Sergei Magnitsky Human Rights Awards Will Be Launched on the 6^th Anniversary of Sergei Magnitsky’s Murder in Russian Police Custody

November 12, 2015

12 Novem­ber 2015 – On the eve of the 6^th anniver­sary of the mur­der of Russ­ian anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, the Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky cam­paign is launch­ing the ‘Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards.’

The awards will cel­e­brate inter­na­tion­al politi­cians, jour­nal­ists and civ­il soci­ety 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 will be announced next week, on Mon­day, 16 Novem­ber 2015, mark­ing the 6^th anniver­sary of Sergei Magnitsky’s death in Russ­ian police cus­tody at the age of 37. 

“Sergei Magnitsky’s impact on the world has only gained in sig­nif­i­cance in the years after his death. We hope that the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards will serve as a bea­con of sup­port for all those who fight injus­tice around the world,” said Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s moth­er Nataliya.
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 will be giv­en in 9 cat­e­gories, includ­ing Out­stand­ing Inves­tiga­tive Jour­nal­ism; Top Cam­paign­ing US Politi­cian, Top Euro­pean Politi­cians; Best Human Rights NGO; Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign; Out­stand­ing Cov­er­age of Mag­nit­sky Case in Britain and in Europe; the Best Human Rights Lawyer; and the Top Cam­paign­er for Democracy.

Alan Men­doza, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Hen­ry Jack­son Soci­ety, said:
“The inau­gur­al Sergei Mag­nit­sky Award is an impor­tant event, and we are very hap­py to be involved. The Award cer­e­mo­ny rep­re­sents the pin­na­cle of years of sup­port that The Hen­ry Jack­son Soci­ety has giv­en to the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign, and we look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing that sup­port for years to come.”

Robert Bar­ring­ton, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al UK said:
“Inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ists are a vital part of the efforts to uncov­er and ulti­mate­ly fight cor­rup­tion in all its forms. Whether it’s expos­ing the lav­ish lifestyle of a cor­rupt state offi­cial, or unearthing wide­spread bribery in busi­ness­es, inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ists have proved effec­tive cam­paign­ers against cor­rup­tion. Often they will work in extreme­ly restrict­ed envi­ron­ments, putting life and limb on the line to unmask the cor­rupt. That’s why Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al is proud to be sup­port­ing the award for inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism at the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Awards this year.”

Sergei Magnitsky’s tor­ture and death in Russ­ian police cus­tody, and the sub­se­quent cov­er-up of his mur­der and the theft of the $230 mil­lion cor­rup­tion he had exposed, has led to the world­wide Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign. Launched in 2010, it spear­head­ed the adop­tion in the Unit­ed States of the Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act of 2012. The U.S. Mag­nit­sky law impos­es tar­get­ed sanc­tions in the form of visa bans and asset freezes on those involved in his case, as well as in oth­er gross human rights abus­es against democ­ra­cy defend­ers in Rus­sia. 34 Russ­ian offi­cials and pri­vate indi­vid­u­als have been placed on the U.S. Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions list since the enact­ment of the law.

The OSCE Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly has called on all its mem­ber states to adopt sim­i­lar sanc­tions on those involved in Sergei Magnitsky’s case.
Sergei Mag­nit­sky was posthu­mous­ly giv­en the 2010 Inter­na­tion­al Integri­ty Award by Trans­paren­cy Inter­na­tion­al for tak­ing a per­son­al stand against Russ­ian cor­rup­tion and pay­ing for it with his life. 

Ear­li­er this year Sergei Mag­nit­sky was hon­oured by the Allard Prize Com­mit­tee for Inter­na­tion­al Integri­ty (Cana­da), which rec­og­nizes indi­vid­u­als and organ­i­sa­tions who show excep­tion­al courage and lead­er­ship in com­bat­ing corruption. 

This year Sergei Mag­nit­sky was also posthu­mous­ly award­ed one of the world’s most pres­ti­gious indi­vid­ual achieve­ment prizes, the Joshua Heintz Human­i­tar­i­an Award, for dis­tin­guished achieve­ment in the field of inter­na­tion­al jus­tice award­ed by the orga­ni­za­tion of for­mer Chief Pros­e­cu­tors of the UN War Crimes Tribunals.

In Rus­sia, Sergei Mag­nit­sky was tried posthu­mous­ly, three and a half years after his death, in the first-ever posthu­mous tri­al in Russ­ian his­to­ry. Russ­ian author­i­ties also closed the inves­ti­ga­tion into his death in police cus­tody find­ing “no signs of crime,” in spite of con­clu­sions to the con­trary drawn by two inde­pen­dent domes­tic com­mis­sions, includ­ing the Moscow Pub­lic Over­sight Com­mis­sion and the President’s Human Rights Coun­cil, as well as by the inter­na­tion­al inves­ti­ga­tion car­ried out in 2012 – 2013 by the Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly of the Coun­cil of Europe which urged Rus­sia to con­duct prop­er inves­ti­ga­tion or face US-like Mag­nit­sky sanctions.

For more infor­ma­tion please contact:
Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky
+44 207 440 1777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Face­book: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__

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