British MP Submits 1000 Pages of Evidence to Home Secretary To Ban Magnitsky Killers From UK

May 18, 2012

British MP Dominic Raab has requested UK Home Secretary Theresa May to “give proper consideration” to the ban on entry to the UK of 60 Russian officials connected to the torture and death of late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who worked for British investment company Hermitage Capital. This follows the change in the UK immigration policy announced by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office last month in its Annual Human Rights Report. In the report, immigration rules have been changed so the UK will no longer allow entry into the UK of non EU citizens involved in human rights abuses.

The change in the UK immigration policy was prompted by the debate of the British Parliament’s Beckbench Business Committee held on 8 March 2012 which resulted in passing of a motion calling for visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials connected to the death of Sergei Magnitsky, those involved in the large-scale corruption he had uncovered, and officials involved in other gross human rights abuses. The motion was initiated by Dominic Raab, MP, and supported by three former Foreign Secretaries, and two other former Foreign Ministers.

Mr Raab has now submitted over 1000 pages of documentary evidence to the UK Home Secretary setting out the specific involvement of particular Russian government officials in the false arrest, torture and death of Mr Magnitsky and in the theft of millions of dollars from the Russian budget uncovered and exposed by Mr. Magnitsky.

“In the attached evidence, there is over 1000 pages of documented evidence …reviewed by a number of independent sources. These independent human rights bodies, including the Moscow Public Oversight Commission, the Moscow Helsinki Group, the Russian President’s Human Rights Council, Transparency International, Amnesty International, REDRESS, the U.S. Helsinki Commission and others, have confirmed the roles that these Russian government officials played,” said Dominic Raab, MP.

Dominic Raab has asked of the Home Secretary to confirm each of the 60 officials named in his evidence package won’t be allowed entry into the UK and that this fact will be disclosed to the public.

“Having adopted a more robust policy, it needs to be rigorously implemented… It is important that justice is both done and seen to be done,” said Dominic Raab, MP.

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