Sergei Magnitsky Posthumously Honoured by the Allard Prize Committee for International Integrity

October 5, 2015

Sergei Mag­nit­sky Posthu­mous­ly Hon­oured by the Allard Prize Com­mit­tee for Inter­na­tion­al Integrity

5 Octo­ber 2015 – Sergei Mag­nit­sky, the Russ­ian lawyer who exposed a $230 mil­lion cor­rupt scheme by Russ­ian offi­cials, has been posthu­mous­ly hon­oured by the Allard Prize Com­mit­tee for Inter­na­tion­al Integri­ty. The recog­ni­tion comes one month before the 6^th anniver­sary of his mur­der in Russ­ian police cus­tody at the age of 37.

Sergei Magnitsky’s moth­er, wife and son attend­ed the award cer­e­mo­ny held in Van­cou­ver, Cana­da at the Uni­ver­si­ty of British Columbi­a’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.

On accept­ing the hon­ourable recog­ni­tion on behalf of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, his moth­er said:

“I would like to thank all peo­ple who remem­ber Sergei. Because when the per­son is remem­bered, that per­son is alive. I recent­ly saw a per­son who said I am alive because of Sergei’s sacrifice.”

Valery Borschev, chair of the Moscow Pub­lic Over­sight Com­mis­sion, who inves­ti­gat­ed how Sergei Mag­nit­sky­had been tor­tured and mur­dered in police cus­tody, said:

“Mag­nit­sky lived like Solzhen­it­syn wrote – don’t be afraid, don’t beg. I think he is a hero.”

Sergei Mag­nit­sky was one of four final­ists for the 2015 Allard Prize for Inter­na­tion­al Integri­ty. The oth­er final­ists includ­ed Indone­sia Cor­rup­tion Watch, and two recip­i­ents of the prize — John Githon­go, who exposed a $1 bil­lion cor­rup­tion scan­dal in the Kenyan gov­ern­ment, and Rafael Mar­ques de Morais, a jour­nal­ist writ­ing on issues of con­flict dia­monds and army bru­tal­i­ty in Ango­la. (View the Allard Prize short film about Sergei Mag­nit­sky and the oth­er finalists)

The Allard Prize for Inter­na­tion­al Integri­ty rec­og­nizes indi­vid­u­als and organ­i­sa­tions who show excep­tion­al courage and lead­er­ship in com­bat­ing corruption.

Sergei Magnitsky’s name has become syn­ony­mous with the lack of rule of law in Rus­sia. His tor­ture and killing in Russ­ian police cus­tody after he uncov­ered and tes­ti­fied about Russ­ian offi­cials involved in the $230 mil­lion theft has led to the adop­tion of the 2012 Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act in the Unit­ed States which 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. A Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Bill which would apply sim­i­lar sanc­tions to cas­es of human rights vio­la­tions around the world is cur­rent­ly under con­sid­er­a­tion in the U.S. Sen­ate after its approval by the U.S. Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Committee.

For more infor­ma­tion please contact:

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e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

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