UK Prime Minister Expresses Frustration Over Lack of Progress with Investigation into Torture and Murder of Sergei Magnitsky

March 2, 2011

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

UK Prime Min­is­ter Express­es Frus­tra­tion Over Lack of Progress with Inves­ti­ga­tion into Tor­ture and Mur­der of Sergei Magnitsky

2 March 2011 — In a move reflect­ing the increas­ing sig­nif­i­cance of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky case to UK-Rus­sia rela­tions, UK Prime Min­is­ter David Cameron has expressed his con­cern over the lack of progress with the Russ­ian inves­ti­ga­tion into the tor­ture and death in police cus­tody of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, an anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer work­ing for the UK invest­ment firm, Her­mitage Capital.

In a let­ter to William Brow­der, CEO of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal, Prime Min­is­ter Cameron wrote that he had raised his con­cerns about the Mag­nit­sky case dur­ing his meet­ings with Russ­ian For­eign Min­is­ter Sergei Lavrov dur­ing his offi­cial vis­it to Lon­don in mid-February.

Sergei Mag­nit­sky, an out­side lawyer work­ing for Her­mitage, was false­ly arrest­ed, tor­tured and killed in police cus­tody after uncov­er­ing and expos­ing a US$230 mil­lion tax fraud com­mit­ted by Russ­ian police offi­cials and tes­ti­fy­ing against those who com­mit­ted the crimes.

In the let­ter, Prime Min­is­ter Cameron stated:

“I have now been briefed about the case and am deeply con­cerned by its impli­ca­tions for the rule of law and respect for human rights in Rus­sia. It is of par­tic­u­lar con­cern that the offi­cial inves­ti­ga­tion announced by Pres­i­dent Medvedev in Novem­ber 2009 has not yet report­ed its findings.”

Prime Min­is­ter Cameron also pledged to track the Mag­nit­sky case ahead of his planned vis­it to Rus­sia lat­er this year. He wrote:

“The For­eign Sec­re­tary and I dis­cussed the Mag­nit­sky case with Russ­ian For­eign Min­is­ter Sergei Lavrov when I met him in Down­ing Street on 15 Feb­ru­ary. We will con­tin­ue to track progress on the case ahead of my planned vis­it to Rus­sia lat­er this year. The Gov­ern­men­t’s response to the case is being led by the Min­is­ter for Europe, David Liddington.”

A total of 22 British MP’s have signed an Ear­ly Day Motion call­ing on the British gov­ern­ment to impose visa sanc­tions and to freeze the assets of those Russ­ian offi­cials involved in Magnitsky’s tor­ture and death and the large-scale cor­rup­tion he uncov­ered. The MP’s rep­re­sent a wide cross-par­ty spec­trum span­ning Con­ser­v­a­tives, Lib­er­al Democ­rats, Labour, SDLP and the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Union­ist Party.

In Jan­u­ary 2011, Chris Bryant MP, the UK Shad­ow Jus­tice Min­is­ter and for­mer Min­is­ter for Europe, sub­mit­ted to the UK Home Sec­re­tary an exten­sive 1,000-page dossier with evi­dence out­lin­ing the roles played by 60 Russ­ian offi­cials involved in Mr. Magnitsky’s arrest, tor­ture and death. Mr. Bryant also called on the British Gov­ern­ment to for­mal­ly des­ig­nate these Russ­ian offi­cials as “eco­nom­ic ter­ror­ists” under the Ter­ror­ism Act for their role in harm­ing British eco­nom­ic interests.

Despite well-doc­u­ment­ed evi­dence of abuse of office and the enrich­ment of Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cials involved in the tor­ture and death of Mr. Mag­nit­sky, Russ­ian author­i­ties have, to date, refused to inves­ti­gate and bring those offi­cials to tri­al. Instead, the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment pro­mot­ed and gave state hon­ours to those same offi­cials on the one-year anniver­sary of Sergei Magnitsky’s death in custody.

In April 2010, the US Helsin­ki Com­mis­sion (US OSCE Com­mis­sion) issued an offi­cial list of 60 Russ­ian offi­cials impli­cat­ed in the unlaw­ful arrest, tor­ture and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and the theft of US$230 mil­lion of pub­lic funds he uncov­ered. Short­ly there­after, the US Con­gress and Cana­di­an Par­lia­ment put for­ward leg­is­la­tion impos­ing visa bans and asset freezes on those Russ­ian offi­cials. On 16 Decem­ber 2010, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment adopt­ed, with an over­whelm­ing major­i­ty, a res­o­lu­tion call­ing upon the Euro­pean Coun­cil for “an EU entry ban for Russ­ian offi­cials involved in Magnitsky’s case” and encour­ag­ing coop­er­a­tion of EU law enforce­ment “in freez­ing bank accounts and oth­er assets of these Russ­ian offi­cials in all EU Mem­ber States.”

