Russia fights to block EU’s ‘Magnitsky law’

Daily Telegraph

Russia has sent a delegation to the European Parliament in an attempt to block a new law that will freeze the assets of anyone implicated in the death of the anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and ban them from travelling to member states.

A vote on the resolution in Strasbourg is scheduled for Thursday, having already been unanimously approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee. Should it be passed, at least 60 Russians, including several senior state officials, would be refused visas and face having any assets held within the European Union seized.

Similar bills are going through the Canadian and the US legislatures, but the vote this week is the first time those implicated in Mr Magnitsky’s death face actual sanctions.

Mr Magnitsky’s death has become a national scandal in Russia – frequently cited as the clearest example of alleged state corruption. The 37-year-old lawyer, who worked for UK-based hedge fund Hermitage Capital, uncovered an alleged $230m (£145m) fraud against the Russian taxpayer, naming the police officers involved. Shortly after doing so, he was charged with tax avoidance by the same officers and placed in a series of squalid jails for a year while awaiting trial.

He developed health problems, was allegedly denied medical help and died. His colleagues have been campaigning overseas for justice, having failed to convince the Russian authorities to pursue the alleged criminals.

Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham, said yesterday: “The Duma delegation should be going to the Kremlin to demand action from Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev, not to Strasbourg to attack MEPs.”

Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs, told journalists in Russia last week: “Members of our delegation are going to use all available means, including formal and informal meetings with MEPs, to try to convey the whole failure of one of the amendments to the draft report concerning the circumstances surrounding the death in jail of Sergei Magnitsky.”

The resolution, as voted through by the Foreign Affairs Committee, urges “the Russian judicial authorities to press ahead with the investigation of the death of Sergei Magnitsky; calls for an EU entry ban for the 60 Russian officials involved in this case and asks the EU law enforcement agencies to co-operate in freezing the bank accounts and other assets of these Russian officials in all EU member states.” займ на карту payday loan https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php займ на карту онлайн