Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for a "full and transparent" investigation into the death in prison of the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who formerly worked for Hermitage Capital Management.

In reply to a letter from two peers, Brown said he was "deeply concerned" at Magnitsky's death in a Moscow pre-detention centre, after the lawyer's repeated pleas for medical treatment were ignored. Magnitsky died on 16 November of a ruptured abdomen.

Brown said that David Miliband had raised the case during his visit to Moscow last month, adding that Britain's embassy in Moscow was also pressing the matter.