Why did Sergei Magnitsky have to die?

Sanctions against Bozhkov, Peevski, and Zhelyazkov in Bulgaria were imposed under the so-called Magnitsky’s law. It is named after Sergei Magnitsky, who died in 2009 in Russian pre-trial detention. Who was Magnitsky and why did he have to die?

In the West, the name of Sergei Magnitsky is often pronounced alongside that of Anna Politkovskaya or Boris Nemtsov, well-known Kremlin critics who have been assassinated. But Moscow lawyer Magnitsky was not an opposition figure – and became known only after his death in pre-trial detention in 2009. Abroad, his case has become a byword for corruption and judicial arbitrariness in today’s Russia.