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Senior Coroner Has Ruled That Hermitage Capital is an ‘Interested Person’ in the Perepilichnyy Inquest in Surrey

August 6, 2015

6 August 2015 — Today, the Senior Coro­ner ruled that Her­mitage Cap­i­tal will be rec­og­nized as an inter­est­ed per­son in the Alexan­der Perepilich­nyy inquest which took place in Sur­rey, Eng­land today. Her­mitage Cap­i­tal made the appli­ca­tion because of spe­cif­ic facts which point­ed to the pos­si­bil­i­ty that Alexan­der Perepilich­nyy was mur­dered in Novem­ber 2012 in Surrey. 

Her­mitage Cap­i­tal was forced to inter­vene in the coro­ners inquest because the Sur­rey police decid­ed that Alexan­der Perepilich­nyy’s death was ‘not sus­pi­cious’ and ‘did not involve third par­ties’. In writ­ten and oral appli­ca­tions sub­mit­ted by Geof­frey Robert­son QC and Hen­ri­et­ta Hill QC, Her­mitage dis­closed how Alexan­der Perepilich­nyy had described fears over being mur­dered by mem­bers of the Russ­ian organ­ised crime con­nect­ed to the Russ­ian government. 

“We can­not allow the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment to get away with mur­der in the UK. We will make sure that all the facts sur­round­ing Alexan­der Perepilich­nyy’s death, includ­ing any sug­ges­tion that it was linked with his inv­ole­ment in expos­ing the Russ­ian organ­ised crime con­nect­ed to the Mag­nit­sky case are elu­ci­dat­ed in full at the inquest,” said William Brow­der, leader of Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky Campaign.

In 2010, Alexan­der Perepilich­nyy pro­vid­ed evi­dence to Her­mitage Cap­i­tal which lead to the freez­ing of accounts belong­ing to Vladlen Stepanov, hus­band of a senior Russ­ian tax offi­cial held in Swiss banks. He twice tes­ti­fied to the Swiss pros­e­cu­tors and sub­se­quent­ly received death threats by var­i­ous ele­ments inside the Russ­ian government.

Alexan­der Perepilich­nyy died on 10 Novem­ber 2012 after return­ing from a trip to Paris. The British police closed the case but the French author­i­ties have since opened a full mur­der investigation. 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky campaign
+44 207 440 1777
info@lawandorderinrussia.org

Global Magnitsky Act Receives Unanimous Approval from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

July 30, 2015

30 July 2015 — Yes­ter­day, in a land­mark vote, the U.S. Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee unan­i­mous­ly approved “The Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Account­abil­i­ty Act,” paving the way for its approval for a full vote in the Sen­ate. The Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Act extends the con­cept of per­son­alised sanc­tions on klep­to­crats and human rights vio­la­tors around the world, giv­ing hope to vic­tims from any coun­try where those abus­es occurred.
“Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s epic bat­tle against evil, his faith in the law, and his ulti­mate sac­ri­fice con­tin­ue to empow­er and inspire law­mak­ers around the world to take con­crete action and cre­ate real con­se­quences for human rights abusers”, said William Brow­der, leader of the Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice campaign.

The new leg­is­la­tion is authored by U.S. Sen­a­tor Ben Cardin (D‑MD), Rank­ing Mem­ber of the Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee, who in 2010 togeth­er with Sen­a­tor John McCain ini­ti­at­ed the “Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act,” an inno­v­a­tive 21-cen­tu­ry piece of leg­is­la­tion that for the first time has pro­vid­ed redress and a mean­ing­ful way to deter impuni­ty for cor­rup­tion and human rights abus­es in Russia. 

The Rus­sia-spe­cif­ic Mag­nit­sky bill became law in Decem­ber 2012. Over 30 per­sons have been includ­ed on the pub­lic sanc­tions list since. Per­sons includ­ed on the sanc­tions list are pub­licly named on the fed­er­al reg­is­ter, pro­hib­it­ed from obtain­ing U.S. visas and sub­ject to a freeze on all their U.S. assets and bank accounts. 

The Glob­al Mag­nit­sky bill autho­ris­es the Pres­i­dent to cre­ate sim­i­lar con­se­quences for per­sons involved in cor­rup­tion, extra­ju­di­cial killings, tor­ture and oth­er human rights vio­la­tions from all coun­tries around the world. 

