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Six UK and International Activists Celebrated Today at Magnitsky Awards on the 8^th Anniversary of the Murder of Sergei Magnitsky

November 17, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

 

Six UK and Inter­na­tion­al Activists Cel­e­brat­ed Today at Mag­nit­sky Awards on the 8^th Anniver­sary of the Mur­der of Sergei Magnitsky

 

17 Novem­ber 2017 – Yes­ter­day, six promi­nent politi­cians and activists were hon­oured at the Mag­nit­sky Awards which were held on the eighth anniver­sary of the Mur­der of Russ­ian lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, who exposed a US$230 mil­lion fraud per­pe­trat­ed by cor­rupt Russ­ian offi­cials and orga­nized criminals.

 

The event, which was held in the pres­ence of the Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly, cel­e­brat­ed the brav­ery of activists from across the world and offered sup­port to all those who fight injustice.

 

“Today we’ve hon­oured the bravest and the most effec­tive indi­vid­u­als who have made per­son­al sac­ri­fices and have shown them­selves to be stead­fast believ­ers in the cause of jus­tice,” said William Brow­der, leader of the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice move­ment. “It is tru­ly uplift­ing to be in the pres­ence of such out­stand­ing peo­ple who believe in and act for the com­mon good every day.”

 

Baroness Hele­na Kennedy pre­sent­ed the Mag­nit­sky Award for Cam­paign­ing Politi­cian to Dominic Raab MP in recog­ni­tion of his work spear­head­ing the UK Mag­nit­sky amend­ment which was passed ear­li­er this year.

 

Geof­frey Robert­son QC, a renowned human rights bar­ris­ter, pre­sent­ed the Mag­nit­sky Award for Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to Human Rights Law to Niko­lai Gorokhov, lawyer for the Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly, for his fear­less legal work seek­ing jus­tice in Rus­sia in spite of the grave risks to his safety.

 

Cana­di­an MP James Bezan pre­sent­ed the Mag­nit­sky Award for Out­stand­ing Con­tri­bu­tion to the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Cam­paign Award to Mar­cus Kol­ga. Both Kol­ga and Bezan were suc­cess­ful in advanc­ing and pro­mot­ing the pas­sage of the Mag­nit­sky law in Cana­da this October.

 

Head of the Nor­we­gian Helsin­ki Com­mit­tee Bjorn Enges­land pre­sent­ed the Mag­nit­sky Award for Out­stand­ing Inves­tiga­tive Jour­nal­ism to Khadi­ja Ismay­ilo­va, an inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ist who has worked tire­less­ly to expose cor­rup­tion in her home coun­try of Azerbaijan.

 

For­mer polit­i­cal pris­on­er Mikhail Khodor­kovsky pre­sent­ed the Mag­nit­sky Award for Out­stand­ing Russ­ian Oppo­si­tion Activist to Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russ­ian polit­i­cal activist who has been the sub­ject of two attempts on his life. Kara-Murza has been instru­men­tal in pro­mot­ing Mag­nit­sky Acts around the world.

 

Thor Halvorssen, Pres­i­dent of the Human Rights Foun­da­tion, pre­sent­ed the Mag­nit­sky Award for Out­stand­ing Human Rights Activist to Valery Borschev, for­mer head of the Moscow Pub­lic Over­sight Com­mis­sion, who was instru­men­tal in inves­ti­gat­ing the details of Sergei Magnitsky’s deten­tion and tor­ture in cus­tody in the first six weeks after his death in custody.

The awards com­mit­tee this year com­prised rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the Hen­ry Jack­son Soci­ety, Fair Tri­als Inter­na­tion­al, the Inter­na­tion­al Bar Asso­ci­a­tion, Her­mitage Cap­i­tal Man­age­ment Ltd, the Nor­we­gian Helsin­ki Com­mit­tee, the Mac­Don­ald-Lau­ri­er Insti­tute and the Oslo Free­dom Forum.

 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

 

US Congressman Rohrabacher and Congressional Staffer Behrends Named for Violations of US Treasury Sanctions Under Magnitsky Act

July 24, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

US Con­gress­man Rohrabach­er and Con­gres­sion­al Staffer Behrends Named for Vio­la­tions of US Trea­sury Sanc­tions Under Mag­nit­sky Act

24 July 2017 – A new com­plaint has been filed with the US Treasury’s Office of For­eign Assets Con­trol (OFAC) nam­ing US Con­gress­man Rohrabach­er and his senior staffer Paul Behrends for vio­la­tions of Mag­nit­sky sanctions.

