Today the UK Parliament Passed Historic Magnitsky Asset Freezing Sanctions

February 21, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

Today the UK Par­lia­ment Passed His­toric Mag­nit­sky Asset Freez­ing Sanctions 

21 Feb­ru­ary 2017 – Today the UK House of Com­mons unan­i­mous­ly passed the UK Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions legislation.

The Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions leg­is­la­tion was vot­ed on as part of the UK Crim­i­nal Finances Bill. It will allow the British gov­ern­ment to freeze assets of human rights abusers in the UK. The Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions amend­ment which passed was sub­mit­ted by UK Home Sec­re­tary Amber Rudd.

“The new Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions Leg­is­la­tion is going to cause per­cep­ti­ble fear for klep­to­crats in Rus­sia and oth­er author­i­tar­i­an regimes. They all have expen­sive prop­er­ties in Lon­don and think they are untouch­able,” said William Brow­der, leader of the glob­al Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice Cam­paign and author of “Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s No 1 Ene­my.”

“This effort is the result of sev­en years of advo­ca­cy in the name of the late Sergei Mag­nit­sky who uncov­ered and tes­ti­fied about the US$230 mil­lion cor­rup­tion scheme per­pe­trat­ed by Russ­ian offi­cials and was killed for his whis­tle-blow­ing,” said William Browder.

“Should the House of Lords pass this into law, the UK will be the sec­ond coun­try in Europe to pass Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions and will set a strong exam­ple for the rest of Europe,” said William Browder.

The new UK Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions leg­is­la­tion intro­duces gross human rights abuse as part of the unlaw­ful con­duct, to which civ­il recov­ery pow­ers can now be applied under Part 5 of the Pro­ceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The UK Mag­nit­sky leg­is­la­tion pro­tects those who “have sought to expose the ille­gal activ­i­ty car­ried out by a pub­lic offi­cial or a per­son act­ing in an offi­cial capac­i­ty, or to obtain, exer­cise, defend or pro­mote human rights and fun­da­men­tal free­doms.” (full text here).

Sergei Mag­nit­sky was a Russ­ian lawyer who uncov­ered the mas­sive cor­rup­tion per­pe­trat­ed sys­tem­at­i­cal­ly by Russ­ian offi­cials and orga­nized crim­i­nals, which includ­ed thefts from the Russ­ian trea­sury, includ­ing the theft of US$230 mil­lion in 2007. Instead of pur­su­ing the offi­cials who approved the thefts, the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment arrest­ed Sergei Mag­nit­sky and put him in pre-tri­al deten­tion, where he was tor­tured for 358 days and killed at the age of 37. All offi­cials impli­cat­ed in his tor­ture and the mul­ti-mil­lion dol­lar thefts have been exonerated.

In response to the impuni­ty demon­strat­ed by the Mag­nit­sky case in Rus­sia, the US passed the Rus­sia-focused Mag­nit­sky Act enact­ing US asset freezes and visa bans in 2012 and the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Act which applies to human rights vio­la­tors around the world in 2016. Esto­nia passed its Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Act leg­is­la­tion in 2016. Cur­rent­ly, Cana­da and the EU are con­sid­er­ing their own ver­sions of Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions as well.

“The new UK Mag­nit­sky Leg­is­la­tion deals with asset freez­ing on human rights abusers. We will con­tin­ue to cam­paign for visa sanc­tions on human rights abusers in the UK under sep­a­rate leg­is­la­tion,” said Mag­nit­sky cam­paign leader William Browder.

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

Boris Nemtsov Posthumously Awarded Sergei Magnitsky 2015 Human Rights Prize for Democracy

November 17, 2015

16 Novem­ber 2015 – Tonight Boris Nemtsov, the Russ­ian politi­cian who was assas­si­nat­ed near the Krem­lin in late Feb­ru­ary this year, was posthu­mous­ly award­ed the Sergei Mag­nit­sky 2015 Human Rights Prize for Democracy. 

