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Six UK and International Activists Celebrated Today at Magnitsky Awards on the 8th Anniversary of the Murder of Sergei Magnitsky

November 17, 2017

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

 

Six UK and International Activists Celebrated Today at Magnitsky Awards on the 8th Anniversary of the Murder of Sergei Magnitsky

 

17 November 2017 – Yesterday, six prominent politicians and activists were honoured at the Magnitsky Awards which were held on the eighth anniversary of the Murder of Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed a US$230 million fraud perpetrated by corrupt Russian officials and organized criminals.

 

The event, which was held in the presence of the Magnitsky family, celebrated the bravery of activists from across the world and offered support to all those who fight injustice.

 

“Today we’ve honoured the bravest and the most effective individuals who have made personal sacrifices and have shown themselves to be steadfast believers in the cause of justice,” said William Browder, leader of the Global Magnitsky Justice movement. “It is truly uplifting to be in the presence of such outstanding people who believe in and act for the common good every day.”

 

Baroness Helena Kennedy presented the Magnitsky Award for Campaigning Politician to Dominic Raab MP in recognition of his work spearheading the UK Magnitsky amendment which was passed earlier this year.

 

Geoffrey Robertson QC, a renowned human rights barrister, presented the Magnitsky Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Rights Law to Nikolai Gorokhov, lawyer for the Magnitsky family, for his fearless legal work seeking justice in Russia in spite of the grave risks to his safety.

 

Canadian MP James Bezan presented the Magnitsky Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Global Magnitsky Campaign Award to Marcus Kolga. Both Kolga and Bezan were successful in advancing and promoting the passage of the Magnitsky law in Canada this October.

 

Head of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee Bjorn Engesland presented the Magnitsky Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism to Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist who has worked tirelessly to expose corruption in her home country of Azerbaijan.

 

Former political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky presented the Magnitsky Award for Outstanding Russian Opposition Activist to Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian political activist who has been the subject of two attempts on his life. Kara-Murza has been instrumental in promoting Magnitsky Acts around the world.

 

Thor Halvorssen, President of the Human Rights Foundation, presented the Magnitsky Award for Outstanding Human Rights Activist to Valery Borschev, former head of the Moscow Public Oversight Commission, who was instrumental in investigating the details of Sergei Magnitsky’s detention and torture in custody in the first six weeks after his death in custody.

The awards committee this year comprised representatives from the Henry Jackson Society, Fair Trials International, the International Bar Association, Hermitage Capital Management Ltd, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the MacDonald-Laurier Institute and the Oslo Freedom Forum.

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Billbrowder

 



US Congressman Rohrabacher and Congressional Staffer Behrends Named for Violations of US Treasury Sanctions Under Magnitsky Act

July 24, 2017

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

US Congressman Rohrabacher and Congressional Staffer Behrends Named for Violations of US Treasury Sanctions Under Magnitsky Act

24 July 2017 – A new complaint has been filed with the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) naming US Congressman Rohrabacher and his senior staffer Paul Behrends for violations of Magnitsky sanctions.

The complaint filed with the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the US Treasury alleges that both individuals provided services to Russian Deputy General Prosecutor Victor Grin, a sanctioned individual under the Magnitsky Act.

Rohrabacher and Behrends met with Grin [a Russian official sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act] in Moscow in April 2016, and accepted material from Grin which Grin sought to have Rohrabacher use to undermine the Magnitsky Act… Rohrabacher and Behrends then repeatedly undertook a series of actions to undermine the Magnitsky Act …relying on talking points provided to them by Grin, with the apparent goal of securing the removal of Grin as an SDN [Sanctions Designated National] through means outside of the designated OFAC licensing process,” says the complaint filed with OFAC by Hermitage Capital Management on Friday, 21 July 2017.

The complaint states that Rohrabacher and Behrends met with Grin in April 2016 in Moscow to discuss his problems as a Sanctions Designated National (“SDN”) under the Magnitsky Act and agreed to take action to help him. Since that meeting, according to the complaint, Rohrabacher and Behrends took action, including delaying the consideration of the Global Magnitsky Act, repeating to members of Congress talking points from the paper provided to them by the sanctioned Russian official, made personal introductions for lobbyists advocating Russian government’s and Grin’s position against the Magnitsky Act on behalf of the 44 sanctioned Russian nationals. In addition, Rohrabacher and Behrends promoted the anti-Magnitsky film which was based on the material and information from the Sanctions Designated Nationals.

“They [these actions] constitute services provided to a SDN by U.S. persons in apparent violation of the Magnitsky Act sanctions which expressly forbid U.S. persons to provide such services,” says the complaint.

