Members of German Parliament Call For German and EU-Wide Visa Bans and Asset Freezes on Russian Officials Implicated in the Magnitsky Case

July 2, 2012

Fol­low­ing the Mag­nit­sky Act’s approval by the U.S. Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee, a num­ber of Ger­man law­mak­ers have adopt­ed a sim­i­lar res­o­lu­tion call­ing for the Ger­man gov­ern­ment to ini­ti­ate both a Ger­man and EU-wide visa ban and asset freeze on the Russ­ian offi­cials impli­cat­ed in the Mag­nit­sky case.

The motion enti­tled “Denial of Entry into the EU for the Russ­ian Par­tic­i­pants in the Mag­nit­sky Case” was adopt­ed by mem­bers of the Alliance 90/The Greens fac­tion in the Ger­man par­lia­ment (http://www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/2012_06/2012_325/03.html).

The motion states:

“The Ger­man Bun­destag calls for the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment to:

-Urge the Russ­ian judi­cial author­i­ties to con­duct a com­pre­hen­sive and thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tion into the death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, deliv­er con­crete con­clu­sions and take rapid­ly all nec­es­sary actions to bring those respon­si­ble to justice;

- If the Russ­ian author­i­ties have no desire for pos­i­tive coop­er­a­tion and inves­ti­ga­tion of Sergei Mag­nit­sky case, call on the Euro­pean Coun­cil to intro­duce a ban on entry into the EU for Russ­ian par­tic­i­pants in the case respon­si­ble for the deten­tion, mis­treat­ment and death of Sergei Magnitsky;

-The Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment should also call on the Euro­pean Coun­cil to freeze the bank accounts of these Russ­ian offi­cials in all EU Mem­ber States.”

In addi­tion to the EU-wide visa ban and asset freeze, the par­lia­men­tary res­o­lu­tion also calls on the Ger­man gov­ern­ment to intro­duce Ger­many-spe­cif­ic visa bans and asset freezes. The motion says:

“the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment should intro­duce in Ger­many mea­sures such as a trav­el ban and the freez­ing of assets of those respon­si­ble for the deten­tion, abuse and death of Sergei Magnitsky.”

The motion has spe­cif­ic res­o­nance with the Ger­man par­lia­ment and Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment because the cur­rent Ger­man Min­is­ter of Jus­tice, Sabi­na Leutheuss­er Schnar­ren­berg­er, for­mal­ly inves­ti­gat­ed the Mag­nit­sky case when Sergei Mag­nit­sky was still alive in her role as a Spe­cial Rap­portuer at the Coun­cil of Europe in 2009. In her report issued in August 2009, three months before Sergei Magnitsky’s mur­der in cus­tody, she con­clud­ed that the whole case was the result of “cor­rup­tion and col­lu­sion of high offi­cials and orga­nized criminals.” 

The Ger­man motion was par­tic­u­lar­ly crit­i­cal of the impuni­ty enjoyed by the Russ­ian offi­cials involved in Mag­nit­sky’s death. It said:

“Mag­nit­sky sup­port­ers have a list of 60 Russ­ian offi­cials impli­cat­ed in his death… To date, not a sin­gle offi­cial impli­cat­ed in Magnitsky’s death has been convicted.”

In the last two years, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment passed three res­o­lu­tions (in Decem­ber 2010, Decem­ber 2011 and Feb­ru­ary 2012) call­ing for EU-wide visa bans and asset freezes on the Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case. In Feb­ru­ary 2012, the EU del­e­ga­tion to the EU-Rus­sia Par­lia­men­tary Coop­er­a­tion Com­mit­tee asked the EU Coun­cil to take immi­nent steps to intro­duce these tar­get­ed mea­sures across the EU.

Last week, U.S. Sen­a­tor John McCain unveiled in Wash­ing­ton a new doc­u­men­tary “The Mag­nit­sky Files” which shows close links between organ­ised crime and Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case. The video avail­able on Youtube in Eng­lish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL9b5LP4Ubc&feature=channel&list=UL) and Russ­ian (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaQP8IAITmk&feature=channel&list=UL) has been watched by over 230,000 peo­ple in three days. Near three thou­sand peo­ple signed a peti­tion (https://www.change.org/petitions/pass-the-magnitsky-act) in sup­port of U.S. and EU visa bans on offi­cials impli­cat­ed in Magnitsky’s false arrest, tor­ture and death, and in the cor­rup­tion he had exposed pri­or to his arrest. 

In addi­tion, U.S. Sen­a­tor McCain sent a let­ter to Pres­i­dent Oba­ma (http://www.scribd.com/doc/98337177/Untitled) urg­ing him to apply eco­nom­ic sanc­tions pre­scribed for com­bat­ing transna­tion­al organ­ised crime and ter­ror­ist organ­i­sa­tions to all per­sons con­nect­ed to the mul­ti-mil­lion dol­lar thefts and mon­ey laun­der­ing scheme uncov­ered by Sergei Magnitsky.

Comments

• Link