“Boris Nemtsov was a coura­geous man, and a true friend of the Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice cam­paign. He was a stead­fast sup­port­er of our ini­tia­tive to impose tar­get­ed West­ern sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials involved in human rights abuse and cor­rup­tion. Boris shamed weak West­ern diplo­mats who tried to appease the Russ­ian leader, because he was con­vinced that the sanc­tions are the nec­es­sary, effec­tive and moral­ly right way to stand up to Russ­ian offi­cial impuni­ty,” said William Brow­der, leader of the Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky campaign. 

“Both Boris and Sergei were opti­mists and believed in a brighter future for Rus­sia. They show us that Rus­sia pro­duces great peo­ple with human­i­ty and integri­ty. Their loss is a tragedy for Rus­sia and the world. The fact that both were killed in cold blood, and in both cas­es those respon­si­ble have not been brought to account, is the call for action. We can­not bring Boris and Sergei back, but we owe it to them to car­ry on with our cause, to seek jus­tice in the form of fur­ther Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions on cor­rupt offi­cials and human rights vio­la­tors by coun­tries around the world,” said William Browder.

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky awards cer­e­mo­ny was held tonight in Lon­don on the 6^th anniver­sary of Sergei Magnitsky’s mur­der in Russ­ian police custody.
Oth­er win­ners of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky 2015 Human Rights Awards include promi­nent pol­i­cy mak­ers, jour­nal­ists, and human rights activists, who have worked in the spir­it of Sergei Mag­nit­sky — with faith, strength and integri­ty, to rein­force and advance his lega­cy, and bring about sig­nif­i­cant change in the inter­na­tion­al jus­tice and human rights field.

The win­ners of the 2015 ‘Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards’ are:

1) Boris Nemtsov (posthu­mous­ly and accept­ed by his daugh­ter Zhan­na Nemtso­va), Russ­ian oppo­si­tion leader (Spe­cial Award for Cam­paign­ing for Democracy);
2) Guy Ver­hof­s­tadt, Mem­ber of Euro­pean Par­lia­ment (Cam­paign­ing Euro­pean Politi­cian Award), co-author of Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions Res­o­lu­tion in the Euro­pean Parliament;
3) Jim McGov­ern, U.S. Con­gress­man (Cam­paign­ing US Politi­cian Award), co-author of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act adopt­ed by the US Congress;
4) The Organ­ised Crime and Cor­rup­tion Report­ing Project, an anti-cor­rup­tion and inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism NGO (Out­stand­ing Inves­tiga­tive Jour­nal­ism Award, accept­ed by Paul Radu and Roman Anin) who inves­ti­gat­ed and pub­li­cised the transna­tion­al mon­ey laun­der­ing trail from the $230 mil­lion theft uncov­ered by Sergei Magnitsky;
5) Andrew Rettman, Euro­pean jour­nal­ist with EU Observ­er (Out­stand­ing Euro­pean Cov­er­age of Mag­nit­sky Case Award) who cov­ered polit­i­cal aspects of the Mag­nit­sky case in the EU;
6) James O’Brien, British jour­nal­ist, tele­vi­sion and radio pre­sen­ter, and a show host on LBC talk sta­tion (Out­stand­ing British Cov­er­age of Mag­nit­sky Case Award) who shamed the British gov­ern­ment in their weak response to the Mag­nit­sky case;
7) Geof­frey Robert­son QC, inter­na­tion­al lawyer (Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to Human Rights Law Award), author of pub­li­ca­tions on Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions legislation;
8) The Oslo Free­dom Forum, a human rights con­fer­ence plat­form (Best Human Rights NGO Award, accept­ed by Thor Halvorssen) who pro­mot­ed pol­i­cy debate on Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions and human rights; and
9) The Hon. Irwin Cotler, for­mer Attor­ney Gen­er­al and Jus­tice Min­is­ter of Cana­da (Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign), author of the Mag­nit­sky bill in the Cana­di­an Par­lia­ment, and chair of the Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky Inter-Par­lia­men­tary Group.

The organ­is­ing com­mit­tee of the Glob­al Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards this year con­sists of activists from major inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al, The Hen­ry Jack­son Soci­ety, Fair Tri­als Inter­na­tion­al, the Cen­tral and East­ern Euro­pean Coun­cil of Cana­da, and the British Par­lia­men­t’s All-Par­ty Group on Anti-Corruption.

