William Browder to Testify in Dutch Parliament Calling for Magnitsky Sanctions in Holland and EU

March 28, 2013

In advance of Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin’s trip to Hol­land on 8 April 2013, today, the For­eign Affairs Com­mit­tee of the Dutch Par­lia­ment will hold today hear­ings on the state of human rights in Rus­sia. William Brow­der, the head of the glob­al cam­paign for jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky, will present to Dutch law­mak­ers the devel­op­ments in the Mag­nit­sky case and their wider impli­ca­tions for the break­down of the rule of law in Rus­sia. In his tes­ti­mo­ny, Mr Brow­der will renew calls for nation­al and EU sanc­tions on the Russ­ian offi­cials involved.

“There is sim­ply no good argu­ment to allow those respon­si­ble for the tor­ture and mur­der in police cus­tody to come to Hol­land or be allowed to use the finan­cial sys­tem here,” said William Browder.

This year Mr Brow­der has launched the Euro­pean cam­paign for EU visa bans and asset freezes on Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case, fol­low­ing the adop­tion of the “Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act” in the Unit­ed States at the end of last year. Cit­ing the impuni­ty and under­ly­ing cor­rup­tion in Rus­sia, the U.S. Mag­nit­sky Act impos­es visa sanc­tions and asset freezes on four tar­get­ed cat­e­gories of per­sons in the Mag­nit­sky case who: 

(A) were respon­si­ble for the deten­tion, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky;
(B) par­tic­i­pat­ed in efforts to con­ceal the legal lia­bil­i­ty for the deten­tion, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky;
© ben­e­fit­ted finan­cial­ly from the deten­tion, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky;
(D) were involved in the crim­i­nal con­spir­a­cy uncov­ered by Sergei Magnitsky.

“Two years ago the Dutch par­lia­ment unan­i­mous­ly passed a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for the Dutch gov­ern­ment to impose visa sanc­tions and asset freezes on the peo­ple who killed Sergei Mag­nit­sky. That vote gave many Rus­sians hope that jus­tice will be done in this case and many oth­ers just like it. Today, it is time to put those words into actions,” said William Browder.

In June 2011, the Dutch par­lia­ment passed the Mag­nit­sky Res­o­lu­tion with a vote of 150 – 0. 

Since then, the Russ­ian author­i­ties have closed the inves­ti­ga­tion into Mag­nit­sky’s death which last­ed for three years, con­clud­ing that he died of nat­ur­al caus­es there­by exon­er­at­ing all offi­cials respon­si­ble for his arrest, tor­ture and death. The Russ­ian author­i­ties have also put Sergei Mag­nit­sky on tri­al three years after his death, in the first-ever posthu­mous tri­al in Russ­ian legal history.

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