The com­plaint filed with the Direc­tor of the Office of For­eign Assets Con­trol at the US Trea­sury alleges that both indi­vid­u­als pro­vid­ed ser­vices to Russ­ian Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor Vic­tor Grin, a sanc­tioned indi­vid­ual under the Mag­nit­sky Act.

“Rohrabach­er and Behrends met with Grin [a Russ­ian offi­cial sanc­tioned under the Mag­nit­sky Act] in Moscow in April 2016, and accept­ed mate­r­i­al from Grin which Grin sought to have Rohrabach­er use to under­mine the Mag­nit­sky Act… Rohrabach­er and Behrends then repeat­ed­ly under­took a series of actions to under­mine the Mag­nit­sky Act …rely­ing on talk­ing points pro­vid­ed to them by Grin, with the appar­ent goal of secur­ing the removal of Grin as an SDN [Sanc­tions Des­ig­nat­ed Nation­al] through means out­side of the des­ig­nat­ed OFAC licens­ing process,” says the com­plaint filed with OFAC by Her­mitage Cap­i­tal Man­age­ment on Fri­day, 21 July 2017.

The com­plaint states that Rohrabach­er and Behrends met with Grin in April 2016 in Moscow to dis­cuss his prob­lems as a Sanc­tions Des­ig­nat­ed Nation­al (“SDN”) under the Mag­nit­sky Act and agreed to take action to help him. Since that meet­ing, accord­ing to the com­plaint, Rohrabach­er and Behrends took action, includ­ing delay­ing the con­sid­er­a­tion of the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Act, repeat­ing to mem­bers of Con­gress talk­ing points from the paper pro­vid­ed to them by the sanc­tioned Russ­ian offi­cial, made per­son­al intro­duc­tions for lob­by­ists advo­cat­ing Russ­ian gov­ern­men­t’s and Grin’s posi­tion against the Mag­nit­sky Act on behalf of the 44 sanc­tioned Russ­ian nation­als. In addi­tion, Rohrabach­er and Behrends pro­mot­ed the anti-Mag­nit­sky film which was based on the mate­r­i­al and infor­ma­tion from the Sanc­tions Des­ig­nat­ed Nationals.

“They [these actions] con­sti­tute ser­vices pro­vid­ed to a SDN by U.S. per­sons in appar­ent vio­la­tion of the Mag­nit­sky Act sanc­tions which express­ly for­bid U.S. per­sons to pro­vide such ser­vices,” says the complaint.

Deputy Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor of Rus­sia Vic­tor Grin played a cen­tral role in the cov­er up of the US$230 mil­lion crime exposed by Sergei Mag­nit­sky. Vic­tor Grin per­son­al­ly ini­ti­at­ed two posthu­mous pros­e­cu­tions against Sergei Mag­nit­sky a year and a half after Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s death, and exon­er­at­ed offi­cials impli­cat­ed by Mag­nit­sky in the US$230 mil­lion fraud.

Since  Decem­ber 29, 2014, Vic­tor Grin has been sanc­tioned under the US Mag­nit­sky Act.

Dana Rohrabach­er is a mem­ber of the U.S House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives rep­re­sent­ing Cal­i­for­ni­a’s 48^th con­gres­sion­al district.

Paul Behrends has been employed in Con­gress since Q3 ’14, and has also been a staffer for House Com­mit­tee on For­eign Affairs.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

 

 

OFAC com­plaint

http://russian-untouchables.com/docs/OFAC%20complaint%20filed_Redacted.pdf

 

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC Introduces Magnitsky Visa Ban Legislation to the UK House of Lords

July 4, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

 

Baroness Hele­na Kennedy QC Intro­duces Mag­nit­sky Visa Ban Leg­is­la­tion to the UK House of Lords

 

4 July 2017 – Last week Baroness Hele­na Kennedy QC intro­duced the Mag­nit­sky visa ban leg­is­la­tion at the House of Lords of the British parliament.
The new leg­is­la­tion will give the British gov­ern­ment the pow­er to deny entry into the UK to indi­vid­u­als who have been involved in gross human rights abus­es as defined in sec­tion 241 of the Pro­ceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”).

 

The new leg­is­la­tion is enti­tled “Can­cel­la­tion of UK Visas for Gross Human Rights Abus­es Bill 2017.”

 

The bill com­ple­ments the pre­vi­ous Mag­nit­sky leg­is­la­tion passed ear­li­er this year by the British Par­lia­ment which gives the British gov­ern­ment new pow­ers to freeze the UK assets of for­eign­ers involved in gross human rights abus­es and corruption.

