Brussels, Oct 24 (IANS/RIA Novosti): The European Parliament has recommended the Council of the European Union to impose sanctions against Russian officials involved in the incarceration of Moscow lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Magnitsky died in pre-trial detention in 2009.

"The report [recommending sanctions] has been approved," Kristina Ojuland, a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the third biggest group in the European Parliament said Tuesday.

Ojuland, who is the ALDE spokeswoman on Russia and the rapporteur on the Magnitsky Law, spearheaded the drive to have the Council impose visa restrictions on Russian officials included in the so-called Magnitsky List.

The parliament debated her report Monday evening. It had earlier been approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Russia's EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov warned that EU passage of the sanctions would harm relations with Russia and expressed the hope that "reason prevails".

The 37-year-old Magnitsky, an auditor working for Hermitage Capital, a Britain-based fund with major investments in Russia, was arrested on tax evasion charges in November 2008.

He was held just days after accusing police investigators and tax officials of involvement in a $230-million tax refund fraud. He died after almost a year in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention centre in Moscow.

A probe into his death revealed that the lawyer, who was suffering from untreated pancreatitis and a heart condition, did not receive proper medical treatment.

Rights activists pointed to multiple violations of the lawyer's rights during his arrest and detention, including signs that he was beaten by prison guards hours before his death.

The US State Department imposed visa bans in July 2011 on several dozen Russian officials in connection to the Magnitsky case. In response, Russia has imposed travel bans on several US officials.