Investigators sacked after prison death in Russia

Russia has fired two investigators for their role in the prison death of a real estate executive last week, officials said yesterday.

Vera Trifonova, 53, died on Friday in Moscow's Sailor's Rest prison where she was awaiting trial on fraud charges. Her supporters said that she had been diagnosed with diabetes and kidney failure.

The investigators were dismissed for failing to act on requests that Ms Trifonova be released to receive medical treatment, the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.

"When she was arrested she told the investigators about the serious state of her health and the need for constant treatment, but the investigators, in violation of the law, did not follow up on this and asked a court to imprison her," it said.

Ms Trifonova was arrested in late 2009 on charges of attempting to help a businessman offer a bribe to secure a seat in Russia's parliament.

A day after her death, the Kremlin demanded a "wide-ranging" investigation. A criminal case has also been opened against a third investigator for negligence, said the statement by the Prosecutor General's Office.

After a lawyer, Sergey Magnitsky, died in prison last year awaiting trial for tax evasion, President Dmitry Medvedev fired several officials and demanded the corruption-tainted system be reformed.