Poland and Bulgaria Call for Justice in the Magnitsky Case

February 15, 2012

The Pol­ish Min­istry of For­eign Affairs has stat­ed that they will devel­op a com­mon and strong Euro­pean Union posi­tion into the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and will urge Rus­sia to con­duct a trans­par­ent inves­ti­ga­tion into his false arrest, tor­ture and death con­sis­tent with inter­na­tion­al stan­dards. If that does­n’t take place, Poland will work with its EU part­ners in imple­ment­ing a Euro­pean Union visa ban. 

The Pol­ish For­eign Affairs Min­istry stat­ed its posi­tion last week in a let­ter received by the Pol­ish Helsin­ki Foun­da­tion for Human Rights.

The Pol­ish Helsin­ki Foun­da­tion for Human Rights said:

“Due to the seri­ous human rights vio­la­tions, the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky can not be treat­ed as an exclu­sive­ly inter­nal affair of Rus­sia. Dur­ing two years since his death, the per­pe­tra­tors have not been duly pun­ished and some offi­cers alleged­ly respon­si­ble for his death were even award­ed promotions.”

In 2011, the Pol­ish Helsin­ki Foun­da­tion for Human Rights called on the Pol­ish For­eign Min­is­ter to impose visa sanc­tions and asset freezes on the Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case, who have not been pros­e­cut­ed in Russia.

In a dra­mat­ic turn for the worse, the same Russ­ian offi­cials who were respon­si­ble for the false arrest, tor­ture and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, have launched an unprece­dent­ed posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion against Sergei Mag­nit­sky two years after he died. 

The U.S. State Depart­ment spokes­woman, Vic­to­ria Nuland, con­demned this pros­e­cu­tion last week saying, 

“Pur­su­ing crim­i­nal charges against Sergey Mag­nit­sky serves no pur­pose oth­er than to deflect atten­tion away from the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing this trag­ic case. We con­tin­ue to call for Russ­ian author­i­ties to bring those respon­si­ble for Mr. Magnitsky’s death to justice.”

The Pol­ish state­ments fol­low the Bul­gar­i­an Min­is­ter of For­eign Affairs, Niko­lai Mlade­n­ov, urg­ing that the Mag­nit­sky case be raised as a spe­cif­ic point in the EU-Rus­sia dia­logue on human rights. 

Speak­ing to the Bul­gar­i­an Par­lia­ment, Min­is­ter Mlade­n­ov said:

“The Sergei Mag­nit­sky case is one of the most unpleas­ant cas­es in recent Russ­ian his­to­ry. Bul­gar­ia sup­ports the call by Cather­ine Ash­ton, the EU’s High Rep­re­sen­ta­tive for For­eign Affairs and Secu­ri­ty Pol­i­cy, for Rus­sia to con­duct a swift and thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tion of all facts and cir­cum­stances con­nect­ed to the arrest and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and to bring those respon­si­ble for justice.”

The Bul­gar­i­an For­eign Affairs Min­is­ter also urged cre­at­ing a com­mon EU posi­tion on the Mag­nit­sky case. 

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