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards, a new­ly-launched inter­na­tion­al human rights prize, are advanced by the Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly as a “bea­con of sup­port” for all those who fight injus­tice around the world, and pro­mot­ed by the Jus­tice for Mag­nit­sky campaign. 

Sergei Mag­nit­sky, a Russ­ian lawyer, uncov­ered the largest pub­licly-known cor­rup­tion case in Rus­sia involv­ing the theft of $230 mil­lion, and tes­ti­fied about it nam­ing com­plic­it offi­cials. He was arrest­ed by some of the impli­cat­ed offi­cials, held for 358 days in pre-tri­al deten­tion in tor­tur­ous con­di­tions, and killed in Russ­ian police cus­tody on 16 Novem­ber 2009. 

For more infor­ma­tion please contact: 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__
www.facebook.com/russianuntouchables

Sergei Magnitsky Human Rights Awards Will Be Launched on the 6^th Anniversary of Sergei Magnitsky’s Murder in Russian Police Custody

November 12, 2015

12 Novem­ber 2015 – On the eve of the 6^th anniver­sary of the mur­der of Russ­ian anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, the Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky cam­paign is launch­ing the ‘Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards.’

The awards will cel­e­brate inter­na­tion­al politi­cians, jour­nal­ists and civ­il soci­ety activists who have worked in the spir­it of Sergei Mag­nit­sky — with faith, strength and integri­ty, to rein­force and advance his lega­cy, and bring about sig­nif­i­cant change in the inter­na­tion­al jus­tice and human rights field. 

The win­ners of the 2015 Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards will be announced next week, on Mon­day, 16 Novem­ber 2015, mark­ing the 6^th anniver­sary of Sergei Magnitsky’s death in Russ­ian police cus­tody at the age of 37. 

“Sergei Magnitsky’s impact on the world has only gained in sig­nif­i­cance in the years after his death. We hope that the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards will serve as a bea­con of sup­port for all those who fight injus­tice around the world,” said Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s moth­er Nataliya.
The organ­is­ing com­mit­tee of the Glob­al Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards this year con­sists of activists from major inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al, the Hen­ry Jack­son Soci­ety, Fair Tri­als Inter­na­tion­al, the Cen­tral and East­ern Euro­pean Coun­cil of Cana­da, and the British Par­lia­men­t’s All-Par­ty Group on Anti-Corruption.

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards will be giv­en in 9 cat­e­gories, includ­ing Out­stand­ing Inves­tiga­tive Jour­nal­ism; Top Cam­paign­ing US Politi­cian, Top Euro­pean Politi­cians; Best Human Rights NGO; Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign; Out­stand­ing Cov­er­age of Mag­nit­sky Case in Britain and in Europe; the Best Human Rights Lawyer; and the Top Cam­paign­er for Democracy.

Alan Men­doza, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Hen­ry Jack­son Soci­ety, said:
“The inau­gur­al Sergei Mag­nit­sky Award is an impor­tant event, and we are very hap­py to be involved. The Award cer­e­mo­ny rep­re­sents the pin­na­cle of years of sup­port that The Hen­ry Jack­son Soci­ety has giv­en to the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign, and we look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing that sup­port for years to come.”

Robert Bar­ring­ton, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al UK said:
“Inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ists are a vital part of the efforts to uncov­er and ulti­mate­ly fight cor­rup­tion in all its forms. Whether it’s expos­ing the lav­ish lifestyle of a cor­rupt state offi­cial, or unearthing wide­spread bribery in busi­ness­es, inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ists have proved effec­tive cam­paign­ers against cor­rup­tion. Often they will work in extreme­ly restrict­ed envi­ron­ments, putting life and limb on the line to unmask the cor­rupt. That’s why Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al is proud to be sup­port­ing the award for inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism at the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards this year.”

Sergei Magnitsky’s tor­ture and death in Russ­ian police cus­tody, and the sub­se­quent cov­er-up of his mur­der and the theft of the $230 mil­lion cor­rup­tion he had exposed, has led to the world­wide Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign. Launched in 2010, it spear­head­ed the adop­tion in the Unit­ed States of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act of 2012. The U.S. Mag­nit­sky law impos­es tar­get­ed sanc­tions in the form of visa bans and asset freezes on those involved in his case, as well as in oth­er gross human rights abus­es against democ­ra­cy defend­ers in Rus­sia. 34 Russ­ian offi­cials and pri­vate indi­vid­u­als have been placed on the U.S. Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions list since the enact­ment of the law.