“This is an impor­tant step in a long road of tar­get­ing human rights abusers and cor­rupt indi­vid­u­als around the globe who threat­en the rule of law and deny human rights or fun­da­men­tal free­doms,” said Sen­a­tor Cardin.

The bill autho­rizes the Sec­re­tary of State and the Sec­re­tary of the Trea­sury to report annu­al­ly to Con­gress regard­ing actions tak­en against human rights abusers. In deter­min­ing the sanc­tions list, the Pres­i­dent must con­sid­er requests made by the Chair­per­son and Rank­ing Mem­ber of one of a num­ber of con­gres­sion­al committee.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:
Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice Campaign
+44 2074401777
info@lawandorderinrussia.org

See also the US Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee press release on the pass­ing of the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Bill:
http://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/cardin-legislation-the-global-magnitsky-human-rights-accountability-act-approved-by-senate-foreign-relations-committee

Global Magnitsky Bill Introduced in the Canadian Parliament

June 15, 2015

12 June 2015 – Irwin Cotler, Cana­di­an MP, for­mer Min­is­ter of Jus­tice and Attor­ney Gen­er­al of Cana­da, and chair of the Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky Inter-Par­lia­men­tary Group, has intro­duced the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Bill to the Cana­di­an par­lia­ment. The bill, enti­tled the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Human Rights Account­abil­i­ty Act [C‑689], calls for sanc­tions on inter­na­tion­al human rights vio­la­tors any­where in the world, and is sim­i­lar to the U.S. Glob­al Mag­nit­sky bill cur­rent­ly mak­ing its way through the U.S. Congress.

Explain­ing his new bill, Irwin Cotler MP said:
“The vic­tims of human-rights vio­la­tions in Rus­sia and around the world… and the coura­geous activists who stand up to rights-vio­lat­ing regimes at great per­son­al risk – were on my mind when I rose on Tues­day in the House to present my leg­is­la­tion… Coun­tries that val­ue human rights and the rule of law must use the mea­sures at our dis­pos­al to hold vio­la­tors to account and dis­cour­age future vio­la­tions. Oth­er­wise, we are exposed as hav­ing far less con­cern for these noble prin­ci­ples than our usu­al rhetoric.”

Intro­duc­ing the leg­is­la­tion, Irwin Cotler MP paid an emo­tion­al trib­ute to his friend and advo­cate of Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions leg­is­la­tion, Boris Nemtsov, who was assas­si­nat­ed near the Krem­lin in Moscow three months ago. 

“I could almost feel the pres­ence of my late friend Boris Nemtsov, the leader of the demo­c­ra­t­ic Russ­ian oppo­si­tion who was mur­dered near the Krem­lin ear­li­er this year,” said Irwin Cotler.

Boris Nemtsov pub­licly sup­port­ed Irwin Cotler in 2012 when the Mag­nit­sky leg­is­la­tion was first intro­duced in the Cana­di­an parliament.
“Mag­nit­sky was killed by pros­e­cu­tors and prison management…Putin gov­ern­ment sup­port­ed the mur­der­ers… The idea of the [Mag­nit­sky] Act is to imple­ment sanc­tions against absolute­ly con­crete cor­rupt offi­cials and peo­ple who are respon­si­ble for killing Mag­nit­sky,” said Boris Nemtsov.

“As a coun­try with the low lev­el of cor­rup­tion and rule of law, Cana­da has to fight against crim­i­nals and against cor­rup­tion. You are not against Rus­sia, you are against cor­rup­tion, against crim­i­nals. It will be very painful for Russ­ian cor­rupt bureau­cra­cy to get such kind of law from Cana­da. Very painful. Because cor­rupt sys­tem in Rus­sia means that they have prop­er­ty out­side of the coun­try, they relax out­side the coun­try, they send their kids to get edu­ca­tion outside…”

(Lis­ten to the full speech by Boris Nemtsov in Cana­da in 2012, start­ing after intro­duc­tion at 4 min.: http://www.ipolitics.ca/2015/03/02/when-nemtsov-came-to-ottawa/)

In March this year, the Cana­di­an House of Com­mons unan­i­mous­ly sup­port­ed the ini­tia­tive to intro­duce Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions on indi­vid­ual human-rights vio­la­tors, includ­ing those involved in the 2009 deten­tion, tor­ture and mur­der of Sergei Mag­nit­sky. A sim­i­lar motion was adopt­ed in the Cana­di­an Sen­ate a few weeks lat­er. Yet, the Cana­di­an Gov­ern­ment has not act­ed on the call from parliamentarians.

