JBANC letter to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Members and Chairman John Kerry regarding the Magnitsky Act

JBANC

Jun 19, 2012
The Honorable John Kerry
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC), representing one million persons of Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian heritage in the United States, looks forward to the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011 (S. 1039/H.R. 4405) in your Committee meeting today. We appreciate your concern in the fight for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, especially critical now in the Russian Federation.

We also note and are very grateful that along with Sen. Benjamin Cardin, the primary sponsor of the legislation, 13 of the 19 (over two-thirds) Members of the Committee have supported the legislation thus far.

The perpetrators of the November 2009 death of whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky have not been held accountable by the Russian court system. The regime, in its continuing contempt with regards to this case, may continue to feel emboldened to continue with its behavior.

It is critical that officials who were involved in the human rights abuses surrounding Magnitsky’s death are targeted with effective travel and financial sanctions. We have read that the names of those involved in these human rights abuses might be kept secret. We feel that without naming the names, there will be no shame and that accountability may suffer.

With this in mind, we urge you to pass legislation in which these perpetrator’s names are made public.

As Senator Cardin wrote last year, this legislation sends “the unambiguous warning that even if your home country looks the other way as you violate human rights and trample the rule of law, the United States will not stand by as an unwitting accomplice in your crimes.” We hope that you will ensure that this remains the case.

We look forward to the passage of S. 1039/H.R. 4405, and thank you again for your efforts to move this along.

Sincerely,

Karl Altau
Managing Director
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Cc: Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hairy girl займ на карту https://www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php hairy girl