Boris Nemtsov Posthumously Awarded Sergei Magnitsky 2015 Human Rights Prize for Democracy

November 17, 2015

16 Novem­ber 2015 – Tonight Boris Nemtsov, the Russ­ian politi­cian who was assas­si­nat­ed near the Krem­lin in late Feb­ru­ary this year, was posthu­mous­ly award­ed the Sergei Mag­nit­sky 2015 Human Rights Prize for Democracy. 

“Boris Nemtsov was a coura­geous man, and a true friend of the Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice cam­paign. He was a stead­fast sup­port­er of our ini­tia­tive to impose tar­get­ed West­ern sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials involved in human rights abuse and cor­rup­tion. Boris shamed weak West­ern diplo­mats who tried to appease the Russ­ian leader, because he was con­vinced that the sanc­tions are the nec­es­sary, effec­tive and moral­ly right way to stand up to Russ­ian offi­cial impuni­ty,” said William Brow­der, leader of the Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky campaign. 

“Both Boris and Sergei were opti­mists and believed in a brighter future for Rus­sia. They show us that Rus­sia pro­duces great peo­ple with human­i­ty and integri­ty. Their loss is a tragedy for Rus­sia and the world. The fact that both were killed in cold blood, and in both cas­es those respon­si­ble have not been brought to account, is the call for action. We can­not bring Boris and Sergei back, but we owe it to them to car­ry on with our cause, to seek jus­tice in the form of fur­ther Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions on cor­rupt offi­cials and human rights vio­la­tors by coun­tries around the world,” said William Browder.

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky awards cer­e­mo­ny was held tonight in Lon­don on the 6^th anniver­sary of Sergei Magnitsky’s mur­der in Russ­ian police custody.
Oth­er win­ners of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky 2015 Human Rights Awards include promi­nent pol­i­cy mak­ers, jour­nal­ists, and human rights activists, who have worked in the spir­it of Sergei Mag­nit­sky — with faith, strength and integri­ty, to rein­force and advance his lega­cy, and bring about sig­nif­i­cant change in the inter­na­tion­al jus­tice and human rights field.

The win­ners of the 2015 ‘Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards’ are:

1) Boris Nemtsov (posthu­mous­ly and accept­ed by his daugh­ter Zhan­na Nemtso­va), Russ­ian oppo­si­tion leader (Spe­cial Award for Cam­paign­ing for Democracy);
2) Guy Ver­hof­s­tadt, Mem­ber of Euro­pean Par­lia­ment (Cam­paign­ing Euro­pean Politi­cian Award), co-author of Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions Res­o­lu­tion in the Euro­pean Parliament;
3) Jim McGov­ern, U.S. Con­gress­man (Cam­paign­ing US Politi­cian Award), co-author of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act adopt­ed by the US Congress;
4) The Organ­ised Crime and Cor­rup­tion Report­ing Project, an anti-cor­rup­tion and inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism NGO (Out­stand­ing Inves­tiga­tive Jour­nal­ism Award, accept­ed by Paul Radu and Roman Anin) who inves­ti­gat­ed and pub­li­cised the transna­tion­al mon­ey laun­der­ing trail from the $230 mil­lion theft uncov­ered by Sergei Magnitsky;
5) Andrew Rettman, Euro­pean jour­nal­ist with EU Observ­er (Out­stand­ing Euro­pean Cov­er­age of Mag­nit­sky Case Award) who cov­ered polit­i­cal aspects of the Mag­nit­sky case in the EU;
6) James O’Brien, British jour­nal­ist, tele­vi­sion and radio pre­sen­ter, and a show host on LBC talk sta­tion (Out­stand­ing British Cov­er­age of Mag­nit­sky Case Award) who shamed the British gov­ern­ment in their weak response to the Mag­nit­sky case;
7) Geof­frey Robert­son QC, inter­na­tion­al lawyer (Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to Human Rights Law Award), author of pub­li­ca­tions on Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions legislation;
8) The Oslo Free­dom Forum, a human rights con­fer­ence plat­form (Best Human Rights NGO Award, accept­ed by Thor Halvorssen) who pro­mot­ed pol­i­cy debate on Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions and human rights; and
9) The Hon. Irwin Cotler, for­mer Attor­ney Gen­er­al and Jus­tice Min­is­ter of Cana­da (Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign), author of the Mag­nit­sky bill in the Cana­di­an Par­lia­ment, and chair of the Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky Inter-Par­lia­men­tary Group.

The organ­is­ing com­mit­tee of the Glob­al Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards this year con­sists of activists from major inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al, The Hen­ry Jack­son Soci­ety, Fair Tri­als Inter­na­tion­al, the Cen­tral and East­ern Euro­pean Coun­cil of Cana­da, and the British Par­lia­men­t’s All-Par­ty Group on Anti-Corruption.

The Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards, a new­ly-launched inter­na­tion­al human rights prize, are advanced by the Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly as a “bea­con of sup­port” for all those who fight injus­tice around the world, and pro­mot­ed by the Jus­tice for Mag­nit­sky campaign. 

Sergei Mag­nit­sky, a Russ­ian lawyer, uncov­ered the largest pub­licly-known cor­rup­tion case in Rus­sia involv­ing the theft of $230 mil­lion, and tes­ti­fied about it nam­ing com­plic­it offi­cials. He was arrest­ed by some of the impli­cat­ed offi­cials, held for 358 days in pre-tri­al deten­tion in tor­tur­ous con­di­tions, and killed in Russ­ian police cus­tody on 16 Novem­ber 2009. 

For more infor­ma­tion please contact: 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__
www.facebook.com/russianuntouchables

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