“There is still time for the [Cana­di­an] gov­ern­ment to either take over my bill or to intro­duce sim­i­lar leg­is­la­tion of its own, out of respect for the unan­i­mous will of Cana­di­an MPs, and out of sol­i­dar­i­ty with the vic­tims of human-rights vio­la­tions and those who strug­gle valiant­ly on their behalf, in Rus­sia and around the world,” said Irwin Cotler, MP. 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:
Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice Campaign
+44 2074401777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__

Video of Irwin Cotler MP intro­duc­ing the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Bill in the Cana­di­an Parliament:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwMo43eU1BE&feature=youtu.be

New Cana­di­an Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Bill, C‑689: “An Act to enact the Glob­al Human Rights Account­abil­i­ty Act and to make relat­ed amend­ments to the Spe­cial Eco­nom­ic Mea­sures Act and the Immi­gra­tion and Refugee Pro­tec­tion Act”
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=8035881

Orig­i­nal 2012 Cana­di­an Mag­nit­sky Bill, C‑339: “An Act to con­demn cor­rup­tion and impuni­ty in Rus­sia in the case and death of Sergei Magnitsky”
http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?billId=6253662&Language=E&Mode=1

The Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky Inter-Par­lia­men­tary Group website:
http://ipg-magnitsky.org/

European Parliament Calls on EU Foreign Policy Chief to Enact EU-wide Magnitsky Sanctions on Russian Human Rights Abusers

June 11, 2015

11 June 2015 – The Euro­pean Par­lia­ment has adopt­ed the Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions Motion which demands that EU For­eign Affairs chief Fed­er­i­ca Mogheri­ni act “with­out delay” and intro­duce sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials involved in the Mag­nit­sky case.

The motion pro­posed by Euro­pean Parliament’s Rap­por­teur on the state of EU-Rus­sia rela­tions Gabrielius Lands­ber­gis, MEP, was adopt­ed by 494 votes to 135, with 69 abstentions.

The Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions motion high­lights the assas­si­na­tions of Boris Nemtsov, Sergey Mag­nit­sky, Anna Politkovskaya, Natalya Estemiro­va, Alexan­der Litvi­nenko and oth­ers, and demands their prop­er, inde­pen­dent investigations. 

The Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions motion adopt­ed by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment states:

“Euro­pean Parliament…reiterates its call on the Coun­cil to … adopt, upon a pro­pos­al which should be sub­mit­ted with­out delay by the VP/HR, restric­tive mea­sures for the offi­cials involved in the well-doc­u­ment­ed Mag­nit­sky case.”

Pre­vi­ous­ly, Ms Mogheri­ni, EU VP/HR (Vice Pres­i­dent and High Rep­re­sen­ta­tive) for for­eign affairs and secu­ri­ty pol­i­cy, strong­ly opposed the enact­ment of EU-wide Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions, in spite of four res­o­lu­tions by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment in their favour. In a let­ter to the Euro­pean par­lia­ment mem­bers on 12 Jan­u­ary 2015, Ms Mogheri­ni stead­fast­ly refused to impose sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials in the Mag­nit­sky case.

“I con­sid­er that addi­tion­al sanc­tions tar­get­ing human rights vio­la­tors would not be the appro­pri­ate response as they would risk nei­ther trig­ger­ing a change in pol­i­cy nor improv­ing the human rights sit­u­a­tion,” said Ms Mogheri­ni at the time in her letter.

One and a half month after Ms Mogherini’s refusal, Boris Nemtsov, the lead­ing pro­po­nent of the EU Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions, and a key Russ­ian leader of the oppo­si­tion to pres­i­dent Putin, was assas­si­nat­ed next to the Kremlin. 

