European Parliament Calls on EU Foreign Policy Chief to Enact EU-wide Magnitsky Sanctions on Russian Human Rights Abusers

June 11, 2015

11 June 2015 – The Euro­pean Par­lia­ment has adopt­ed the Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions Motion which demands that EU For­eign Affairs chief Fed­er­i­ca Mogheri­ni act “with­out delay” and intro­duce sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials involved in the Mag­nit­sky case.

The motion pro­posed by Euro­pean Parliament’s Rap­por­teur on the state of EU-Rus­sia rela­tions Gabrielius Lands­ber­gis, MEP, was adopt­ed by 494 votes to 135, with 69 abstentions.

The Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions motion high­lights the assas­si­na­tions of Boris Nemtsov, Sergey Mag­nit­sky, Anna Politkovskaya, Natalya Estemiro­va, Alexan­der Litvi­nenko and oth­ers, and demands their prop­er, inde­pen­dent investigations. 

The Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions motion adopt­ed by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment states:

“Euro­pean Parliament…reiterates its call on the Coun­cil to … adopt, upon a pro­pos­al which should be sub­mit­ted with­out delay by the VP/HR, restric­tive mea­sures for the offi­cials involved in the well-doc­u­ment­ed Mag­nit­sky case.”

Pre­vi­ous­ly, Ms Mogheri­ni, EU VP/HR (Vice Pres­i­dent and High Rep­re­sen­ta­tive) for for­eign affairs and secu­ri­ty pol­i­cy, strong­ly opposed the enact­ment of EU-wide Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions, in spite of four res­o­lu­tions by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment in their favour. In a let­ter to the Euro­pean par­lia­ment mem­bers on 12 Jan­u­ary 2015, Ms Mogheri­ni stead­fast­ly refused to impose sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case.

“I con­sid­er that addi­tion­al sanc­tions tar­get­ing human rights vio­la­tors would not be the appro­pri­ate response as they would risk nei­ther trig­ger­ing a change in pol­i­cy nor improv­ing the human rights sit­u­a­tion,” said Ms Mogheri­ni at the time in her letter.

One and a half month after Ms Mogherini’s refusal, Boris Nemtsov, the lead­ing pro­po­nent of the EU Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions, and a key Russ­ian leader of the oppo­si­tion to pres­i­dent Putin, was assas­si­nat­ed next to the Kremlin. 

In his pub­lic appear­ances before his assas­si­na­tion, Boris Nemtsov stat­ed his belief that Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions, enact­ed by the Unit­ed States under the “US Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act of 2012,” rep­re­sent­ed the “most pow­er­ful instru­ment against killers and clep­to­crats” (see in Russ­ian at 27 min of youtube video debate with Boris Nemtsov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n1AJ0oCIJE)

Boris Nemtsov cam­paigned for the adop­tion of Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions by the EU and for the expan­sion of the US Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions list.

“We owe it to the mem­o­ry of the coura­geous Russ­ian patri­ots Sergei Mag­nit­sky and Boris Nemtsov to cre­ate con­se­quences for those in Rus­sia who act with impuni­ty and con­tin­ue to cov­er up bru­tal mur­ders with a straight face in the inter­na­tion­al set­tings. Inac­tion by Ms Mogheri­ni today, after the fifth vote by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment, is no longer accept­able,” said Bill Brow­der, leader of the Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice campaign. 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice Campaign
+44 2074401777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__

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