William Browder Testifies to the U.S. Congress that Russian Government Now Functions as a Criminal Enterprise

March 21, 2012

William Brow­der, CEO of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal Man­age­ment, tes­ti­fied today at the U.S. House For­eign Affairs Com­mit­tee, stat­ing that Rus­sia no longer func­tions as a nor­mal state, but is oper­at­ing akin to a crim­i­nal enter­prise. At the com­mit­tee hear­ing enti­tled “Rus­sia 2012: Increased Repres­sion, Ram­pant Cor­rup­tion, Assist­ing Rogue Regimes” Mr. Brow­der spoke about the sto­ry of his Russ­ian lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, who had uncov­ered and exposed a $230 mil­lion gov­ern­ment cor­rup­tion scheme, and was arrest­ed and tor­tured to death in police cus­tody by the same Russ­ian offi­cials he had exposed.
“The sto­ry I’m going to share with you will leave you in no doubt that the Russ­ian state no longer func­tions as a nor­mal state as we know it, but some­thing more akin to a crim­i­nal enter­prise,” said Mr Brow­der to the U.S. congressmen.

“Sergei Magnitsky’s case has become the most well-doc­u­ment­ed and emblem­at­ic case of the tor­ture, cor­rup­tion and state-sanc­tioned mur­der in mod­ern Rus­sia,” said Mr Browder. 

“While every facet of his sto­ry is appalling, what makes this case tru­ly sig­nif­i­cant on an inter­na­tion­al scale is the high-lev­el gov­ern­ment cov­er-up that fol­lowed,” said Mr Browder.

On the day after Sergei Mag­nit­sky was mur­dered, the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry announced that he nev­er com­plained about his health, and died of nat­ur­al caus­es. Every sin­gle one of the police offi­cers, pros­e­cu­tors, judges, and mem­bers of the secu­ri­ty ser­vice involved in his case have been for­mal­ly exon­er­at­ed. Some have even been pro­mot­ed and grant­ed state hon­ors. Fur­ther­more, in an attempt to pro­tect these offi­cials from any legal lia­bil­i­ty, Russ­ian author­i­ties have launched posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion of Mr Mag­nit­sky him­self, two years after his death, and are now sum­mon­ing his griev­ing moth­er as a wit­ness in the case against her dead son.
Mr Brow­der said:

“This sto­ry is a heart­break­ing sto­ry for Sergei’s fam­i­ly, and me but it is the tip of an enor­mous ice­berg in Rus­sia. This sto­ry lays bare the face of Rus­sia today.”

In response to the impuni­ty of Russ­ian offi­cials in this case, there are now 11 par­lia­ments around the world, includ­ing the US Con­gress that are con­sid­er­ing leg­is­la­tion on visa sanc­tions and asset freezes on the Russ­ian offi­cials respon­si­ble for the arrest and tor­ture of Sergei Mag­nit­sky and the mas­sive cor­rup­tion he had uncovered.

These mea­sures are stip­u­lat­ed in ‘Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky Act’ intro­duced by Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jim McGov­ern, Co-chair­man of the Tom Lan­tos Human Rights Com­mis­sion, in the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, and ‘Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act’ intro­duced by Sen­a­tor Ben­jamin Cardin in the U.S. Sen­ate. This draft leg­is­la­tion in the U.S. Con­gress has become the focus of the debate over the repeal of the Jack­son-Vanik amend­ment and grant­i­ng nor­mal trade rela­tions sta­tus to Rus­sia, as part of its WTO accession.

Link to the notice of the hear­ing U.S. House For­eign Affairs Com­mit­tee site:
http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=1414

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