U.S. Senator Calls for U.S. Visa Ban of 60 Russian Officials Involved in Corruption and the Death of Sergei Magnitsky

April 26, 2010

26 April 2010 – Today the Chair­man of the U.S. Helsin­ki Com­mis­sion, U.S. Sen­a­tor Ben­jamin L. Cardin, called for imme­di­ate and per­ma­nent visa sanc­tions against 60 Russ­ian offi­cials who were involved in a $230 mil­lion cor­rup­tion case dis­cov­ered and exposed by the late Russ­ian anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky and who autho­rised Magnitsky’s arrest on false charges and orches­trat­ed his tor­ture and mur­der in cus­tody. In a let­ter addressed to U.S. Sec­re­tary of State Hillary Clin­ton, Sen­a­tor Cardin demand­ed that the State Depart­ment “imme­di­ate­ly can­cel and per­ma­nent­ly with­draw the U.S visa priv­i­leges of all those involved in this crime, along with their depen­dents and fam­i­ly mem­bers.”(See http://csce.gov/)

Sen­a­tor Cardin fur­ther wrote to Sec­re­tary Clinton:

“I am writ­ing to request the imme­di­ate can­cel­la­tion of U.S. visas held by a num­ber of Russ­ian offi­cials and oth­ers who are involved in sig­nif­i­cant cor­rup­tion in that coun­try and who are respon­si­ble for last year’s tor­ture and death in prison of the Russ­ian anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, who tes­ti­fied against them.” 

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Комиссия США призывает ввести визовые санкции в отношении 60 российских должностных лиц, причастных к коррупции и репрессиям против Сергея Магнитского

April 26, 2010

Председатель Комиссии США по безопасности и сотрудничеству в Европе призывает ввести визовые санкции в отношении 60 российских должностных лиц, причастных к коррупции и репрессиям против Сергея Магнитского

26 апреля 2010 г. — Сегодня председатель Комиссии США по безопасности и сотрудничеству в Европе сенатор Бенджамин Кардин призвал к немедленному введению постоянных визовых санкций в отношении более 60 российских должностных лиц, которые участвовали в коррупционной схеме хищения 5,4 миллиардов рублей, обнаруженной юристом Сергеем Магнитским, и которые арестовали его по сфабрикованному обвинению и применяли пытки, приведшие к его смерти в следственном изоляторе. Сенатор Кардин потребовал “незамедлительно аннулировать и навсегда исключить возможность получения виз на въезд в США для всех лиц, причастных к вышеуказанным преступлениям, а также для их близких родственников”.

В письме, направленном Госсекретарю США Хиллари Клинтон, сенатор Кардин заявил: “Я обращаюсь к Вам с призывом немедленно отменить визы в США для целого ряда российских чиновников и иных лиц, которые участвуют в масштабной коррупции в этой стране и которые несут ответственность за применение пыток и смерть в следственном изоляторе в прошлом году Сергея Магнитского — российского юриста, противостоявшего коррупции и давшего свидетельские показания против этих чиновников”.

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Telegraph: Russia called to probe police role in Magnitsky death

April 23, 2010

Mr Mag­nit­sky, who rep­re­sent­ed Her­mitage Cap­i­tal Man­age­ment, the hedge fund run by Bill Brow­der, died in prison after being held for 358 days with­out tri­al on tax eva­sion charges.

He had pre­vi­ous­ly tes­ti­fied about the involve­ment of Russ­ian police offi­cers in the alleged theft of $230m (£150m) of tax­pay­er funds. An inves­ti­ga­tion was launched into his death fol­low­ing pub­lic out­cry, but its focus was on the fail­ure of the On Thurs­day, Lyud­mi­la Alek­seye­va, the founder of the inde­pen­dent Moscow Helsin­ki Group, called for an inquiry into the police offi­cers alleged to have brought “the crim­i­nal case against Mr Mag­nit­sky and used tor­ture against him”.

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The Wall Street Journal: Russia Criticized Over Jail Death Probe

April 23, 2010

Two promi­nent Russ­ian human-rights advo­cates Thurs­day accused author­i­ties of drag­ging their feet in the inves­ti­ga­tion of the jail­house death in Novem­ber of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, a lawyer work­ing for a U.S. invest­ment fund.

Valery Bor­shchev, head of an inde­pen­dent advi­so­ry com­mis­sion legal­ly empow­ered to mon­i­tor human rights in prison, said pros­e­cu­tors and oth­er inves­ti­ga­tors haven’t respond­ed as the law requires to a scathing report on Mr. Mag­nit­sky’s case his pan­el issued in December.

That report accused inves­ti­ga­tors, judges and jail offi­cials of delib­er­ate­ly sub­ject­ing Mr. Mag­nit­sky to inhu­mane con­di­tions and depriv­ing him of vital med­ical care in an effort to pres­sure him into giv­ing tes­ti­mo­ny that inves­ti­ga­tors sought. He died Nov. 16 at Moscow’s Butyr­ka prison after suf­fer­ing gall stones.

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The Moscow Times: Activists Say Magnitsky Was Murdered

April 23, 2010

Human rights activists are call­ing on author­i­ties to open a mur­der inquiry into the death of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, who died in pre­tri­al deten­tion in November.

“Mag­nit­sky died of sys­tem­at­ic tor­ture and not of neg­li­gence,” Valery Bor­shchy­ov, of the Moscow Helsin­ki Group, told reporters Thursday.

The 37-year-old lawyer died in a deten­tion cen­ter on Nov. 16 after offi­cials repeat­ed­ly denied him med­ical treat­ment for ill­ness­es that he devel­oped while wait­ing near­ly a year for his polit­i­cal­ly taint­ed tax tri­al to begin.

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