GOP, Dems team up on bill sanctioning Russia for human-rights abuses

The Hill
by Pete Kasperowicz
04/23/12

Several high-profile Republicans and Democrats in the House have joined forces to sponsor legislation that would sanction Russian officials who played a role in the death of a Russian lawyer. That lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, accused several people in the Russian government of tax fraud, and was beaten to death in a Moscow prison in 2009.

Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) introduced the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act last week, along with Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), and Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.).

The bill, H.R. 4405, is the latest example of Congress’s anger over the death of Magnitsky, who was found by a Russian panel to have been arrested illegally, denied access to courts, investigated by the same people he accused of stealing millions of dollars and denied access to doctors before he died. The bill accuses Russia of exhibiting a pattern of denying basic human rights and prosecutorial fairness.

Sergei Magnitsky’s experience, while particularly illustrative of the negative effects of official corruption on the rights of an individual citizen, appears to be emblematic of a broader pattern of disregard for the numerous domestic and international human-rights commitments of the Russian Federation and impunity for those who violate basic human rights and freedoms, the resolution reads.

Under the bill, the departments of State and Treasury would have to publish a list of people they have reason to believe are responsible for the detention, abuse and death of Magnitsky, as well as others seeking to expose illegal activity carried out by officials of the Government of the Russian Federation or fighting for human rights in Russia.

People named on that list would be denied U.S. entry visas, and any of their assets in the U.S. would be frozen. However, the bill provides waivers for these sanctions for national security reasons.

The bill shows that Magnitsky’s death continues to generate bipartisan outrage in the Congress. Last year, a bipartisan group of senators proposed a similar bill that had the support of five Democrats, five Republicans and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). микрозайм онлайн buy viagra online https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php займ срочно без отказов и проверок