 

On intro­duc­ing the bill, Baroness Kennedy said:

 

“My Lords, I beg to intro­duce a Bill to enable the Sec­re­tary of State or an immi­gra­tion offi­cer to refuse entry or to vary or cur­tail leave to enter or remain already grant­ed to a per­son who is non-UK or non- EEA nation­al who is known to be or to have been involved in gross human rights abuses.”

“This Bill was inspired by Bill Brow­der’s cam­paign­ing for human rights and his efforts to secure jus­tice for his lawyer, Sergei Mag­nit­sky, whose life was cru­el­ly end­ed in a Russ­ian jail. This coun­try has been too lax in its will­ing­ness to allow entry to rich human rights abusers from around the world. It has to stop. These tor­tur­ers and vio­la­tors of rights have to be denied impuni­ty,” said Baroness Kennedy QC.

 

The leg­is­la­tion fol­lows in the foot­steps of the US Mag­nit­sky Act which was adopt­ed by the US Con­gress in Decem­ber 2012. The Mag­nit­sky Act adopt­ed into law in the Unit­ed States com­pris­es two com­po­nents — visa bans and asset freezes – and applies them to those involved in the Mag­nit­sky case, includ­ing the crim­i­nal con­spir­a­cy he had uncov­ered, as well as in oth­er gross human rights vio­la­tions and acts against human rights defenders.

 

Baroness Kennedy QC is a mem­ber of the House of Lords, Head of Mans­field Col­lege, Uni­ver­si­ty of Oxford, and a lead­ing human rights barrister.

 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

 

 

Nikolai Gorokhov Will Make a Third Attempt to Open Criminal Case Against Corrupt Russian Police Officers Who Covered Up Sergei Magnitsky’s Death in Custody

June 2, 2017

Press Release

For Imme­di­ate Distribution

 

Niko­lai Gorokhov Will Make a Third Attempt to Open Crim­i­nal Case Against Cor­rupt Russ­ian Police Offi­cers Who Cov­ered Up Sergei Magnitsky’s Death in Custody

2 June 2017 – Today, Niko­lai Gorokhov, the lawyer for Sergei Magnitsky’s moth­er, will make a third attempt to open a crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion into the abuse of office by offi­cer Strizhov of the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee in the Sergei Mag­nit­sky death case and the cov­er-up of the US$230 mil­lion fraud that Mr Mag­nit­sky had dis­cov­ered and exposed in 2008 before he was tor­tured and mur­dered in police custody.

The court hear­ing is sched­uled to take place at 4 pm at the Bas­man­ny Dis­trict Court in Moscow with judge Safi­na presiding.

The appli­ca­tion to open an inves­ti­ga­tion into the abuse of office was orig­i­nal­ly filed by Mr Gorokhov with the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee in Jan­u­ary 2017. The Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee refused to open an inves­ti­ga­tion. Mr Gorokhov then filed a com­plaint against this refusal, which was due to be heard on March 24, 2017. The hear­ing did not go ahead because of the Mr. Gorokhov’s plunge from his fourth floor apart­ment in sus­pi­cious circumstances.

At the post­poned court hear­ing which was even­tu­al­ly held last week in Moscow, it was revealed that the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee refused to treat his com­plaint against offi­cer Strizhov as a crime report.

The addi­tion­al evi­dence sub­mit­ted by Mr Gorokhov to the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee remained unan­swered, lead­ing to the third appli­ca­tion filed by Mr Gorokhov ear­li­er this week, which will be heard today at the Bas­man­ny Dis­trict Court in Moscow.

The appli­ca­tion by Mr Gorokhov relies on new records of emails and What­sApp com­mu­ni­ca­tions between asso­ciates of the Klyuev Organ­ised Crime Group dis­cussing the arrange­ments with Russ­ian law enforce­ment offi­cers for the cov­er-up and tam­per­ing of evi­dence in the Mag­nit­sky case.

The leaked emails and What­sApp mes­sages iden­ti­fy the arrange­ments being made between Andrei Pavlov, a key mem­ber of the Klyuev Organ­ised Crime Group, who took part in the US$230 mil­lion fraud, and inves­ti­ga­tor Strizhov of the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee, who was in charge of inves­ti­gat­ing Pavlov and oth­ers as part of the Mag­nit­sky death inves­ti­ga­tion and the crim­i­nal con­spir­a­cy Mag­nit­sky had uncovered.

