European Parliament Condemns Impunity in the Magnitsky Case and Creates Consequences for Those Involved in the Cover-Up

December 15, 2011

The Euro­pean Par­lia­ment has strongly con­demned the impunity of Russ­ian offi­cials involved in the false arrest, tor­ture and mur­der of the Russ­ian anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky and has moved to cre­ate con­se­quences for the Russ­ian bureau­crats involved in the cover-up.

In a strongly-worded res­o­lu­tion adopted yes­ter­day in advance of the EU-Russia sum­mit, the Euro­pean par­lia­ment has vowed to impose EU-wide visa and asset freezes if the Russ­ian author­i­ties fail to pros­e­cute the offi­cials com­plicit in Magnitsky’s death and extend these sanc­tions to those Russ­ian offi­cials involved in the on-going cover up in this case.

“The Euro­pean Par­lia­ment calls in case of fur­ther inac­tion by the Russ­ian author­i­ties for the Coun­cil to take into con­sid­er­a­tion actions such as an EU-wide travel ban and a freeze on the finan­cial assets of those found guilty of the tor­ture and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky as well as cov­er­ing up the case,” says the Resolution.

Since Mr Magnitsky’s death in police cus­tody two years ago, nobody has been pros­e­cuted in Rus­sia. Two prison doc­tors have been charged with “neg­li­gence” despite the over­whelm­ing evi­dence of tor­ture and mur­der, the mas­sive cor­rup­tion Mr Mag­nit­sky had uncov­ered and his sub­se­quent arrest by the same police offi­cers he had implicated.

“The Euro­pean Par­lia­ment reit­er­ates its con­cern over the human rights sit­u­a­tion in Rus­sia and the lack of rule of law and an inde­pen­dent judi­ciary; expresses seri­ous con­cern espe­cially with regard to the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, includ­ing the fail­ure to pun­ish those proven guilty of his death; takes note of the report released in July 2011 by Pres­i­dent Medvedev’s Human Rights Coun­cil which pro­vided evi­dence that Sergei Magnitsky’s arrest was unlaw­ful and that his deten­tion was marked by beat­ings and tor­ture aimed at extract­ing a con­fes­sion of guilt,” says the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment in its Resolution.

As part of the Russ­ian inves­ti­ga­tion, which has been extended ten times, all offi­cials from the Russ­ian Inte­rior Min­istry, the Gen­eral Pros­e­cu­tor’ Office, Fed­eral Secu­rity Ser­vice, Fed­eral Tax Ser­vice and Moscow court named in the peti­tions by Mr Magnitsky’s mother and human rights activists for their spe­cific role in Mr Magnitsky’s false arrest and repres­sion have been absolved from any responsibility.

The Euro­pean Par­lia­ment insists that high-level Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case should not escape pros­e­cu­tion if the Russ­ian probe is to have any cred­i­bil­ity in the West.

“The Euro­pean Par­lia­ment calls on the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee to lead a com­pre­hen­sive and thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tion with­out taboo, to promptly present con­crete con­clu­sions and to take all actions nec­es­sary to bring those respon­si­ble to justice.”

Instead of pros­e­cu­tions, Russ­ian state offi­cials involved in the tor­ture and mur­der of Mag­nit­sky received awards and promotions.

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