Her­mitage Cap­i­tal was for a decade the largest for­eign port­fo­lio investor in Rus­sia, and this case has devel­oped a high pro­file around the world. The Her­mitage case and per­se­cu­tion of its lawyers and exec­u­tives by Russ­ian author­i­ties have been for­mal­ly rec­og­nized by the Coun­cil of Europe as “emblem­at­ic of the polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed abuse of the crim­i­nal jus­tice system.”

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion please contact:

Her­mitage Capital 

+44 207 440 1777
info@lawandorderinrussia.org
http://lawandorderinrussia.org

Back­ground Information:

Sergei Mag­nit­sky (8 April 1972 — 16 Novem­ber 2009), an out­side lawyer for the Her­mitage Fund, blew the whis­tle on wide­spread Russ­ian gov­ern­ment cor­rup­tion, involv­ing offi­cials from Russ­ian law enforce­ment and secu­ri­ty ser­vices. The offi­cials he tes­ti­fied against arrest­ed and detained him, begin­ning a night­mare in which he was thrown into cus­tody with­out bail or tri­al, and sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly tor­tured for one year in an attempt to force him to retract his tes­ti­mo­ny. Despite the phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal pain Sergei Mag­nit­sky endured from his cap­tors, he refused to per­jure him­self, even as his health dete­ri­o­rat­ed. Denied med­ical care for the last four months of his deten­tion, he died in the Butyr­ka remand cen­tre at the age of 37, leav­ing a wife and two children.

Законодатели Великобритании инициировали процесс визовых и экономических санкций против российский чиновников

February 11, 2011

22 депутата парламента Великобритании от всех основных политических партий: Консерваторов, Лейбористов, Либеральных демократов, Социал-демократической лейбористской партии и Демократической юнионистской партии призвали правительство ввести санкции на въезд и арест активов российских чиновников, причастных к убийству Сергея Магнитского – российского юриста, защищавшего интересы фонда Hermitage.

Обращение было подготовлено депутатом Крисом Брайантом – Министром юстиции Теневого кабинета, бывшим Министром по делам Европы, и поддержано депутатом Малкомом Рифкиндом  — Председателем комитета по вопросам работы спецслужб и обеспечения безопасности  (в прошлом Министром иностранных дел Великобритании), депутатом Дэнисом Макшейном (занимавшим пост Министра по делам Европы) и депутатом Николасом Соумсом – Министром по делам армии в кабинете Премьер-министра Джона Мейджора. Read more

22 British MPs Call on the Government to Impose Visa Sanctions on Magnitsky Murderers

February 11, 2011

22 MPs rep­re­sent­ing a wide spec­trum of polit­i­cal par­ties includ­ing Con­ser­v­a­tive, Labour, Lib­er­al Democ­rats, SDLP and Demo­c­ra­t­ic Union­ist Par­ty, called on the British gov­ern­ment to impose visa sanc­tions and asset freezes on the Russ­ian offi­cials who killed Sergei Mag­nit­sky, a 37-year old anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer who rep­re­sent­ed a British invest­ment firm.

The motion was intro­duced by Chris Bryant MP, a Shad­ow Jus­tice Min­is­ter and for­mer Min­is­ter for Europe. The motion was also signed by Rt Hon Mal­colm Rifkind MP, for­mer For­eign Sec­re­tary under Prime Min­is­ter John Major, and cur­rent Chair­man of the Intel­li­gence and Secu­ri­ty Com­mit­tee, Denis Mac­Shane MP, For­mer Min­is­ter for Europe under Prime Min­is­ter Tony Blair and Nicholas Soames MP, for­mer Min­is­ter for Defence under Prime Min­is­ter John Major

(http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42195&SESSION=905). Read more

