Dutch Parliament Votes 150 to 0 to Sanction the Russian Officials Who Killed Anti-Corruption Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky

July 4, 2011

The Dutch par­lia­ment, by a vote of 150 to 0 has passed a res­o­lu­tion demand­ing that the Dutch gov­ern­ment impose visa and eco­nomic sanc­tions on the Russ­ian offi­cials who were respon­si­ble for the false arrest, tor­ture and death of 37-year old anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Eigh­teen months have passed since Sergei Mag­nit­sky died in Inte­rior Min­istry cus­tody after tes­ti­fy­ing against cor­rupt state offi­cials in Rus­sia.  Despite Pres­i­dent Medvedev call­ing for an inves­ti­ga­tion, not a sin­gle per­son has been charged.  Instead, the senior offi­cials respon­si­ble for Magnitsky’s tor­ture and death have been pro­moted and in some cases have received state hon­ors. Despite world­wide calls for pros­e­cu­tion, these offi­cials enjoy absolute impunity in Russia.

On Decem­ber 16 last year, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment called on all EU mem­ber states to impose visa and eco­nomic sanc­tions on the Russ­ian offi­cials behind the Mag­nit­sky case. In May 2011, the US Sen­ate sub­mit­ted leg­is­la­tion enti­tled “The Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­ity Act”, that will give these sanc­tions the force of a law in the United States.

The motion in the Dutch par­lia­ment, enti­tled “Over de dood van Sergei Mag­nit­sky,” was passed unan­i­mously by the lower House of Par­lia­ment.  It reads:

“The Cham­ber, hear­ing the pro­ceed­ings, not­ing that the Russ­ian lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky died under sus­pi­cious cir­cum­stances in a Russ­ian prison, after a major cor­rup­tion scan­dal was uncov­ered in Russia … not­ing that among other things, the U.S. Sen­ate and the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives have put mea­sures to restrict visas and freez­ing assets of Russ­ian offi­cials who were involved in the death of Mag­nit­sky, calls on the Gov­ern­ment to take steps in a Euro­pean con­text, in line with the ini­tia­tives of the U.S. Sen­ate and the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment, so that those respon­si­ble for the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky be held to account.”

Com­ment­ing on the vote, one of the ini­tia­tors of the res­o­lu­tion, Kath­leen Fer­rier MP (Chris­t­ian Democ­rats), said, “The fact that this res­o­lu­tion was adopted unan­i­mously by all 150 mem­bers of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives shows the strong com­mit­ment of Dutch par­lia­ment with the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. For me, impunity is unac­cept­able. That is why I am sat­is­fied with this result. But I also realise that, though this is a very impor­tant step, there are many more steps to come. We will con­tinue to fight for jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky.”

Sergei Mag­nit­sky rep­re­sented the Her­mitage Fund, once the largest for­eign port­fo­lio investor in Rus­sia. He was arrested by the Russ­ian Inte­rior Min­istry after he exposed how Russ­ian offi­cials stole $230 mil­lion of pub­lic funds. He was detained by the same offi­cials he had named in his tes­ti­mony and tor­tured for one year in cus­tody to with­draw his tes­ti­mony. After he refused and filed numer­ous com­plaints, he was found dead in an iso­la­tion cell in a  pre-trial deten­tion cen­ter. While in cus­tody, despite his extreme ill­ness and more than twenty offi­cial requests for med­ical atten­tion, he was refused med­ical care.

Coskun Çörüz, the head of the Dutch del­e­ga­tion to OSCE and Dutch MP, who was the spon­sor of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Motion in the Dutch par­lia­ment, said:

“As a mem­ber of Dutch Par­lia­ment and a lawyer, I am pleased that the Dutch Par­lia­ment unan­i­mously adopted my motion about the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. This is a strong sig­nal from the Dutch Par­lia­ment to the Dutch Gov­ern­ment. I believe that human rights are for every­body, every­where and any time. I believe the Dutch gov­ern­ment, which is known as advo­cate of human rights, will act in the spirit of this res­o­lu­tion.”

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky motion in the Dutch par­lia­ment was sup­ported by deputies from both rul­ing and oppo­si­tion par­ties. In addi­tion to Mr Çörüz (Chris­t­ian Democ­rats), the motion was co-sponsored by Mr Joël Voordewind  (Chris­t­ian Union), Mr Han Ten Broeke (Lib­eral Party), and Mr Kees van der Staaij  (Dutch Reformed Party). Senior Dutch law­maker Frans Tim­mer­mans also voted for the resolution.

The co-sponsor of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky motion, Joël Voordewind MP, said:

“I sin­cerely regret the death of Mr. Mag­nit­sky … Now is the time to raise the pres­sure on Rus­sia to bring to jus­tice those respon­si­ble for this cow­ardly act. Unfor­tu­nately the death of Mr. Mag­nit­sky is not a iso­lated inci­dent but part of a much larger prob­lem of the lack of human rights in Rus­sia. Freez­ing assets and ban­ning visa’s is there­fore a clear sig­nal to the Russ­ian author­i­ties that this is unac­cept­able.”

“The Sergei Mag­nit­sky story touches every per­son who hears it, which is why the Dutch par­lia­ment responded so robustly to his tragedy and what it sym­bol­izes for human rights and the rule of law in Rus­sia,” said William Brow­der, CEO of Her­mitage Capital.

See the ref­er­ence to the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Motion 32 735, nr. 14 on the Dutch Par­lia­ment web­site:
http://www.tweedekamer.nl/images/30 – 06-2011_tcm118-222571.pdf

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