Deputy General Prosecutor of Russia Victor Grin played a central role in the cover up of the US$230 million crime exposed by Sergei Magnitsky. Victor Grin personally initiated two posthumous prosecutions against Sergei Magnitsky a year and a half after Sergei Magnitsky’s death, and exonerated officials implicated by Magnitsky in the US$230 million fraud.

Since  December 29, 2014, Victor Grin has been sanctioned under the US Magnitsky Act.

Dana Rohrabacher is a member of the U.S House of Representatives representing California’s 48th congressional district.

Paul Behrends has been employed in Congress since Q3 ’14, and has also been a staffer for House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

For more information, please contact:

 

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Billbrowder

 

 

OFAC complaint

http://russian-untouchables.com/docs/OFAC%20complaint%20filed_Redacted.pdf

 



Baroness Helena Kennedy QC Introduces Magnitsky Visa Ban Legislation to the UK House of Lords

July 4, 2017

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

 

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC Introduces Magnitsky Visa Ban Legislation to the UK House of Lords

 

4 July 2017 – Last week Baroness Helena Kennedy QC introduced the Magnitsky visa ban legislation at the House of Lords of the British parliament.
The new legislation will give the British government the power to deny entry into the UK to individuals who have been involved in gross human rights abuses as defined in section 241 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”).

 

The new legislation is entitled “Cancellation of UK Visas for Gross Human Rights Abuses Bill 2017.”

 

The bill complements the previous Magnitsky legislation passed earlier this year by the British Parliament which gives the British government new powers to freeze the UK assets of foreigners involved in gross human rights abuses and corruption.

 

On introducing the bill, Baroness Kennedy said:

 

“My Lords, I beg to introduce a Bill to enable the Secretary of State or an immigration officer to refuse entry or to vary or curtail leave to enter or remain already granted to a person who is non-UK or non- EEA national who is known to be or to have been involved in gross human rights abuses.”


“This Bill was inspired by Bill Browder’s campaigning for human rights and his efforts to secure justice for his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, whose life was cruelly ended in a Russian jail. This country has been too lax in its willingness to allow entry to rich human rights abusers from around the world. It has to stop. These torturers and violators of rights have to be denied impunity,”
 said Baroness Kennedy QC.

 

The legislation follows in the footsteps of the US Magnitsky Act which was adopted by the US Congress in December 2012. The Magnitsky Act adopted into law in the United States comprises two components – visa bans and asset freezes – and applies them to those involved in the Magnitsky case, including the criminal conspiracy he had uncovered, as well as in other gross human rights violations and acts against human rights defenders.

 

Baroness Kennedy QC is a member of the House of Lords, Head of Mansfield College, University of Oxford, and a leading human rights barrister.

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Billbrowder

 

 



Nikolai Gorokhov Will Make a Third Attempt to Open Criminal Case Against Corrupt Russian Police Officers Who Covered Up Sergei Magnitsky’s Death in Custody

June 2, 2017

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

 

Nikolai Gorokhov Will Make a Third Attempt to Open Criminal Case Against Corrupt Russian Police Officers Who Covered Up Sergei Magnitsky’s Death in Custody

2 June 2017 – Today, Nikolai Gorokhov, the lawyer for Sergei Magnitsky’s mother, will make a third attempt to open a criminal investigation into the abuse of office by officer Strizhov of the Investigative Committee in the Sergei Magnitsky death case and the cover-up of the US$230 million fraud that Mr Magnitsky had discovered and exposed in 2008 before he was tortured and murdered in police custody.

The court hearing is scheduled to take place at 4 pm at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow with judge Safina presiding.

The application to open an investigation into the abuse of office was originally filed by Mr Gorokhov with the Russian Investigative Committee in January 2017. The Investigative Committee refused to open an investigation. Mr Gorokhov then filed a complaint against this refusal, which was due to be heard on March 24, 2017. The hearing did not go ahead because of the Mr. Gorokhov’s plunge from his fourth floor apartment in suspicious circumstances.

At the postponed court hearing which was eventually held last week in Moscow, it was revealed that the Russian Investigative Committee refused to treat his complaint against officer Strizhov as a crime report.

The additional evidence submitted by Mr Gorokhov to the Investigative Committee remained unanswered, leading to the third application filed by Mr Gorokhov earlier this week, which will be heard today at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow.

The application by Mr Gorokhov relies on new records of emails and WhatsApp communications between associates of the Klyuev Organised Crime Group discussing the arrangements with Russian law enforcement officers for the cover-up and tampering of evidence in the Magnitsky case.