The OSCE Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly has called on all its mem­ber states to adopt sim­i­lar sanc­tions on those involved in Sergei Magnitsky’s case.
Sergei Mag­nit­sky was posthu­mous­ly giv­en the 2010 Inter­na­tion­al Integri­ty Award by Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al for tak­ing a per­son­al stand against Russ­ian cor­rup­tion and pay­ing for it with his life. 

Ear­li­er this year Sergei Mag­nit­sky was hon­oured by the Allard Prize Com­mit­tee for Inter­na­tion­al Integri­ty (Cana­da), which rec­og­nizes indi­vid­u­als and organ­i­sa­tions who show excep­tion­al courage and lead­er­ship in com­bat­ing corruption. 

This year Sergei Mag­nit­sky was also posthu­mous­ly award­ed one of the world’s most pres­ti­gious indi­vid­ual achieve­ment prizes, the Joshua Heintz Human­i­tar­i­an Award, for dis­tin­guished achieve­ment in the field of inter­na­tion­al jus­tice award­ed by the orga­ni­za­tion of for­mer Chief Pros­e­cu­tors of the UN War Crimes Tribunals.

In Rus­sia, Sergei Mag­nit­sky was tried posthu­mous­ly, three and a half years after his death, in the first-ever posthu­mous tri­al in Russ­ian his­to­ry. Russ­ian author­i­ties also closed the inves­ti­ga­tion into his death in police cus­tody find­ing “no signs of crime,” in spite of con­clu­sions to the con­trary drawn by two inde­pen­dent domes­tic com­mis­sions, includ­ing the Moscow Pub­lic Over­sight Com­mis­sion and the President’s Human Rights Coun­cil, as well as by the inter­na­tion­al inves­ti­ga­tion car­ried out in 2012 – 2013 by the Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly of the Coun­cil of Europe which urged Rus­sia to con­duct prop­er inves­ti­ga­tion or face US-like Mag­nit­sky sanctions.

For more infor­ma­tion please contact:
Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky
+44 207 440 1777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Face­book: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__

Russian Anti-Corruption Activist Navalny Urges US Government to Add New Names to Magnitsky Sanctions List for Abusing His Brother in Prison

November 11, 2015

11 Novem­ber 2015 – Alex­ei Naval­ny, Russ­ian anti-cor­rup­tion activist, whose broth­er has been jailed by Russ­ian author­i­ties since Decem­ber 2014 on trumped up charges and who has been sub­ject­ed to dis­crim­i­na­to­ry pres­sure in deten­tion, has urged the US Gov­ern­ment to add new names onto the Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions list under the US Sergei Mag­nit­sky Law (https://navalny.com/p/4533/) which impos­es visa bans and asset freezes on gross human rights violators.

“[The Mag­nit­sky Law] is a tru­ly pro-Russ­ian law…This is the law that pro­tects Russ­ian cit­i­zens from the law­less­ness,” said Alex­ei Naval­ny on the role of the Mag­nit­sky Act in today’s Russia.

“My broth­er [Oleg Naval­ny] is being held in jail as a hostage. His only guilt is that he is my broth­er,” said Alex­ei Navalny.

“Pre­vi­ous­ly, each new wave of pres­sure on Oleg [Alex­ei Navalny’s broth­er] was pre­cise­ly timed with my activ­i­ties and anti-cor­rup­tion inves­ti­ga­tions. Now this pres­sure sim­ply nev­er sub­sides,” said Alex­ei Naval­ny about the treat­ment of his broth­er in Russ­ian penal colony No 5.

Alex­ei Naval­ny and his col­leagues have iden­ti­fied three offi­cials respon­si­ble for apply­ing the pres­sure to Navalny’s brother:
1) Yuri Dorokhin, deputy head of prison sys­tem in Orlov region;
2) Yuri Afanasiev, head of penal colony IK‑5;
3) Gen­nady Grevt­sev, deputy head of IK‑5 colony in charge of security. 