Magnitsky Murder Tops List of Questions for Medvedev at Davos

January 25, 2011

In a unique ini­tia­tive, the World Eco­nom­ic Forum orga­niz­ers this year have asked mem­bers to pro­pose and vote online on the ques­tions to be asked of Pres­i­dent Medvedev at Davos. The most pop­u­lar ques­tions will be unveiled at the Forum’s open­ing ple­nary ses­sion on Wednes­day, 26 Jan­u­ary, at 18:30 CET.
Accord­ing to Russ­ian busi­ness news­pa­per Vedo­mosti, the online poll con­duct­ed by the WEF showed that the sin­gle most pop­u­lar ques­tion to Medvedev is the ques­tion about the impuni­ty of police who killed 37-year old anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer Sergei Magnitsky:

“We heard from you that every­thing will be done that the Mag­nit­sky case is inves­ti­gat­ed and those guilty pros­e­cut­ed. In fact the main out­come has been that the key com­plic­it offi­cials from the Inte­ri­or Min­istry and the Pros­e­cu­tor Office, includ­ing Lt Col Kuznetsov and Major Kar­pov, and many oth­ers, have been pro­mot­ed and con­tin­ue to acquire expen­sive real estate and lux­u­ry cars…Why has there been no real actions against those com­plic­it in Mag­nit­sky case?” Read more

British Politician Calls on UK Parliament to Categorize Magnitsky Killers as “Economic Terrorists” and Impose UK Visa Bans

January 21, 2011

Chris Bryant MP, a Shad­ow Jus­tice Min­is­ter and for­mer Min­ster for Europe, has called upon the UK Home Sec­re­tary There­sa May to ban entry into the UK for the 60 Russ­ian offi­cials who were involved in the arrest, tor­ture and death in police cus­tody of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, 37-year old anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer rep­re­sent­ing UK invest­ment firm, Her­mitage Capital.

An exten­sive 1,000-page dossier which had been put togeth­er with evi­dence of their involve­ment and col­lu­sion in the crimes, was sub­mit­ted by Mr Bryant to Her Majesty’s Gov­ern­ment today. The sug­ges­tion to add these cor­rupt Russ­ian offi­cials was made in the House of Com­mons as part of the dis­cus­sion on the updat­ing of the ‘Pre­ven­tion and Sup­pres­sion of Ter­ror­ism Act of 2000’ on Wednes­day 19^th Jan­u­ary. The debate focused on amend­ments to the act which would involve adding organ­i­sa­tions groups and indi­vid­u­als respon­si­ble for extrem­ist activ­i­ty and eco­nom­ic ter­ror­ism to the list of cur­rent­ly “pro­scribed organ­i­sa­tions”. A pro­scribed organ­i­sa­tion is banned from oper­at­ing, fundrais­ing and pro­mot­ing itself in the UK and it is a crim­i­nal offence to be con­nect­ed with such pro­scribed per­sons in the UK.

Chris Bryant MP said:

“Sergei Mag­nit­sky was work­ing for a British com­pa­ny in Rus­sia. He unveiled a vast nexus of cor­rup­tion in the Russ­ian system-$230 mil­lion-worth-and he was mur­dered in prison, hav­ing been put there with­out tri­al, and there has been absolute­ly no inves­ti­ga­tion since his death.”

“Those involved in the arrest, tor­ture and mur­der of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, and all those involved in the cor­rup­tion that he unveiled in Rus­sia, are and have been engaged in a form of eco­nom­ic ter­ror­ism against this coun­try. I hope that the Home Office will there­fore look at whether such an order is pre­cise­ly the right vehi­cle to use to seize any of those peo­ple’s assets in this coun­try, or to pro­scribe them from com­ing to this country.”

In a prompt answer to the Chris Bryant’s pro­pos­al, the UK Immi­gra­tion Min­is­ter Dami­an Green said in the House of Com­mons indi­cat­ed that the UK gov­ern­ment has in gen­er­al at its dis­pos­al sev­er­al ways to pro­tect the UK busi­ness­es and pub­lic from the reach of cor­rupt Russ­ian offi­cials respon­si­ble for the tor­ture and mur­der; same Russ­ian offi­cials have made threats to the Her­mitage Cap­i­tal lawyers in the UK.

Damien Green MP stat­ed that:

“The Gov­ern­ment have a wide range of counter-ter­ror­ism tools at their dis­pos­al, includ­ing asset freez­ing, exclu­sion and so forth.”

As of May 2009, a total of 46 groups were pro­scribed under Sched­ule 2 of the Ter­ror­ism Act 2000, includ­ing Al-Qa’i­da, Hizbol­lah and the People’s Mujahid­din of Iran.

