U.S. Senators Call on Secretary of State Clinton to Urgently Deny Entry to Two Russian Interior Ministry Generals in Magnitsky Case

November 10, 2011

Yesterday, U.S. Senators Roger Wicker and Benjamin Cardin requested the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to urgently review the eligibility for entry into the United States of two Russian Interior Ministry generals as a result of their involvement in the scandal surrounding the violent death of Sergei Magnitsky in Russian state custody.

Generals Tatiana Gerasimova and Nikolai Shelepanov are scheduled to arrive to Washington next week, which coincides with the second anniversary of Sergei Magnitsky’s death. The two generals, who hold the most senior positions in the Interior Ministry’s Investigative Department, have been overseeing the cover-up of Magnitsky’s wrongful arrest and torture, and of his testimonies implicating corrupt government officials, since his death two years ago.

“We understand that these officials, Generals Tatiana Gerasimova and Nikolai Shelepanov, are involved in the cynical and sweeping cover-up of the torture and murder of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky as well as the corruption he exposed…We urge you to immediately review any possible visa applications submitted by Generals Gerasimova and Shelepanov to ensure that their visit is in full compliance with all U.S. immigration laws, practices and procedures,” said Senators Wicker and Cardin.

The official reason for the Russian generals’ visit to Washington is to discuss intellectual property rights. However, in light of the role of Generals Gerasimova and Shelepanov in the cover-up of Magnitsky’s torture and murder in custody, their eligibility to enter the US will be put into question under recently enacted US laws, which ban entry to gross human rights abusers from abroad.

On 5 July 2011, the Russian President’s Human Rights Council concluded that Magnitsky had been arrested and detained illegally, by Interior Ministry officers who had a clear conflict of interest, after Magnitsky had accused them of massive $230 million tax rebate fraud.

On 6 July 2011, General Gerasimova, in her capacity as the 1st Deputy Head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Investigative Committee, publicly dismissed the findings of the President’s Human Rights Council. She claimed that all actions and decisions of Interior Ministry officials under her command in the Magnitsky case were lawful on the ground that they were sanctioned by Russian prosecutors and judges.

General Shelepanov acting as Deputy Head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Investigative Committee, signed a decree prolonging the official investigations under the Magnitsky Case, in spite of the findings of the Russian President’s Human Rights Council’s experts that the case has been fabricated by the Russian Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB). General Shelepanov signed this decree on 4 August 2011, one month after the official publication of the report by the President’s Human Rights Council (on 5 July 2011).

On 9 August 2011, the Russian Interior Ministry’s Investigative Committee reopened its prosecution of Mr. Magnitsky, despite the fact that he had been dead for nearly two years. The same Interior Ministry officers who were involved in falsely arresting and torturing Mr. Magnitsky in custody, were appointed to this posthumous investigation of the victim of their torture. This was confirmed by a letter to the Magnitsky family signed by Interior Ministry officer Lapshov on 7 October 2011. These actions were carried out under the immediate direction of Generals Gerasimova and Shelepanov, as supervising officers.

Under this posthumous investigation, the officers under command of Generals Gerasimova and Shelepanov are now intimidating the Magnitsky family by summoning them for questioning as “witnesses” (on matters they had no involvement with or knowledge of), subjecting them to emotional distress, as documented in the 5 September 2011 complaint by Sergei Magnitsky’s mother with the Interior Ministry.

On 6 September 2011, Ludmila Alexeeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia’s oldest human rights organisation, condemned these acts by the Russian Interior Ministry as unlawful pressure and intimidation of the victim’s family, and violating the fundamental norms of rule of law and human rights.

“General Gerasimova and General Shelepanov have been providing continuing assistance to those who tortured and killed Mr. Magnitsky in the face of world-wide condemnation of his treatment, including by the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and Russian and international human rights organizations,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year old anti-corruption lawyer and outside counsel for the Hermitage Fund, was tortured to death in Russian Interior Ministry custody after he testified about the involvement of Interior Ministry officials in the $230 million corruption.

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