Russia may restrict Americans over rights dispute
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the controversial death of an anti-corruption lawyer in Russia a tragedy, but said Moscow would retaliate if the U.S. Congress used the case to penalize Russians for alleged human rights abuses.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the Group of 20 summit in Mexico on Tuesday, Putin said Russia did not think the matter prompted by the 2009 death of Sergei Magnitsky, 37, deserved the attention it was getting in Washington.
A U.S. Senate committee plans to vote next week on a bipartisan proposal to deny visas and freeze assets of Russians linked to Magnitsky’s death after he spent a year in Russian jails.
Magnitsky worked for the equity fund Hermitage Capital in Moscow and his case spooked investors and blackened the nation’s image abroad.
The Senate version would also include human rights abusers “anywhere in the world,” a provision some say could keep Russia from feeling singled out but would also be difficult to implement.
A House of Representatives committee approved its own version this month.
Putin said Russia would reciprocate if the full Congress were to act.
"As far as this law linked to Magnitsky's tragedy is concerned, if it will be passed, so be it," Putin said.
"We do not think that it (situation around Magnitsky) deserves such an attention from the Congress, but if there will be restrictions on entry to (the) U.S. for some Russian citizens, then there will be restrictions for entry to Russia for some Americans," he said. "I do not know who needs it and why, but if it happens it happens. The choice is not ours."
Magnitsky was jailed in Russia in 2008 on charges of tax evasion and fraud. His colleagues say those were fabricated by police investigators whom he had accused of stealing $230 million from the state through fraudulent tax returns.
The Kremlin's own human rights council said last year that he was probably beaten to death.
Putin and Obama discussed the Magnitsky bill on Monday at the Mexico summit, U.S. envoy to Russia Michael McFaul said.
The Obama administration says it understands concerns of the bill's sponsors about rights abuses. But it says the bill is unnecessary.
The White House is anxious to keep the push for sanctions on rights abusers in Russia from slowing efforts to get congressional approval of "permanent normal trade relations" with Moscow this year.
Those efforts are also under threat by U.S. lawmakers unhappy with Russia's support for the Syrian government in its bloody crackdown on a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. hairy girl unshaven girl https://zp-pdl.com/fast-and-easy-payday-loans-online.php https://zp-pdl.com/emergency-payday-loans.php hairy women
JBANC letter to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Members and Chairman John Kerry regarding the Magnitsky Act
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
***
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
Senate Committee Postpones Vote on Magnitsky Bill
A Senate committee postponed a vote Tuesday that would punish Russian human-rights violators, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed the vote on the so-called “Magnitsky” bill, named for the lawyer who died in a Russian prison in 2009 after accusing government officials of fraud, on the request of an unspecified committee member.
“There will not be a vote on the Magnitsky bill at today’s business meeting,” said Jodi Seth, a committee aide, confirming the report to Corruption Currents. “We have not yet scheduled the next business meeting, which is when the bill would be brought back up.”
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US Senate panel delays vote on “Magnitsky” sanctions on Russia
A Senate panel on Tuesday postponed by one week a vote on a measure to penalize Russian officials for human rights abuses, a bipartisan bill opposed by Russia and facing resistance from the Obama administration.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had been scheduled to vote on the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act” at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon. But the bill was taken off the agenda after Democratic Senator Jim Webb requested a delay.
“Senator Webb supports the premise of the Magnitsky Act, but has concerns about some of the language in the current draft and has asked that the bill be held over so that he can more closely examine it,” Webb’s spokesman, Will Jenkins, said. He gave no details.
Democratic Senator John Kerry, the committee chairman, said the bill would be taken up at the panel’s next business meeting on June 26.
The legislation is named for a 37-year-old anti-corruption lawyer who worked for the equity fund Hermitage Capital in Moscow. His 2009 death after a year in Russian jails spooked investors and blackened Russia’s image abroad.
The measure would require the United States to deny visas and freeze the assets of Russians linked to Magnitsky’s death, as well as those of other human rights abusers in Russia. It passed a House of Representatives committee this month, but no action has been taken in the Senate.
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Vote on Russia human-rights bill postponed
A Senate panel postponed a vote on a Russian human-rights bill until next Tuesday after a panel member asked for a delay.
Under the Foreign Relations Committee’s rules, any member can anonymously request a holdover until the panel’s next business meeting. The delay comes the day after President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a frosty meeting at the Group of 20 summit in Mexico.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the bill’s Senate sponsor, said he didn’t think the delay had anything to do with the Obama-Putin meeting or the White House’s concerns with the bill. He said he expects it to pass the House and Senate.
“I am very confident that they’re not delaying our action,” Cardin said. “Doesn’t mean they’re supporting our action.
“We’ve been working very closely with the Obama administration. They’ve been very much engaged in what we’re doing.”
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U.S. Senate Panel Postpones Vote On Magnitsky Bill
A key U.S. Senate panel has postponed its vote on a bill that seeks to sanction Russian officials connected to the prison death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was scheduled to vote on June 19 on the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act,” before a committee lawmaker requested a last-minute delay.
A committee spokesperson told RFE/RL, “As a result of this request, and consistent with long-standing committee practice regarding holdovers, there will not be a vote on the Magnitsky bill at today’s business meeting.”
RFE/RL later confirmed that Senator Jim Webb (Democrat-Virginia) had requested the delay. A spokesperson from his office said, “Senator Webb supports the premise of the Magnitsky Act, but has concerns about some of the language in the current draft and has asked that the bill be held over so that he can more closely examine it.”