The leaked emails and WhatsApp messages identify the arrangements being made between Andrei Pavlov, a key member of the Klyuev Organised Crime Group, who took part in the US$230 million fraud, and investigator Strizhov of the Russian Investigative Committee, who was in charge of investigating Pavlov and others as part of the Magnitsky death investigation and the criminal conspiracy Magnitsky had uncovered.

In the communications, Andrei Pavlov advises ex Interior Ministry officer Oleg Urzhumtsev of the arrangement reached with investigator Strizhov and Interior Ministry officials. Pavlov says:

“Strizhov will come to an agreement with Ryabtsev [head of department “K” of the Interior Ministry’s Directorate of Economic Security and Fighting Corruption] on his own, but it is necessary that Mityaev (subordinate of Ryabtsev in department “K”) is all for it, like I know it all, I will help with everything. He will later be the one to submit the study to Strizhov.”

The communications refer to various officials and organized criminals under both real and assumed names and aliases, including “Bald-headed” and “The Great.”

The communications further reveal the intention of the Klyuev Organised Crime Group to disguise and conceal their active involvement in the evidence tampering and cover up efforts from lawyers for Magnitsky’s family and Hermitage. In one record of conversation, Andrei Pavlov explicitly tells ex Interior Ministry officer Urzhumtsev:

“Fxxk. Even if the study is appointed by Strizh [short for “Strizhov”], then Gorokhov [lawyer for Magnitsky’s mother] and Antipov [Hermitage’s lawyer] have to be notified of it, it would be clusterfxxk.”

Within a month of these arrangements, investigator Strizhov closed the Magnitsky death investigation citing the “absence of crime” and accused Sergei Magnitsky posthumously of being a perpetrator of the US$230 million fraud.

For more information, please contact:

 

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Billbrowder

 

 

 



В третий раз мама Сергея Магнитского просит суд рассмотреть заявление о должностном преступлении следователя СК РФ Стрижова

June 2, 2017

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В третий раз мама Сергея Магнитского просит суд рассмотреть заявление о должностном преступлении следователя СК РФ Стрижова

 

2 июня 2017 года – Сегодня в 16 ч Басманный суд г. Москвы рассмотрит жалобу матери Сергея Магнитского на отказ Следственного комитета РФ рассматривать ее заявление о должностном преступлении следователя СК РФ Стрижова, прекратившего расследование обстоятельств смерти Магнитского после контактов с заинтересованными в его гибели лицами.

 

По данным, направленным в Следственный комитет РФ еще в январе этого года, следователь СК РФ Стрижов, которому было поручено расследовать обстоятельства гибели Сергея Магнитского в следственном изоляторе,  находился в сговоре с Андреем Павловым и его сообщниками, действовал по их указаниям, освободил их от ответственности.

 

Обстоятельства соучастия следователя Стрижова в укрывательстве стали известны из опубликованных протоколов разговоров Андрея Павлова и бывшего следователя МВД РФ Олега Уржумцева.

 

Из протоколов разговоров Павлова и Уржемцева от 18 февраля 2013 года, за месяц до прекращения следователем Стрижовым расследования смерти Магнитского, следует, что Павлов достиг договоренностей со следователем Стрижовым:

 

«С Рябцевым [руководителем подразделения управления “К” МВД РФ] Стрижов сам договариваться будет, но надо, чтобы Митяев [подчиненный Рябцева из управления «К» МВД РФ] резко за был, что, мол все знаю, всем помогу. Он же и экспертизу Стрижову представит.»

 

На следующий день, 19 февраля 2013 г., Павлов сообщает Уржумцеву об исполнении договоренностей следователем Стрижовым:

 

«Для сведения, Рябцев (нач. Митяева) пообщеал Митяя Стрижу на помочь, но, типа “разово”.»

 

Еще через два дня Павлов доводит до сведения Уржумцева необходимость скрыть их деятельность от адвоката матери Сергея Магнитского:

 

«Бхххя. Вот даже если представить, что экспертизу Стриж назначит, с ней надо знакомить Горохова …, это будет пxxxxц.»

 

А еще через месяц, 19 марта 2013 г, следователь Стрижов вынес постановление о прекращении уголовного дела о смерти Магнитского за «отсутствием события преступления», в котором освободил от ответственности за хищение 5,4 миллиардов рублей и его укрывательство Павлова и Уржумцева.

 

В январе этого года Басманный суд Москвы отклонил иск Андрея Павлова к «Новой газете», которым Павлов хотел запретить газете печатать его переписку, в том числе протоколы его разговоров со следователем Уржумцевым, ранее опубликованные в Интернете.

 

Программа «Справедливость для Сергея Магнитского»

+44 207 440 1777

info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Billbrowder

 



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