Surprising Statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Criticising the “Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act”

October 1, 2010

Today the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs attacked a number of US Senators and Representatives who co-sponsored the ‘Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act of 2010’ in the US Congress. The statement published on the Foreign Ministry’s official website said that the new law, which introduces US visa and economic sanctions on people responsible for the torture and murder in Interior Ministry custody of Mr Magnitsky, a 37 year-old Russian anti-corruption lawyer and father of two, “goes beyond standards decency,” and “threatens international cooperation among law enforcement agencies in areas of organised crime.”

A Hermitage Capital representative made the following comment:

“It is surprising that the Russian government would tarnish its own reputation by publicly protecting the officers who were involved in the torture and murder of an innocent man. It is even more ironic that the law enforcement officials who perpetrated the largest tax rebate fraud in Russian history are now threatening to withdraw from ‘cooperation’ in fighting organised crime.”

“The Foreign Ministry in Moscow should instead be calling on Russia’s own law enforcement agencies to prosecute the officials who killed Sergei Magnitsky instead of criticising US lawmakers who are seeking justice for a hero who died standing up against corruption,” continued a Hermitage Capital representative.

Earlier today, the leading US Republican Senator, John McCain announced that he is an original co-sponsor of the ‘Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act of 2010’ bill, alongside Democratic Senator, Benjamin Cardin.

Senator McCain said:

“Sergei Magnitsky was an ordinary man, but through his extraordinary courage and love for his country, he exposed the cruelest and most corrupt aspects of the Russian government today. Sergei Magnitsky did not spend his life as a human rights advocate, but his life was taken because of his unbreakable commitment to human dignity and his enduring hope that Russia deserves to be governed by the rule of law, not the whim of thieves.”

“I am pleased to join with Sen. Ben Cardin in co-sponsoring the ‘Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act.’ The United States government must do everything in its power to identify those responsible for the death this Russian patriot, to make their names famous for the whole world to know, and then to hold them accountable for their crimes. That is the purpose of our legislation,” said Senator McCain.

John McCain was the Republican Party’s nominee for President in 2008. During the Vietnam war, he was a prisoner of war for five years in Hanoi, where he experienced episodes of torture and refused an out-of-sequence repatriation offer. He is running for a fifth Senate term in 2010.

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