William Browder to Testify in Dutch Parliament Calling for Magnitsky Sanctions in Holland and EU

March 28, 2013

In advance of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Holland on 8 April 2013, today, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Dutch Parliament will hold today hearings on the state of human rights in Russia. William Browder, the head of the global campaign for justice for Sergei Magnitsky, will present to Dutch lawmakers the developments in the Magnitsky case and their wider implications for the breakdown of the rule of law in Russia. In his testimony, Mr Browder will renew calls for national and EU sanctions on the Russian officials involved.

“There is simply no good argument to allow those responsible for the torture and murder in police custody to come to Holland or be allowed to use the financial system here,” said William Browder.

This year Mr Browder has launched the European campaign for EU visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials in the Magnitsky case, following the adoption of the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act” in the United States at the end of last year. Citing the impunity and underlying corruption in Russia, the U.S. Magnitsky Act imposes visa sanctions and asset freezes on four targeted categories of persons in the Magnitsky case who:

(A) were responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky;
(B) participated in efforts to conceal the legal liability for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky;
(C) benefitted financially from the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky;
(D) were involved in the criminal conspiracy uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky.

“Two years ago the Dutch parliament unanimously passed a resolution calling for the Dutch government to impose visa sanctions and asset freezes on the people who killed Sergei Magnitsky. That vote gave many Russians hope that justice will be done in this case and many others just like it. Today, it is time to put those words into actions,” said William Browder.

In June 2011, the Dutch parliament passed the Magnitsky Resolution with a vote of 150-0.

Since then, the Russian authorities have closed the investigation into Magnitsky’s death which lasted for three years, concluding that he died of natural causes thereby exonerating all officials responsible for his arrest, torture and death. The Russian authorities have also put Sergei Magnitsky on trial three years after his death, in the first-ever posthumous trial in Russian legal history.

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