Heavy-Weight Sponsors Submit New Strengthened Magnitsky Bill to the U.S. House of Representatives

April 20, 2012

Tonight, a new strength­ened ver­sion of the Mag­nit­sky Bill was sub­mit­ted to the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives call­ing for asset freezes and visa bans on any­one involved in the per­se­cu­tion of late whis­tle-blow­ing lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment con­spir­a­cy he had uncov­ered and the sub­se­quent cov­er-up of these crimes. The Bill also impos­es sim­i­lar sanc­tions on oth­er gross human rights abusers.

“Sergei Mag­nit­sky was bru­tal­ly tor­tured and allowed to die in deten­tion because he had the courage to stand up to Russ­ian author­i­ties on behalf of the truth. This bill hon­ors his mem­o­ry by hold­ing account­able not only those indi­vid­u­als respon­si­ble for his abuse and death, but also oth­ers who have com­mit­ted gross human rights vio­la­tions. Enact­ing the bill would pow­er­ful­ly demon­strate that the pro­tec­tion of fun­da­men­tal rights and free­doms is a cor­ner­stone of U.S. for­eign pol­i­cy,” said Con­gress­man McGov­ern, Co-chair­man of the U.S. Con­gres­sion­al Tom Lan­tos Human Rights Com­mis­sion and the orig­i­nal spon­sor of the Bill in the pre­vi­ous Congress.

Intro­duc­ing the ‘Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act of 2012’ bill in the House ear­li­er today, Rep­re­sen­ta­tive McGov­ern said:
“The response of Russ­ian author­i­ties to the crimes uncov­ered by Sergei Mag­nit­sky has been as out­ra­geous as the crimes them­selves… As if to spit on his grave, they even absurd­ly opened a new, ground­less crim­i­nal case against him this year, mark­ing the first posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion in Russ­ian history.”

“Since Russ­ian author­i­ties have not pro­vid­ed jus­tice to Mr. Mag­nit­sky and his fam­i­ly, the Unit­ed States should do what it can to hold indi­vid­u­als account­able for these heinous crimes. The bill I am intro­duc­ing today would pro­vide a mea­sure of jus­tice for this coura­geous man,” said Rep­re­sen­ta­tive McGovern.

The Bill sub­mit­ted today in the House is co-spon­sored by an array of the most pow­er­ful Con­gress­men from both par­ties, includ­ing Ileana Ros-Lehti­nen, Chair­man of the House Com­mit­tee on For­eign Affairs, Ed Royce, Chair­man of the House For­eign Affairs Sub­com­mit­tee on Ter­ror­ism, Non­pro­lif­er­a­tion and Trade, and Sandy Levin, Rank­ing mem­ber of the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Hav­ing such promi­nent bi-par­ti­san sup­port makes it a near cer­tain­ty that the Mag­nit­sky Bill will be passed soon in the House,” said a Her­mitage Cap­i­tal representative.
The Sen­ate ver­sion of the Mag­nit­sky Bill is slat­ed for a review at the Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee next week. After the bill is approved by both the House and the Sen­ate, it will be com­bined and sub­mit­ted to the U.S. Pres­i­dent for signature.

The House co-spon­sors of the Mag­nit­sky Bill include: Rep­re­sen­ta­tives McGov­ern (MA), Wolf (VA), Levin (MI), Ros-Lehti­nen (FL), Hast­ings (FL), Royce (CA), McDer­mott (WA), Bur­ton (IN), Con­nol­ly (VA), Pitts (PA), Towns (NY), Roskam (IL), Michaud (ME), Smith (NJ) and Rangel (NY).
Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Royce and McGov­ern behind the Mag­nit­sky Bill are also spear­head­ing new leg­isla­tive mea­sures sup­port­ed by House Com­mit­tee Chair­man Ros-Lehti­nen (H.R. 4077 and H. Res. 583) in rela­tion to the Lord’s Resis­tance Army, which under the direc­tion of Kony has been respon­si­ble for mur­der­ing and abduct­ing tens of thou­sands of inno­cent peo­ple in Africa, many of whom are children.

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