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US Senate’s ‘Magnitsky’ bill could keep names secret
Reuters
A draft proposal to penalize Russian officials for human rights abuses has been rewritten in the Senate to let the U.S. government keep secret some names on the list of abusers, congressional aides said on Monday.
The reworked Senate version, which could still change, upset some supporters of the legislation to create what is known as the “Magnitsky list.” They said that keeping part of the proposed list secret would neuter the effect of the bill, which is aimed at exposing human rights violators in Russia.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee this month approved the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act,” named for a 37-year-old anti-corruption lawyer who worked for the equity fund Hermitage Capital. His 2009 death after a year in Russian jails spooked investors and blackened Russia’s image abroad.
The measure would require the United States to deny visas and freeze the U.S. assets of Russians linked to Magnitsky’s death. The bill as originally written in both the House and Senate would make public the list of offenders and broaden it to include other abusers of human rights in Russia.
A reworked draft circulating in the Senate and obtained by Reuters would allow the list to “contain a classified annex if the Secretary (of State) determines that it is necessary for the national security interests of the United States to do so.”
William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital, told Reuters he suspected the “classified annex” provision had been inserted at the request of the Obama administration to water down the bill and so avoid offending the Russian government, which opposes the measure.
“The administration is trying to gut the bill, because they’ve been against it from the start. They are trying to make nice with the Russians,” Browder said in a phone conversation from London.
The administration of President Barack Obama argues the bill is unnecessary because the administration has already imposed visa restrictions on some Russians believed to have been involved in Magnitsky’s death. But it has kept their names quiet.
Backers of the Magnitsky bill want the list of human rights violators made public both to shame those on the list and to keep them from doing business with U.S. financial institutions.
The White House is also anxious to keep the push for sanctions on human rights abusers in Russia from slowing down efforts to get congressional approval allowing “permanent normal trade relations” with Russia this year.
Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat, is the main sponsor of the Magnitsky bill in the Senate, but there was no comment from his office on the draft bill on Monday. The legislation was scheduled to have a vote on Tuesday in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
However, Senate aides said at least one member of the committee may request on Tuesday that the vote be postponed until the committee’s next business meeting, but no date for that has been set.
A Senate Republican aide said there is concern that having part of the list be classified would make steps like the asset freeze unenforceable.
“How can an individual’s assets be frozen, if his or her name cannot be disclosed to financial institutions?” the aide asked. Republicans would try to amend the bill to at least require a justification to Congress for each person put on the classified list, the aide said.
Magnitsky was jailed in 2008 on charges of tax evasion and fraud. His colleagues say these were fabricated by police investigators whom he had accused of stealing $230 million from the state through fraudulent tax returns. The Kremlin’s own human rights council said in 2011 that he was probably beaten to death. займ на карту срочно без отказа hairy women https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php онлайн займы
U.S. clergy back Magnitsky bill
U.S. religious figures have supported the so-called Magnitsky bill imposing visa and financial restrictions on a number of Russian officials, which is due to be debated in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, Hermitage Capital said.
The letter sent to the Congress by nine religious organizations says that the passage of this bill will help prevent repressions against fighters for religious freedom, the company spokesperson told Interfax on Monday.
According to the letter, the possibility to visit to the United States is a privilege, and foreign officials involved in abuse, murders, restriction of religious freedoms and trampling on other people’s rights, must be deprived of this privilege, the spokesperson said.
The authors hope the sacrifice made by Sergei Magnitsky will not be in vain and will lead to a new important tool in fighting against the trampling on human rights globally, the Hermitage spokesman said.
The document was signed by religious groups representing various faiths, including the United Macedonian Diaspora, the International Religious Liberty Association, the American Islamic Congress, the Hindu American Foundation of Hindus, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews and the Human Rights Law Foundation, he said.
Earlier, the U.S. Senate Committee on International Relations announced its decision to consider on June 19 the Magnitsky bill, which could impose visa and financial restrictions against a number of Russian officials. The bill is already among the documents due to be voted upon on June 19, the committee told Interfax. быстрые займы на карту hairy girl www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com buy over the counter medicines
Key religious group supports human-rights measure linked to Russia trade
Support for linking a human rights measure to an upcoming Russia trade bill got an important boost Monday when a key Jewish rights group announced it is backing the bill.
Normal trade relations with Russia is currently conditioned on Russia allowing its Jewish citizens to emigrate. It is subject to an outdated measure known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which was applied in the mid-1980s and which no one thinks is still relevant.
The Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, which backed the initial Jackson-Vanik tie, is now advocating for a new human-rights measure meant to punish those responsible for the death of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.
The bill, which would subject Russian human-rights abusers to financial sanctions, is opposed by some in the business community who worry it will inadvertently subject U.S. firms that do business in Russia to penalties.
UCSJ joined other religious group on a letter last week to members of Congress urging them to support the Magnitsky bill.
“Among other things, we support this legislation because it specifically targets officials who abuse human rights with effective travel and financial sanctions,” the groups said.
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To learn more about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky please read below
- Sergei Magnitsky
- Why was Sergei Magnitsky arrested?
- Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison
- President’s investigation sabotaged and going nowhere
- The corrupt officers attempt to arrest 8 lawyers
- Past crimes committed by the same corrupt officers
- Petitions requesting a real investigation into Magnitsky's death
- Worldwide reaction, calls to punish those responsible for corruption and murder
- Complaints against Lt.Col. Kuznetsov
- Complaints against Major Karpov
- Cover up
- Press about Magnitsky
- Bloggers about Magnitsky
- Corrupt officers:
- Sign petition
- Citizen investigator
- Join Justice for Magnitsky group on Facebook
- Contact us
- Sergei Magnitsky
