Senator Cardin Calls Upon Other Countries to Impose Visa Sanctions Against 60 Russian Officials

May 4, 2010

Sen­a­tor Cardin Calls Upon Oth­er Coun­tries to Fol­low U.S. Exam­ple and Impose Visa Sanc­tions Against 60 Russ­ian Offi­cials and Oth­ers Involved in the Tor­ture and Death of Sergei Magnitsky

4 May 2010 – The U.S. Sen­ate Com­mit­tee on For­eign Rela­tions has includ­ed in the offi­cial Sen­ate record the list of 60 Russ­ian offi­cials and oth­ers involved in a $230 mil­lion cor­rup­tion case and the tor­ture and death of 37-year-old lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky. (See: Tran­script of a Busi­ness Meet­ing of the U.S. Sen­ate Com­mit­tee on For­eign Rela­tions at: http://foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/042710.pdf, pages 50 – 52).

On 27 April 2010, the Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee held a busi­ness meet­ing chaired by Sen­a­tor John Ker­ry, to dis­cuss the mark-ups of the U.S. State Depart­ment autho­ri­sa­tion bill. Dur­ing the meet­ing, Sen­a­tor Ben­jamin Cardin spoke about his request to the U.S. State Depart­ment to deny per­ma­nent­ly U.S. visas to over 60 Russ­ian offi­cials and oth­ers involved in a $230 mil­lion cor­rup­tion exposed by a Moscow-based lawyer for Her­mitage Cap­i­tal, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, his retal­ia­to­ry arrest on false charges by the same offi­cials he had accused and his sub­se­quent tor­ture and death in cus­tody. Sen­a­tor Cardin point­ed out that “these offi­cials remain unpun­ished and in a posi­tion of power.”

Refer­ring to the human plight of Sergei Mag­nit­sky, Sen­a­tor Cardin said, “Mr Mag­nit­sky, a 37-year-old Russ­ian cit­i­zen, father of two, was repeat­ed­ly denied med­ical treat­ment while he await­ed tri­al on trumped-up charges.” The Com­mit­tee Chair­man sup­port­ed Sen­a­tor Cardin’s request to add the list of 60 Russ­ian offi­cials and oth­ers to the offi­cial record.

Speak­ing at the Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee meet­ing, U.S. Sen­a­tor Cardin indi­cat­ed that he expects the State Depart­ment to act on his request to ban entry to the Unit­ed States to the spec­i­fied Russ­ian offi­cials. “A visa is a priv­i­lege, not a right, and the State Depart­ment has the pow­er to revoke that priv­i­lege. Direc­tives, includ­ing Pres­i­den­tial Procla­ma­tion 7750, allow the State Depart­ment to bar visas from going to for­eign indi­vid­u­als engaged in, or ben­e­fit­ing from, cor­rup­tion. And I expect them to use it in this case,” stat­ed Sen­a­tor Cardin.

Sen­a­tor Cardin reit­er­at­ed that, “These visa sanc­tions will send an impor­tant mes­sage to cor­rupt offi­cials in Russ­ian and else­where, that the Unit­ed States is seri­ous about com­bat­ing for­eign cor­rup­tion and the harm it does.”

Sen­a­tor Cardin also called upon oth­er coun­tries to fol­low the U.S. exam­ple and impose visa sanc­tions against these Russ­ian offi­cials, “U.S. visa sanc­tions are an impor­tant first step, and I hope oth­er coun­tries will fol­low suit with sim­i­lar measures.”

William Brow­der, CEO of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal, said, “An inno­cent man who had uncov­ered cor­rup­tion was killed with the involve­ment of offi­cials he impli­cat­ed. Since Sergei Mag­nit­sky died from tor­ture in cus­tody, nobody has been pros­e­cut­ed. This sends a mes­sage that those who did this and any­one else who is think­ing of sim­i­lar types of actions can act with impuni­ty. Peo­ple are now ris­ing to demand that the indi­vid­u­als behind Sergei’s mur­der be brought to jus­tice and face con­se­quences both in Rus­sia and around the world.”

The offi­cials impli­cat­ed in cor­rup­tion and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky on the U.S. visa ban tar­get list include Russ­ian Deputy Inte­ri­or Min­is­ter Alex­ei Anichin, Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Vic­tor Grin and oth­er senior law enforce­ment offi­cials and judges who were exposed by Sergei Mag­nit­sky in the $230 mil­lion fraud and who sub­se­quent­ly orches­trat­ed his per­se­cu­tion, tor­ture and death in cus­tody last year.

Lat­er this week, William Brow­der will tes­ti­fy about the tor­ture and mur­der of Sergei Mag­nit­sky before the U.S. Con­gres­sion­al Tom Lan­tos Human Rights Com­mis­sion (link: http://tlhrc.house.gov/). The tes­ti­mo­ny is sched­uled for Thurs­day, May 6^th at 10:00 am at the Tom Lan­tos Human Rights Com­mis­sion, House Com­mit­tee on For­eign Affairs, 2170 Ray­burn House Office Build­ing, Wash­ing­ton, D.C.

Mr. Brow­der will be call­ing for fur­ther visa sanc­tions and assets seizures against those Russ­ian offi­cials involved in cor­rup­tion and gross mis­car­riage of justice.

For fur­ther information:

Her­mitage Capital
+44 207 440 1777
info@lawandorderinrussia.org

lawandorderinrussia.org

Tran­script of the Busi­ness Meet­ing of the U.S. Sen­ate Com­mit­tee on For­eign Rela­tions: http://foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/042710.pdf (See pp. 50 – 52).

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