial over tax-evasion charges leveled at Magnitsky -- as well as his former employer at the Hermitage Capital Management, William Browder -- continues in Russia.

Meanwhile, Peskov said President Vladimir Putin will not follow the trial of anticorruption blogger and leading opposition figure, Aleksei Navalny, which is scheduled to open this week.

He also described Putin as a master of compromise who is interested in "constructive criticism."

Based on reporting by Channel 1, Interfax, and ITAR-TASS

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