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).

British law­mak­ers con­demned the wide-spread cor­rup­tion that lead to the tor­ture and death of a Sergei Mag­nit­sky. Mr Mag­nit­sky was arrest­ed and impris­oned by senior Russ­ian police offi­cials, who he exposed a month before to his arrest, with the embez­zle­ment of US$230 mil­lion of state taxes.

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky visa sanc­tions EDM (No 1183) reads:

“This House com­mem­o­rates the life of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, an anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer arrest­ed and tor­tured to death in Russ­ian cus­tody on 16 Novem­ber 2009, while defend­ing a British organ­i­sa­tion invest­ing in Rus­sia; con­demns the fact that no inves­ti­ga­tion into his tor­ture in cus­tody or into police cor­rup­tion has been opened in Rus­sia despite appeals from lead­ing human rights and anti-cor­rup­tion organ­i­sa­tions and for­eign gov­ern­ments;… and calls on the Gov­ern­ment to exclude from the UK and freeze assets of those Russ­ian offi­cials involved in Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s arrest, tor­ture and death and the US$230 mil­lion cor­rup­tion he uncov­ered.”

The strong sup­port in the House of Com­mons for the Mag­nit­sky visa sanc­tions comes just days ahead of an offi­cial vis­it to the UK of Russ­ian For­eign Affairs Min­is­ter Lavrov. This vis­it comes at a time of a marked dete­ri­o­ra­tion in Russ­ian-British rela­tions fol­low­ing the expul­sion from Rus­sia of Luke Hard­ing, a Guardian news­pa­per jour­nal­ist who had received wide recog­ni­tion for expos­ing cor­rup­tion in the Russ­ian government.

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky visa sanc­tions EDM under­lines the impuni­ty of tor­tur­ers in Rus­sia and said:

“this House… notes that a year since his death in cus­tody not a sin­gle Russ­ian offi­cial has been charged or tried despite the well-doc­u­ment­ed record of abuse, but that Russ­ian police­men involved have been pro­mot­ed and hon­oured; fur­ther notes that the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment, the US Con­gress and Cana­di­an par­lia­ments have all dis­cussed leg­is­la­tion impos­ing visa and eco­nom­ic sanc­tions on the involved Russ­ian officials.”

William Brow­der, CEO of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal, the firm that Mag­nit­sky rep­re­sent­ed in Rus­sia, said:

“The lat­est motion in the Par­lia­ment is a sig­nal that UK won’t be a blind wit­ness to those who calm­ly com­mit hor­rif­ic crimes and live in impuni­ty in their own coun­try. It is tru­ly against our nation­al inter­est to allow tor­tur­ers and mur­der­ers to vis­it our coun­try and spend their blood mon­ey here.”.

Last week, Chris Bryant MP pre­pared an exten­sive 1,000-page dossier with evi­dence of the involve­ment and col­lu­sion of 60 Russ­ian offi­cials in the arrest, tor­ture and death in police cus­tody of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and will sub­mit it to the UK Home Sec­re­tary There­sa May. He called on There­sa May to ban entry into the UK for those 60 Russ­ian offi­cials. Mr Bryant MP also called on the British gov­ern­ment, to for­mal­ly pro­scribe these Russ­ian offi­cials as “eco­nom­ic ter­ror­ists” under the Ter­ror­ism Act for their role in harm­ing British eco­nom­ic interests.

*************

Notes

The US Helsin­ki Com­mis­sion (US OSCE Com­mis­sion) issued in April of last year, a list of 60 Russ­ian offi­cials detail­ing their role in the unlaw­ful arrest, tor­ture and death of 37-year old Sergei Mag­nit­sky and the theft of US$230 mil­lion of pub­lic funds he uncov­ered. The list trig­gered a world­wide cam­paign for jus­tice around the world. The US Con­gress and Cana­di­an Par­lia­ment put for­ward leg­is­la­tion ban­ning entry and freez­ing assets of Russ­ian offi­cials respon­si­ble for cor­rup­tion uncov­ered by Mr Mag­nit­sky and his per­se­cu­tion in custody.

On 16 Decem­ber 2010, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment adopt­ed, with an over­whelm­ing major­i­ty, a res­o­lu­tion call­ing upon the EU to con­sid­er an “entry ban for Russ­ian offi­cials involved in Magnitsky’s case” and encour­ag­ing coop­er­a­tion of EU law enforce­ment agen­cies “in freez­ing bank accounts and oth­er assets of these Russ­ian offi­cials in all EU Mem­ber States”.

Despite ample evi­dence of abuse, the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment has refused to admit to the crimes of tor­ture com­mit­ted by its offi­cials and claimed that Mag­nit­sky died of “nat­ur­al caus­es”. Fur­ther­more, Russ­ian police offi­cers direct­ly involved in Magnitsky’s arrest and tor­ture in cus­tody were pro­mot­ed and giv­en top state hon­ours on the one-year anniver­sary of his death last November.

In response to the on-going impuni­ty of Magnitsky’s tor­tur­ers in Rus­sia, Russ­ian human rights activists have called upon the EU and US gov­ern­ments to take steps to cre­ate legal con­se­quences for Russ­ian offi­cials in Magnitsky’s case on their ter­ri­to­ries. Last month, three UN Spe­cial Rap­por­teurs — on Extra­ju­di­cial Killings, Against Tor­ture, and for the Inde­pen­dence of Lawyers and Judges – for­mal­ly raised Magnitsky’s case with the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion. The inves­ti­ga­tion by the UN Rap­por­teurs is cur­rent­ly ongoing.

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion please contact:

Her­mitage Capital

+44 207 440 1777

info@lawandorderinrussia.org

http://lawandorderinrussia.org

Link to the UK House of Com­mons Ear­ly Day Motion on Sergei Mag­nit­sky: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=42195&SESSION=905

List of UK MPs who signed Sergei Mag­nit­sky EDM in the House of Commons:

Con­ser­v­a­tive Par­ty MPs :

1. Bot­tom­ley, Peter

2. Dor­ries, Nadine

3. Hal­fon, Robert

4. Rifkind, Malcolm

5. Soames, Nicholas

Demo­c­ra­t­ic Union­ist Par­ty MP:

6. Shan­non, Jim

Labour Par­ty MPs: 

7. Bryant, Chris (Pri­ma­ry Sponsor)

8. Camp­bell, Ronnie

9. Caton, Martin

10. Clark, Katy

11. Cor­byn, Jeremy

12. Fly­nn, Paul

13. Glin­don, Mary

14. Hop­kins, Kelvin

15. Mac­Shane, Denis

16. McDon­nell, John

17. Sheri­dan, Jim

18. Singh, Marsha

19. Smith, Nick

Lib­er­al Democ­rats MPs:

20. Brake, Tom

21. Pugh, John

Social Demo­c­ra­t­ic and Labour Par­ty MP:

22. Durkan, Mark

Comments

• Link