Damien Green MP also told me Bryant that he would be “hap­py” to meet Chris Bryant per­son­al­ly to dis­cuss the details of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky case.

At the end of last year, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment adopt­ed with an over­whelm­ing major­i­ty a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for “an EU entry ban for Russ­ian offi­cials involved in this [Magnitsky’s] case, and encour­ages EU law enforce­ment agen­cies to coop­er­ate in freez­ing bank accounts and oth­er assets of these Russ­ian offi­cials in all EU Mem­ber States”.

The leg­is­la­tion ban­ning entry and freez­ing assets of Russ­ian offi­cials respon­si­ble for cor­rup­tion uncov­ered by Mr Mag­nit­sky and his per­se­cu­tion in cus­tody was cre­at­ed last year in the US Con­gress and Cana­di­an Par­lia­ment. Ear­li­er, the pow­er­ful US Gov­ern­ment Helsin­ki Com­mis­sion man­dat­ed to mon­i­tor com­pli­ance with OSCE accords in the area of human rights com­piled a list of 60 com­plic­it Russ­ian offi­cials detail­ing their role in the theft of US$230 mil­lion of pub­lic funds, unlaw­ful arrest, tor­ture and death of 37-year old Sergei Mag­nit­sky. The list trig­gered a world­wide cam­paign for jus­tice around the world. Yet, in Rus­sia, respon­si­ble offi­cials were pro­mot­ed and giv­en top state hon­ors on the eve of one-year anniver­sary of Magnitsky’s death. In response to the on-going impuni­ty of Magnitsky’s tor­tur­ers in Rus­sia, lead­ing Russ­ian human rights activists have called upon the EU and US gov­ern­ments to take robust legal steps to cre­ate con­se­quences for Russ­ian offi­cials in Magnitsky’s case on their territories.

Watch a doc­u­men­tary about the life and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky in Russ­ian custody:

www.justiceforsergei.com

For the full tran­script of the House of Com­mons debate on the Ter­ror­ism Act 2000 see this link:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110119/debtext/110119 – 0004.htm#11011978000001

Back­ground Information:

Under the UK Ter­ror­ism Act 2000, ‘ter­ror­ism’ is defined as

the use or threat designed to influ­ence the gov­ern­ment for the pur­pose of advanc­ing a polit­i­cal, reli­gious or ide­o­log­i­cal cause, when it involves seri­ous vio­lence against a per­son, seri­ous dam­age to prop­er­ty, endan­gers a person’s life, cre­ates a seri­ous risk to the health or safe­ty of the pub­lic or a sec­tion of the pub­lic. ‘Organ­i­sa­tion’ is defined as includ­ing ‘any asso­ci­a­tion or com­bi­na­tion of per­sons’. In decid­ing on the sta­tus of pro­scribed per­sons, the Home Sec­re­tary takes into account the spe­cif­ic threat that they pose to the UK and to British nation­als overseas.

Christo­pher Bryant, a British Labour Par­ty politi­cian, has been the Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment (MP) since 2001. He is the for­mer Min­is­ter of State for Europe and Par­lia­men­tary Under-Sec­re­tary of State at the For­eign and Com­mon­wealth Office. He is cur­rent­ly a shad­ow Jus­tice Min­is­ter, with respon­si­bil­i­ty for polit­i­cal and con­sti­tu­tion­al reform.

Sergei Mag­nit­sky (8 April 1972 – 16 Novem­ber 2009), an out­side lawyer for the Her­mitage Fund, blew the whis­tle on wide­spread Russ­ian gov­ern­ment cor­rup­tion, involv­ing offi­cials from Russ­ian law enforce­ment and secu­ri­ty ser­vices. The offi­cials he tes­ti­fied against arrest­ed and detained him, begin­ning a night­mare in which he was thrown into cus­tody with­out bail or tri­al, and sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly tor­tured for one year in an attempt to force him to retract his tes­ti­mo­ny. Despite the phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal pain Sergei Mag­nit­sky endured from his cap­tors, he refused to per­jure him­self, even as his health dete­ri­o­rat­ed. Denied med­ical care for the last four months of his deten­tion, he died in excru­ci­at­ing cir­cum­stances at the age of 37, hav­ing devel­oped a severe pan­cre­at­ic con­di­tion while being held in the Butyr­ka remand cen­ter — a noto­ri­ous Czarist-era jail that also that also held Alexan­der Solzhen­it­syn and Raoul Wallenberg.

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