Moscow could put dead lawyer on trial Russian investigators have said they may prosecute a dead lawyer who worked for a foreign investment fund in the latest bizarre twist to a case that has come to exemplify investor fears about Russia's rule of law. Investigators said they would proceed with a posthumous trial against Sergei Magnitsky over tax fraud following a judicial precedent set last summer, allowing cases to be concluded in spite of the death of the defendant. The decision comes two years after Magnitsky, a lawyer for Hermitage Capital, died in a pre-trial detention centre where he was held for almost a year after accusing the police of complicity in a $230m tax fraud. Although investigators have accused Magnitsky and Hermitage's chief executive William Browder with tax evasion, a presidential human rights commission found last summer that the charges against the lawyer had been fabricated. The federal prison service has already assumed partial responsibility for Magnitsky's death, which occurred after he was denied access to urgent medical care. Hermitage Capital and the Magnitsky family, which have launched a two-year campaign against Russia's interior ministry, said they had little sense of what a trial of a deceased man would look like or how they planned to proceed. They said investigators had indicated they might close the case if Magnitsky's family and Hermitage dropped their own legal actions against the Russian authorities. The latest legal moves come as tensions escalate between Washington and Moscow over the case. A US senator has sponsored legislation, called the "Magnitsky Act," banning Russian interior ministry officials implicated in the case from travelling to or holding assets in the US - although this initiative has stalled as the White House seeks to revive relations with Russia. Mr Browder, who has always denied the allegations that he himself faces, said the prosecution of a dead man had driven the situation "from legal nihilism to legal barbarism" and would give the US legislative proposal fresh momentum. The lack of concern about how this appears abroad is astounding. This will only harden the position of foreign governements and parliaments who we have approached to impose sanctions across the world," he said. The investigative committee's decision comes as Vladimir Putin strives to attract fresh foreign investment ahead of Russia's March presidential election. The prime minister told investors at an investment forum in Moscow last week that he would work to reduce corruption in law enforcement agencies, and improve conditions for defendants in business cases. Lilia Shevtsova of the Moscow Carnegie Centre said the re-opening of the case made President Dmitry Medvedev's reforms, including an end to pre-trial detention for businessmen accused of economic crimes, and Mr Putin's recent remarks seem insincere. "Any hopes produced by Medvedev's reforms packet and Putin's promises are simply a Potemkin village," she said. Tom Mundy, chief strategist at Otkritie Capital in Moscow, said the Magnitsky case highlighted "the gap between Putin's rhetoric and reality." In spite of Mr Putin's recent efforts at wooing the business community, the Russian equity market still trades at a price to earnings ratio of 5.4 - a 47 per cent discount to the MSCI emerging market index.