Baroness Helena Kennedy QC Introduces Magnitsky Visa Ban Legislation to the UK House of Lords

July 4, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

 

Baroness Hele­na Kennedy QC Intro­duces Mag­nit­sky Visa Ban Leg­is­la­tion to the UK House of Lords

 

4 July 2017 – Last week Baroness Hele­na Kennedy QC intro­duced the Mag­nit­sky visa ban leg­is­la­tion at the House of Lords of the British parliament.
The new leg­is­la­tion will give the British gov­ern­ment the pow­er to deny entry into the UK to indi­vid­u­als who have been involved in gross human rights abus­es as defined in sec­tion 241 of the Pro­ceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”).

 

The new leg­is­la­tion is enti­tled “Can­cel­la­tion of UK Visas for Gross Human Rights Abus­es Bill 2017.”

 

The bill com­ple­ments the pre­vi­ous Mag­nit­sky leg­is­la­tion passed ear­li­er this year by the British Par­lia­ment which gives the British gov­ern­ment new pow­ers to freeze the UK assets of for­eign­ers involved in gross human rights abus­es and corruption.

 

On intro­duc­ing the bill, Baroness Kennedy said:

 

“My Lords, I beg to intro­duce a Bill to enable the Sec­re­tary of State or an immi­gra­tion offi­cer to refuse entry or to vary or cur­tail leave to enter or remain already grant­ed to a per­son who is non-UK or non- EEA nation­al who is known to be or to have been involved in gross human rights abuses.”

“This Bill was inspired by Bill Brow­der’s cam­paign­ing for human rights and his efforts to secure jus­tice for his lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, whose life was cru­el­ly end­ed in a Russ­ian jail. This coun­try has been too lax in its will­ing­ness to allow entry to rich human rights abusers from around the world. It has to stop. These tor­tur­ers and vio­la­tors of rights have to be denied impuni­ty,” said Baroness Kennedy QC.

 

The leg­is­la­tion fol­lows in the foot­steps of the US Mag­nit­sky Act which was adopt­ed by the US Con­gress in Decem­ber 2012. The Mag­nit­sky Act adopt­ed into law in the Unit­ed States com­pris­es two com­po­nents — visa bans and asset freezes – and applies them to those involved in the Mag­nit­sky case, includ­ing the crim­i­nal con­spir­a­cy he had uncov­ered, as well as in oth­er gross human rights vio­la­tions and acts against human rights defenders.

 

Baroness Kennedy QC is a mem­ber of the House of Lords, Head of Mans­field Col­lege, Uni­ver­si­ty of Oxford, and a lead­ing human rights barrister.

 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

 

 

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