In his pub­lic appear­ances before his assas­si­na­tion, Boris Nemtsov stat­ed his belief that Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions, enact­ed by the Unit­ed States under the “US Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act of 2012,” rep­re­sent­ed the “most pow­er­ful instru­ment against killers and clep­to­crats” (see in Russ­ian at 27 min of youtube video debate with Boris Nemtsov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n1AJ0oCIJE)

Boris Nemtsov cam­paigned for the adop­tion of Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions by the EU and for the expan­sion of the US Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions list.

“We owe it to the mem­o­ry of the coura­geous Russ­ian patri­ots Sergei Mag­nit­sky and Boris Nemtsov to cre­ate con­se­quences for those in Rus­sia who act with impuni­ty and con­tin­ue to cov­er up bru­tal mur­ders with a straight face in the inter­na­tion­al set­tings. Inac­tion by Ms Mogheri­ni today, after the fifth vote by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment, is no longer accept­able,” said Bill Brow­der, leader of the Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice campaign. 

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice Campaign
+44 2074401777
e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org
Twit­ter: @KatieFisher__

Russian Government Continues to Eliminate Evidence in the Magnitsky Case by Destroying Video Recordings of Magnitsky’s Last Hours in Detention

June 5, 2015

Russ­ian Gov­ern­ment Con­tin­ues to Elim­i­nate Evi­dence in the Mag­nit­sky Case by Destroy­ing Video Record­ings of Magnitsky’s Last Hours in Detention

5 June 2015 – The Russ­ian author­i­ties have told Sergei Magnitsky’s moth­er that they have destroyed the video record­ings of Sergei Magnitsky’s last hours before his killing in Matrosskaya Tishi­na deten­tion center.

 In cor­re­spon­dence with Sergei Magnitsky’s moth­er, Gen­er­al Major V. Aly­shev, Deputy Head of the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Committee’s Main Inves­tiga­tive Depart­ment, has con­firmed the Russ­ian author­i­ties have destroyed the video records from Matrosskaya Tishina.

“Video record­ings from video sur­veil­lance cam­eras …have not been seized due to objec­tive rea­sons – due to the expiry of the peri­od of stor­age on the disc,” said Gen­er­al Major of the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee V. Alyshev.

Sergei Mag­nit­sky was trans­ferred to Matrosskaya Tishi­na deten­tion cen­ter at 6:30 pm of 16 Novem­ber 2009. Less than three hours lat­er he was found dead with signs of bod­i­ly injuries in the iso­la­tion cell. The offi­cial Russ­ian inves­ti­ga­tion into his death found that he died from a heart prob­lem and that he had caused his own injuries.

An inde­pen­dent domes­tic inves­ti­ga­tion by the Moscow Pub­lic Over­sight Com­mis­sion con­clud­ed Sergei Mag­nit­sky was kept in deten­tion in tor­tur­ous con­di­tions, that civil­ian doc­tors were not allowed by deten­tion cen­ter offi­cials to enter his cell for an hour and eigh­teen min­utes before his death, while a team of eight deten­tion cen­ter offi­cers restrained him and beat him. Imme­di­ate­ly after Magnitsky’s death, deten­tion cen­ter offi­cials showed some video footage of Sergei Mag­nit­sky to mem­bers of the Moscow Pub­lic Over­sight Com­mis­sion. How­ev­er, video record­ings from Matrosskaya Tishi­na have been absent from the Magnitsky’s death case inves­ti­ga­tion file.

In response to the request from Mag­nit­sky fam­i­ly about the where­abouts of the video footage from Matrosskaya Tishi­na, the Russ­ian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee report­ed that the record­ing has been destroyed:

“[Video record­ing] is auto­mat­i­cal­ly delet­ed from the hard dri­ve after 30 days, and new infor­ma­tion is record­ed in its place,” Gen­er­al Major Aly­shev has informed Magnitsky’s mother.

“It is con­sis­tent with the over­all cov­er-up of Sergei Mag­nit­sky’s mur­der that the key video evi­dence from the crime scene was not pre­served. An inves­ti­ga­tion should be opened into those who allowed the destruc­tion of the videos,” said a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Jus­tice for Sergei Mag­nit­sky campaign.

 For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

 Mag­nit­sky Jus­tice Campaign

+44 2074401777

e‑mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

web­site: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

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