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Russia Targets Magnitsky Justice Campaigner Browder Through Interpol for the Third Time

June 19, 2014

The Russ­ian gov­ern­ment has again tar­get­ed William Brow­der, leader of the glob­al Mag­nit­sky jus­tice cam­paign, through Inter­pol, an inter­na­tion­al police organ­i­sa­tion. This is Russia’s third attempt to involve Inter­pol in its polit­i­cal attack on Mr Brow­der, who has angered the Russ­ian author­i­ties with his crit­i­cism of cor­rup­tion and human rights vio­la­tions under the Putin regime.

This morn­ing, the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office announced that it has suc­ceed­ed in its goal of mak­ing Interpol’s data pro­tec­tion com­mis­sion, known as the Com­mis­sion for the Con­trol of Interpol’s Files, to con­sid­er the third Russ­ian request seek­ing to search for William Brow­der via Inter­pol chan­nels. Pre­vi­ous requests were denied by both the Inter­pol Com­mis­sion and by Interpol’s Gen­er­al Sec­re­tari­at on the grounds of their “pre­dom­i­nant­ly polit­i­cal nature” and being con­trary to Interpol’s Con­sti­tu­tion and rules, which pro­hib­it tar­get­ing polit­i­cal oppo­nents through police cooperation.

In a state­ment, the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office said this morning:

“Thanks to the actions of the Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office of the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion, the Com­mis­sion for Con­trol of Interpol’s Files will recon­sid­er the mat­ter of the inter­na­tion­al search for William Brow­der.” http://www.genproc.gov.ru/smi/news/genproc/news-202876/The announce­ment fur­ther explained that the Russ­ian Prosecutor’s Office has achieved its goal of tar­get­ing Mr Brow­der at Inter­pol by “hold­ing meet­ings with Interpol’s lead­er­ship and heads of depart­ments”, and tak­ing part in the Inter­pol Commission’s meet­ing in Jan­u­ary 2014 with a “rea­soned report on the valid­i­ty of crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion” of Mr Browder.

Mr Brow­der, who resides in Eng­land, has been tar­get­ed by the Russ­ian author­i­ties with retal­ia­to­ry and spu­ri­ous crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings in Rus­sia for a num­ber of years. The attack on him by the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment esca­lat­ed after the adop­tion in Decem­ber 2012 of the U.S. ‘Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act’, which impos­es tar­get­ed visa and finan­cial sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials and oth­ers involved in Magnitsky’s ill-treat­ment and death in police cus­tody, and the sub­se­quent cov­er up of those crimes.

Since the pas­sage of the Mag­nit­sky law in the Unit­ed States, the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment has respond­ed in a hos­tile man­ner, by con­vict­ing Mr Brow­der in absen­tia and Mr Mag­nit­sky posthu­mous­ly in the first ever posthu­mous tri­al in Russ­ian legal his­to­ry, which was held beyond the statute of limitations.The judge who presided over the posthu­mous tri­al was put on the sanc­tions list by the U.S. Gov­ern­ment, and at the same time pro­mot­ed by Pres­i­dent Putin.  Russ­ian author­i­ties have also opened a new crim­i­nal case in which Mr Brow­der is alleged to have harmed Russia’s “nation­al eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty,” through his share­hold­er activism twelve years ago at Krem­lin-con­trolled Gazprom, Russia’s gas monopoly.

No com­ment from Interpol’s Com­mis­sion on the Russ­ian Prosecutor’s Office announce­ment is avail­able yet.

Реакция на заявление МВД о включении оперативника Кречетова в американский список Магнитского

May 23, 2014

Вчера представители ГУВД Москвы прокомментировали включение в американский список Магнитского их бывшего сотрудника, продолжающего службу в МВД – Андрея Кречетова. По словам ГУВД Москвы, которые привел «Интерфакс», сотрудник МВД Андрей Кречетов “не имел непосредственного отношения” к расследованию дела против Сергея Магнитского, “а выполнял лишь отдельные поручения”. (more…)

Russian Interior Ministry Produces False Information to Assist one Officer in Attempt to Get Off of New U.S. Magnitsky List

May 23, 2014

Yes­ter­day, the Moscow branch of the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry respond­ed to the inclu­sion of its offi­cial Andrei Krechetov in the U.S. Mag­nit­sky List with a state­ment claim­ing that he did not have direct role in the Magnitsky’s case.

On 20 May 2014, the U.S. Trea­sury pub­lished an addi­tion to the Mag­nit­sky List, which includ­ed 10 Rus­sians with per­son­al involve­ment in the Mag­nit­sky case, includ­ing the Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cial Andrei Krechetov. (more…)

Norwegian Government Offers William Browder ‘Safe Passage’ to Pursue Magnitsky Campaign in Norway

April 10, 2014

The Nor­we­gian gov­ern­ment has decid­ed to pro­tect William Brow­der, the leader of the Mag­nit­sky jus­tice cam­paign from Russ­ian per­se­cu­tion on their territory.
In a let­ter sent to Mr Brow­der’s UK lawyers, the Nor­we­gian Min­istry of Jus­tice said that they have con­clud­ed that in light of the polit­i­cal nature of the pro­ceed­ings against Brow­der, Nor­way would not extra­dite or pro­vide legal assis­tance to Rus­sia in rela­tion to Mr Browder.
“The Nor­we­gian Min­istry of Jus­tice and Pub­lic Secu­ri­ty is at present of the view that the cri­te­ria for extra­di­tion and Mutu­al Legal Assis­tance are not ful­filled,” said the Nor­we­gian Jus­tice Min­istry in its let­ter. (more…)

Russia Responds to European Magnitsky Sanctions by Suspending All Probes into Implicated Officials

April 3, 2014

In an appar­ent response to the adop­tion by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment of the Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions List of 32 Rus­sians, this morn­ing the Russ­ian author­i­ties announced that they have “sus­pend­ed” all inves­ti­ga­tions of Russ­ian offi­cials impli­cat­ed in Mag­nit­sky tes­ti­monies and the com­plaints filed by his col­leagues. (more…)

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