Swedish Parliament Calls on the Swedish Prime Minister to Impose EU-Wide Visa Sanctions on the Magnitsky Killers

March 12, 2012

59 Swedish mem­bers of the Par­lia­ment from sev­en of the eight polit­i­cal par­ties signed a par­lia­men­tary peti­tion to Swedish Prime Min­is­ter, Fredrik Rein­feldt, call­ing on him to impose EU-wide visa sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case. The par­lia­men­tar­i­ans stress it is a mat­ter of inter­na­tion­al impor­tance giv­en Russia’s mem­ber­ship in the Coun­cil of Europe and WTO. 

In the par­lia­men­tary peti­tion, Swedish MPs said:
“Law and jus­tice in Rus­sia – and last­ly jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky – is a ques­tion that con­cerns the entire cir­cle of mem­ber states in the Coun­cil of Europe and the WTO, of which Rus­sia is a mem­ber. The out­come of this case will estab­lish the country’s stand­ing as a state gov­erned by law.” Read more

British Parliament Votes Unanimously in Favor of Magnitsky Sanctions

March 8, 2012

Yes­ter­day, a motion was unan­i­mous­ly passed in the British House of Com­mons call­ing on the gov­ern­ment to impose visa sanc­tions and asset freezes on the Russ­ian offi­cials who false­ly arrest­ed, tor­tured and killed Sergei Mag­nit­sky and then cov­ered up the crime. 

Forty British MPs from all major polit­i­cal par­ties vot­ed unan­i­mous­ly in favor of the motion enti­tled “Human Rights Abus­es and the Death of Sergei Magnitsky”. 

“The UK Par­lia­ment has spo­ken over­whelm­ing­ly in sol­i­dar­i­ty with Sergei Mag­nit­sky and the oth­er brave voic­es fight­ing for the rule of law and reform in Rus­sia. The gov­ern­ment should now heed its will and come for­ward with a bill to impose tar­get­ed sanc­tions on those respon­si­ble for tor­ture, assas­si­na­tion and oth­er crimes against those strug­gling to pro­mote or defend the most basic free­doms we enjoy here,” said Dominic Raab, MP, who intro­duced the motion. Read more

Magnitsky’s Colleague Challenges Russia’s New Restriction on Emigration

March 6, 2012

Today, at 14:00, Khamovnich­esky Dis­trict Court of Moscow will hear a law­suit filed by Ivan Cherkasov, a col­league of the late Sergei Mag­nit­sky and a part­ner of Her­mitage Cap­i­tal, resid­ing in the UK. The law­suit is filed against the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry chal­leng­ing them on restrict­ing his right to emi­grate and their refusal to renew his Russ­ian passport. 

Last Sep­tem­ber, Mr Cherkasov applied to the Russ­ian embassy in Lon­don for a new pass­port on the ground of expi­ra­tion of his pre­vi­ous pass­port. In Decem­ber, the Russ­ian embassy reject­ed his appli­ca­tion on orders from the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry, and refused to pro­vide any details. Last week, the Russ­ian embassy issued a notice stat­ing that Mr Cherkasov’s pass­port appli­ca­tion was refused based on para­graph 3 of Arti­cle 15 of the Russ­ian Fed­er­al Law “On the Pro­ce­dure of Exit From and Entry To the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion.” Read more

European Lawmakers Unanimously Call for Immediate Visa and Economic Sanctions on Russian Officials in Magnitsky Case

February 29, 2012

Yes­ter­day, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment del­e­ga­tion in the EU-Rus­sia Par­lia­men­tary Coop­er­a­tion Com­mit­tee held an extra­or­di­nary meet­ing on the case of Sergei Mag­nit­sky which result­ed in the adop­tion of a state­ment call­ing for imme­di­ate EU trav­el bans and asset freezes on the Russ­ian offi­cials respon­si­ble for the false arrest, tor­ture and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. The Sergei Mag­nit­sky State­ment was adopt­ed unan­i­mous­ly (with one abstention).

The state­ment of the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment Del­e­ga­tion to the EU-Rus­sia Par­lia­men­tary Coop­er­a­tion Com­mit­tee said: 

“Urges the EU Mem­ber States to start imme­di­ate­ly pro­ce­dures to enact mea­sures such as a EU-wide trav­el ban and a freeze on the finan­cial assets of those believed to be guilty of the tor­ture and death of Sergei Mag­nit­sky as well as of cov­er­ing up the case.” Read more

OSCE Special Rapporteur Calls for Prosecutions in Magnitsky Case, William Browder Urges Sanctions in all OSCE Countries

February 27, 2012

Fol­low­ing the annu­al meet­ing of the OSCE Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly in Vien­na last week, Coskun Coruz, the OSCE Human Rights Rap­por­teur and MP from the Nether­lands called for the pros­e­cu­tion of Russ­ian offi­cials in Mag­nit­sky case, the ter­mi­na­tion of his posthu­mous tri­al and the end of intim­i­da­tion of his fam­i­ly by the Russ­ian authorities. 

Coskun Coruz, OSCE Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly Rap­por­teur of the Com­mit­tee on Democ­ra­cy, Human Rights and Human­i­tar­i­an Ques­tions, said:

“As a mem­ber of the OSCE, Rus­sia should ful­fill its human rights oblig­a­tions and adhere to the norms and val­ues of the OSCE. In the har­row­ing death of lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, Rus­si­a’s law­less­ness is absolute­ly not fit­ting into OSCE ‘s val­ues. What is par­tic­u­lar­ly shock­ing is the unprece­dent­ed pros­e­cu­tion of a dead man. As a lawyer and politi­cian, I will do every­thing in my pow­er and the pow­er of the OSCE to call on Rus­sia to pros­e­cute Mag­nit­sky’s killers, to cease the posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tion against him and to pro­tect his fam­i­ly.” Read more

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