In the last sev­er­al months, Oleg Naval­ny was moved three times to a penal­ty facil­i­ty where he spent 45 days, accord­ing to Alex­ei Navalny’s col­league Vladimir Ashurkov (https://www.facebook.com/vladimir.ashurkov/posts/1059742160743615)

The Unit­ed States passed the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act in Decem­ber 2012. The US law, named after deceased Her­mitage Fund’s Russ­ian lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, impos­es visa bans and asset freezes on those involved in his arrest, tor­ture, death and cov­er-up, as well as oth­er gross human rights abuses.

So far the U.S. Treasury’s Office of For­eign Assets Con­trol has pub­licly sanc­tioned 34 Russ­ian nation­als under the US Mag­nit­sky Act, includ­ing 28 who played a role in the Mag­nit­sky case and 6 per­sons involved in oth­er gross human rights vio­la­tions in Rus­sia. The lists of names were pre­vi­ous­ly pub­lished by the US Gov­ern­ment on 12 April 2013, 20 May 2014 and 29 Decem­ber 2014.
For more infor­ma­tion please contact:

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Face­book: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__

Ahead of Canadian Elections Next Monday, All Major Canadian Political Parties Commit to Implement Magnitsky Sanctions Legislation if Elected

October 13, 2015

13 Octo­ber 2015 – All of Canada’s major polit­i­cal par­ties have pub­licly pledged to imple­ment Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions leg­is­la­tion if elect­ed ahead of the fed­er­al elec­tion set for next Mon­day, 19 Octo­ber 2015. 

Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions leg­is­la­tion will cre­ate con­se­quences for gross human rights vio­la­tions. Such leg­is­la­tion is already in place in the Unit­ed States.
Last spring Lib­er­al Cana­di­an MP Irwin Cotler’s motion call­ing for a Mag­nit­sky law won unan­i­mous sup­port in the Canada’s House of Commons.

Canada’s Min­is­ter of For­eign Affairs and mem­ber of the Con­ser­v­a­tive par­ty Rob Nichol­son gave a pledge to amend Canada’s exist­ing sanc­tions regime to include Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions — the abil­i­ty to tar­get human rights abusers through­out the world with visa bans and asset freezes (http://upnorth.eu/canadian-ministers-pledge-to-adopt-global-magnitsky-nemtsov-legislation-and-create-digital-freedom-fund/)

NDP and Green Par­ty of Cana­da stat­ed that they will intro­duce Mag­nit­sky leg­is­la­tion involv­ing sanc­tions against Russ­ian offi­cials respon­si­ble for the ille­gal impris­on­ment in Rus­sia of Ukrain­ian cit­i­zens (NDP: http://www.ucc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/1‑NDP-Response-Ukrainian-Canadian-Congress-Questionnaire.pdf; Greens: http://www.ucc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/1‑Green-Party-Leader-UCCResponseFinal.pdf)

The Lib­er­al Par­ty of Cana­da said that a Lib­er­al Gov­ern­ment will intro­duce leg­is­la­tion, mod­elled on the US Mag­nit­sky leg­is­la­tion, because of the belief that, “by impos­ing sanc­tions, we can impose mean­ing­ful penal­ties on human rights vio­la­tors and deter future vio­la­tions,” and that it “will imme­di­ate­ly expand the list of sanc­tioned Rus­sians to include influ­en­tial busi­ness­men, and close Putin sup­port­ers, Igor Sechin and Vladimir Yakunin.” (http://www.ucc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/1‑LPC-Response-Election-2015.pdf)

The state­ments from the polit­i­cal par­ties came in response to ques­tions raised by the Ukrain­ian Cana­di­an Con­gress (UCC) chal­leng­ing all Cana­di­an polit­i­cal par­ties on issues of impor­tance to the Ukrain­ian Cana­di­an com­mu­ni­ty in advance of the election. 

The 2015 Cana­di­an elec­tion will be held on Octo­ber 19, 2015 and will elect mem­bers to the House of Com­mons of the 42^nd Par­lia­ment of Canada.

For more infor­ma­tion please contact:

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky
+44 207 440 1777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Face­book: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__

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