The posthumous trial of whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has resumed in Moscow.
Magnitsky was arrested in 2008 after accusing state officials of a $230 million tax-refund fraud.
Those state officials initiated tax-fraud charges against Magnitsky and he died in 2009 in pretrial detention after nearly a year in jail.
On March 22, Magnitsky’s court-appointed lawyers asked the judge to postpone the hearing until Russia’s Constitutional Court rules on the legitimacy of trying a dead man.
His relatives are boycotting the trial.
Magnitsky’s death, blamed by his family on abuse and neglect, caused tensions between Washington and Moscow.
Last year, the United States passed legislation to punish officials linked to Magnitsky’s death and other human rights abuses.
Russia responded by introducing a ban on adoptions of Russian children by U.S. citizens.