European Parliamentarians Challenge EU’s New Foreign Policy Chief on Russia and Demand EU to Implement Magnitsky Sanctions in Europe

November 12, 2014

Euro­pean Par­lia­men­tar­i­ans Chal­lenge EU’s New For­eign Pol­i­cy Chief on Rus­sia and Demand EU to Imple­ment Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions in Europe

12 Novem­ber 2014 – Over twen­ty deputies in the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment have writ­ten to Fed­er­i­ca Mogheri­ni, EU’s new for­eign pol­i­cy chief, ask­ing her to imple­ment the Euro­pean Parliament’s rec­om­men­da­tion to sanc­tion 32 per­sons involved in the arrest, tor­ture and mur­der of whis­tle-blow­ing Russ­ian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

“We are writ­ing to you in rela­tion to the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment Rec­om­men­da­tion to the Coun­cil of 2 April 2014 on estab­lish­ing com­mon visa restric­tions for Russ­ian offi­cials involved in the Sergei Mag­nit­sky case. …As the new head of the Euro­pean Exter­nal Action Ser­vice, what near­est actions do you plan to under­take to fol­low through on this rec­om­men­da­tion?” — said Euro­pean Par­lia­ment deputies in their let­ter to Ms Mogheri­ni — “We ask you now in your new posi­tion to answer these ques­tions so the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment can then take a view of what to do next to make sure there is no fur­ther impuni­ty in the Mag­nit­sky case.”

Since Sergei Magnitsky’s mur­der in Russ­ian police deten­tion five years ago, the only sig­nif­i­cant actions tak­en in Rus­sia have been the posthu­mous tri­al of Sergei Mag­nit­sky him­self and the clo­sure of the inves­ti­ga­tion into his death, which found “no signs of crime,” and absolved all offi­cials from respon­si­bil­i­ty. The inves­ti­ga­tion was closed fol­low­ing Pres­i­dent Putin’s pub­lic inter­ven­tion at a Decem­ber 2012 press con­fer­ence, where he claimed that Mag­nit­sky was not tor­tured, but “died from a heart attack.” 

Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s case and the impuni­ty of the Russ­ian offi­cials involved have become a sym­bol of the endem­ic cor­rup­tion and fail­ing jus­tice sys­tem in Rus­sia, and high­light­ed the abuse that Russ­ian cit­i­zens face when they chal­lenge the author­i­ties. The case lead to a dra­mat­ic move­ment in Russ­ian civ­il soci­ety, call­ing on the West to cre­ate con­se­quences for those involved and specif­i­cal­ly to impose sanc­tions in the form of visa bans and freezes on assets in West­ern banks. 

In response to the Russ­ian impuni­ty, on 2 April 2014 the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment adopt­ed a res­o­lu­tion with­out any objec­tions requir­ing the Euro­pean Exter­nal Action Ser­vice, EU’s for­eign affairs body, to pro­pose the sanc­tions to the EU Coun­cil of Ministers. 

Since the res­o­lu­tion was passed, no action was tak­en by Baroness Cather­ine Ash­ton, the pre­vi­ous head of the EU’s Exter­nal Action Service. 

In addi­tion to the Euro­pean Par­lia­men­t’s actions in the Mag­nit­sky case, the U.S. passed the “Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act” in Decem­ber 2012, impos­ing sanc­tions on the com­plic­it Russ­ian offi­cials. Addi­tion­al­ly, the Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly of the OSCE and the Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly of the Coun­cil of Europe (PACE), inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions com­pris­ing up to 57 coun­tries, passed res­o­lu­tions urg­ing their mem­bers and their nation­al par­lia­ments to adopt a course sim­i­lar to the US by imple­ment­ing Mag­nit­sky sanctions. 

Sergei Mag­nit­sky was a 37-year old lawyer and out­side coun­sel for the Her­mitage Fund, who was tor­tured to death in Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry cus­tody after he tes­ti­fied about the involve­ment of Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cials in the theft of his client’s com­pa­nies and the $230 mil­lion theft. The Russ­ian offi­cials respon­si­ble for his arrest, tor­ture and killing were absolved from any respon­si­bil­i­ty, pro­mot­ed and dec­o­rat­ed with state honours.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice Campaign
+44 2074401777
info@lawandorderinrussia.org
lawandorderinrussia.org

Comments

• Link