The Queen of England Gives Final Approval to the Magnitsky Sanctions Law in the UK
April 28, 2017
Press Release
For Immediate Distribution
The Queen of England Gives Final Approval to the Magnitsky Sanctions Law in the UK
28 April 2017 – The Queen of England has given the royal assent to the UK Magnitsky sanctions provision contained in the Criminal Finances Bill passed in the UK parliament. The UK Magnitsky sanctions provision has now become law. It gives the British government the power to seize assets of gross human rights violators.
“The royal approval of the UK Magnitsky act represents a significant progress in the globalization of the Magnitsky sanctions regime against kleptocrats and human rights abusers,” said William Browder, leader of the global Magnitsky Justice Campaign and author of “Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s No 1 Enemy.”
“This effort is the result of seven years of advocacy in the name of Sergei Magnitsky who uncovered and testified about the US$230 million corruption scheme perpetrated by Russian officials and was killed for his whistle-blowing,” said William Browder.
The Magnitsky sanctions provision has previously received approval from both houses of the UK parliament.
The UK Magnitsky legislation protects those who “have sought to expose the illegal activity carried out by a public official or a person acting in an official capacity, or to obtain, exercise, defend or promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.” (full text here).
The UK Magnitsky sanctions legislation stipulates gross human rights abuse as unlawful conduct.
Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who uncovered the massive corruption perpetrated systematically by Russian officials and organized criminals, which included thefts from the Russian treasury, including the theft of US$230 million in 2007. Instead of pursuing the officials who approved the thefts, the Russian government arrested Sergei Magnitsky and put him in pre-trial detention, where he was tortured for 358 days and killed at the age of 37. All officials implicated in his torture and the multi-million dollar thefts have been exonerated.
For more information, please contact:
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
twitter.com/Billbrowder
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