In the com­mu­ni­ca­tions, Andrei Pavlov advis­es ex Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cer Oleg Urzhumt­sev of the arrange­ment reached with inves­ti­ga­tor Strizhov and Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cials. Pavlov says:

“Strizhov will come to an agree­ment with Ryabt­sev [head of depart­ment “K” of the Inte­ri­or Ministry’s Direc­torate of Eco­nom­ic Secu­ri­ty and Fight­ing Cor­rup­tion] on his own, but it is nec­es­sary that Mityaev (sub­or­di­nate of Ryabt­sev in depart­ment “K”) is all for it, like I know it all, I will help with every­thing. He will lat­er be the one to sub­mit the study to Strizhov.”

The com­mu­ni­ca­tions refer to var­i­ous offi­cials and orga­nized crim­i­nals under both real and assumed names and alias­es, includ­ing “Bald-head­ed” and “The Great.”

The com­mu­ni­ca­tions fur­ther reveal the inten­tion of the Klyuev Organ­ised Crime Group to dis­guise and con­ceal their active involve­ment in the evi­dence tam­per­ing and cov­er up efforts from lawyers for Magnitsky’s fam­i­ly and Her­mitage. In one record of con­ver­sa­tion, Andrei Pavlov explic­it­ly tells ex Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cer Urzhumtsev:

“Fxxk. Even if the study is appoint­ed by Strizh [short for “Strizhov”], then Gorokhov [lawyer for Magnitsky’s moth­er] and Antipov [Hermitage’s lawyer] have to be noti­fied of it, it would be clusterfxxk.”

With­in a month of these arrange­ments, inves­ti­ga­tor Strizhov closed the Mag­nit­sky death inves­ti­ga­tion cit­ing the “absence of crime” and accused Sergei Mag­nit­sky posthu­mous­ly of being a per­pe­tra­tor of the US$230 mil­lion fraud.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Bill­brow­der

 

 

 

В третий раз мама Сергея Магнитского просит суд рассмотреть заявление о должностном преступлении следователя СК РФ Стрижова

June 2, 2017

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В третий раз мама Сергея Магнитского просит суд рассмотреть заявление о должностном преступлении следователя СК РФ Стрижова

 

2 июня 2017 года – Сегодня в 16 ч Басманный суд г. Москвы рассмотрит жалобу матери Сергея Магнитского на отказ Следственного комитета РФ рассматривать ее заявление о должностном преступлении следователя СК РФ Стрижова, прекратившего расследование обстоятельств смерти Магнитского после контактов с заинтересованными в его гибели лицами.

 

По данным, направленным в Следственный комитет РФ еще в январе этого года, следователь СК РФ Стрижов, которому было поручено расследовать обстоятельства гибели Сергея Магнитского в следственном изоляторе,  находился в сговоре с Андреем Павловым и его сообщниками, действовал по их указаниям, освободил их от ответственности.

 

Обстоятельства соучастия следователя Стрижова в укрывательстве стали известны из опубликованных протоколов разговоров Андрея Павлова и бывшего следователя МВД РФ Олега Уржумцева.

 

Из протоколов разговоров Павлова и Уржемцева от 18 февраля 2013 года, за месяц до прекращения следователем Стрижовым расследования смерти Магнитского, следует, что Павлов достиг договоренностей со следователем Стрижовым:

 

«С Рябцевым [руководителем подразделения управления “К” МВД РФ] Стрижов сам договариваться будет, но надо, чтобы Митяев [подчиненный Рябцева из управления «К» МВД РФ] резко за был, что, мол все знаю, всем помогу. Он же и экспертизу Стрижову представит.»

 

На следующий день, 19 февраля 2013 г., Павлов сообщает Уржумцеву об исполнении договоренностей следователем Стрижовым:

 

«Для сведения, Рябцев (нач. Митяева) пообщеал Митяя Стрижу на помочь, но, типа “разово”.»

 

Еще через два дня Павлов доводит до сведения Уржумцева необходимость скрыть их деятельность от адвоката матери Сергея Магнитского:

 

«Бхххя. Вот даже если представить, что экспертизу Стриж назначит, с ней надо знакомить Горохова …, это будет пxxxxц.»

 

А еще через месяц, 19 марта 2013 г, следователь Стрижов вынес постановление о прекращении уголовного дела о смерти Магнитского за «отсутствием события преступления», в котором освободил от ответственности за хищение 5,4 миллиардов рублей и его укрывательство Павлова и Уржумцева.

 

В январе этого года Басманный суд Москвы отклонил иск Андрея Павлова к «Новой газете», которым Павлов хотел запретить газете печатать его переписку, в том числе протоколы его разговоров со следователем Уржумцевым, ранее опубликованные в Интернете.

 

Программа «Справедливость для Сергея Магнитского»

+44 207 440 1777

info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Billbrowder

 

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