Ambassadors from Council of Europe States Reject Parliamentarians’ Call to Improve Judicial Cooperation in Case Exposed by Murdered Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky

November 12, 2014

Ambassadors from Council of Europe States Reject Parliamentarians’ Call to Improve Judicial Cooperation in Case Exposed by Murdered Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky

10 November 2014 – Foreign ministry officials from the Council of Europe have issued a rejection of demands by parliamentarians from 47-member states to improve international judicial cooperation in the money laundering case exposed by murdered anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Chaired by Mr E. Eyyubov, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Azerbaijan, the Strasbourg-based ambassadors comprising the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the international organisation’s decision-making body, refused to propose any concrete measures that parliamentarians have asked for in their Recommendation entitled “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky” which was adopted by overwhelming majority in January this year.

The parliamentarians of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly asked in their January 2014 recommendation the Committee of Foreign Affairs Ministers to:
“examine ways and means of improving international co-operation in investigating the “money trail” of the funds originating in the fraudulent tax reimbursements denounced by Mr Magnitsky; and, in particular, of ensuring that the Russian Federation fully participates in these efforts.” (http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-EN.asp?fileid=20410&lang=en)

In the response to parliamentarians, the Committee of Ministers ignored the recommendations completely and changed the subject citing several general reports on Russia issued by MONEYVAL, a Council of Europe’s body in the area of anti-money laundering. None of the reports examine the $230 million money laundering case exposed by Sergei Magnitsky in any way.

“Although MONEYVAL does not address individual cases, it aims to provide its members with the capacity to fight money-laundering within their borders and to co-operate in order to prevent transborder money-laundering. At the international level, MONEYVAL works closely together with the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). The Russian Federation is a member of both these bodies,” said the response from the Committee of Ministers to parliamentarians published on the official Council of Europe website (http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=21312&lang=en).

The diplomatic answer to Council of Europe’s parliamentarians from the Committee of Ministers adopted at the Committee’s session on 22 and 24 October in Strasbourg further said:

“The Committee [of Ministers] reiterates its call for an effective investigation and the bringing to justice of those responsible.”

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign representative said:

“This strange bureaucratic response is defying the efforts of parliamentarians from 47 countries in Europe to achieve some measure of justice in the Magnitsky case. It is also an abandonment of Sergei Magnitsky who paid with his life trying to stop corrupt Russian officials from stealing millions from his country. The appointed diplomats in Europe should heed the call from the elected parliamentarians who have shown the resolve of the people to see that justice is done.”

The parliamentarians’ recommendation was based on the independent investigation into the Magnitsky case conducted by Council of Europe’s Rapporteur, Swiss MP Andreas Gross, who concluded that there was a need to improve international cooperation in this case because of the high-level cover up in this case in Russia.

Rapporteur Gross stated:
“My initial conclusion, namely that we are in the presence of a massive cover-up involving senior officials of the competent ministries, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee and even certain courts finds itself further consolidated.” (Report “Refusing the Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky” http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewPDF.asp?FileID=20084&lang=en).

Rapporteur Gross pointed out that the money laundering exposed by Sergei Magnitsky has been traced to a large number of European states which necessitated international judicial cooperation in this case:

“The laundering of the funds that can be traced back to the fraudulent US$230 million tax refund denounced by Mr Magnitsky has involved a large number of European States… Given the complexity of the criminal investigations required and the obvious need for international co-operation, the Assembly should also seize the Committee of Ministers in order to ensure that this important affair is included on the agenda of intergovernmental co-operation.” (Addendum to Report “Refusing the Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky”, http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewPDF.asp?FileID=20345&lang=en)

Conclusions expressed in the report “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky” prepared by Rapporteur Gross were adopted by overwhelming majority this January by the 47-member state Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Resolution “Refusing the Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky” http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=20409&lang=en).

For further information please contact:

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign
Phone: +44 207 440 1777
Email: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website: http://lawandorderinrussia.org

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