// Press Releases (in English)

British MP Submits 1000 Pages of Evidence to Home Secretary To Ban Magnitsky Killers From UK

May 18, 2012

British MP Dominic Raab has requested UK Home Sec­re­tary Theresa May to “give proper con­sid­er­a­tion” to the ban on entry to the UK of 60 Russ­ian offi­cials con­nected to the tor­ture and death of late Russ­ian lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky who worked for British invest­ment com­pany Her­mitage Cap­i­tal. This fol­lows the change in the UK immi­gra­tion pol­icy announced by the UK For­eign and Com­mon­wealth Office last month in its Annual Human Rights Report. In the report, immi­gra­tion rules have been changed so the UK will no longer allow entry into the UK of non EU cit­i­zens involved in human rights abuses.

The change in the UK immi­gra­tion pol­icy was prompted by the debate of the British Parliament’s Beck­bench Busi­ness Com­mit­tee held on 8 March 2012 which resulted in pass­ing of a motion call­ing for visa bans and asset freezes on Russ­ian offi­cials con­nected to the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, those involved in the large-scale cor­rup­tion he had uncov­ered, and offi­cials involved in other gross human rights abuses. The motion was ini­ti­ated by Dominic Raab, MP, and sup­ported by three for­mer For­eign Sec­re­taries, and two other for­mer For­eign Min­is­ters. (more…)

US Students Launch Campaign and New Movie to Support Magnitsky Act

May 17, 2012

A group of US stu­dents is launch­ing a cam­paign across U.S. cam­puses in sup­port of the bill enti­tled: “Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­ity Act” in both cham­bers of the US Con­gress (H.R.4405; S.1039) that would impose U.S. visa bans and asset freezes on the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment offi­cials involved in the tor­ture and mur­der of 37-year old, whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, as well as other gross human rights abusers. Over 3 mil­lion stu­dents rep­re­sented by the College-100, a net­work of stu­dent body pres­i­dents from top U.S. uni­ver­si­ties, are expected to join in the “Sergei’s Law” campaign.

“The Mag­nit­sky Act is an ini­tia­tive reflect­ing the core val­ues of Amer­i­can democ­racy and impor­tantly, it is some­thing that Russ­ian peo­ple want, even if the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment opposes it. It’s impor­tant for US politi­cians to know that,” said Zachary Todd, the founder of the College-100. (more…)

Putin Declares Fighting Magnitsky Sanctions One of His Top Foreign Policy Goals

May 16, 2012

In his first for­eign pol­icy move, Pres­i­dent Putin signed an exec­u­tive order on for­eign affairs on May 7, 2012, where he offi­cially declared that fight­ing Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions is now one of Russia’s top for­eign pol­icy goals. In the exec­u­tive order Pres­i­dent Putin said:
“Hereby I instruct to carry out active work to pre­vent the intro­duc­tion of uni­lat­eral extrater­ri­to­r­ial sanc­tions by the USA against Russ­ian legal enti­ties and indi­vid­u­als.” http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/15256)

This is the first time that the Russ­ian head of state has explictly stated that fight­ing the Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions of visa bans and asset freezes on cor­rupt Russ­ian offi­cials is a national pol­icy. (more…)

British Government Takes First Step To Impose Magnitsky Sanctions

May 1, 2012

Yes­ter­day, the UK For­eign and Com­mon­wealth Office unveiled a new piece of leg­is­la­tion which would ban entry into the UK of for­eign nation­als who have been involved in tor­ture, mur­der or other human rights abuses. The leg­is­la­tion was inspired by the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, a Russ­ian whistle-blowing lawyer who was tor­tured to death in Russ­ian police cus­tody two and a half years ago. The For­eign and Com­mon­wealth Office said the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky remains “unre­solved,” and no one has been brought to jus­tice either for his tor­ture and death or for the cor­rup­tion he had uncovered.

The new leg­is­la­tion was announced by the UK For­eign Office in the 2011 Human Rights and Democ­racy Report pub­lished yes­ter­day (http://fcohrdreport.readandcomment.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Cm-8339.pdf).
“Where there is inde­pen­dent, reli­able and cred­i­ble evi­dence that an indi­vid­ual has com­mit­ted human rights abuses, the indi­vid­ual will not nor­mally be per­mit­ted to enter the United King­dom,” said the UK For­eign Office in the report. (more…)

Russian Government Extends the Case Investigation into Sergei Magnitsky’s Death, with No New Suspects, while His Unprecedented Posthumous Prosecution Carries On

April 25, 2012

The Russ­ian gov­ern­ment has extended, for the 12^th time, the inves­ti­ga­tion into the death in jail of whistle-blowing lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky. The pre­vi­ous dead­line, which expired today has now been extended to 24 July 2012: this, despite no new sus­pects being iden­ti­fied and no new charges brought. The inves­ti­ga­tion remains under the con­trol of the same Russ­ian offi­cials who are con­flicted and com­pro­mised by their known roles in Magnitsky’s per­se­cu­tion and the con­ceal­ment of the cor­rup­tion he had uncov­ered. The Russ­ian gov­ern­ment claims that the death of Mag­nit­sky, a healthy 37-year old prior to his deten­tion, where he was kept for 358 days with­out trial in inhu­mane con­di­tions, was “an inevitable event for which no one was to blame”. (more…)

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