Promoting Human Rights in Russia Through the Sergei Magnitsky Act
By Ariel Cohen, Ph.D.
April 25, 2012
Protection of basic human rights, including the right to own property, is an important issue for those who hold American values close to heart. In Russia, human and property rights violations are undermining the state and preventing investment and business development.
The poor state of the rule of law and pervasive corruption—including the failing court and law enforcement systems—are at the heart of persistent rights violations. They are challenging everyday Russians as well as Western and domestic investors. Russian top leaders, including both Presidents Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, have bitterly complained about the state of affairs but did little to improve things.
Congress should press for trade reforms that are in the best interests of the United States while supporting the cause of human rights for all. The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (S. 1039), and its sister legislation introduced in the House of Representatives, is drafted in response to the death of Sergei Magnitsky in detention following his whistle-blowing on massive fraud allegedly committed by Russian officials. It provides a practical and balanced way forward and accommodates Russian membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) while signaling long-term American commitment to the rule of law.
Human Rights and the Sergei Magnitsky Case
Sergei Magnitsky was a 37-year-old attorney who uncovered a giant corruption scheme that involved embezzlements of $230 million from the Russian Treasury by law enforcement and tax officials. After making accusations, he was arrested on fabricated tax evasion and tax fraud charges.
Magnitsky died in isolation at a Russian prison where he was denied medical care and beaten mercilessly by guards; an investigation by the Russian Presidential Council on Human Rights has confirmed as much. This has not resulted in the punishment of those involved. Those that were in power remain in power, and some have even been decorated or promoted. Earlier this month, Russian state prosecutors dropped charges against the chief doctor at the prison where Magnitsky died after the statute of limitations expired. The physician had been accused of negligence resulting in Magnitsky’s death.[1] Other officials implicated in the affair have been promoted instead of being punished.
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Russia’s Medvedev vows to continue modernization
My Earth Link From Associated Press
International News VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
April 24, 2012 7:55 AM EDT
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev vowed Tuesday to pursue his modernization agenda and implement political reforms enacted after massive street protests, after he shifts into the prime minister’s job.
Medvedev had agreed to step down after one term to allow his longtime mentor Vladimir Putin to reclaim the presidency in March’s election. The swap was widely seen as a cynical maneuvering and a show of contempt for democracy, fueling a wave of unprecedented rallies in the run-up to the vote.
Medvedev raised hopes for liberal reforms after winning the presidency in 2008, but achieved little, largely staying in Putin’s shadow, who continued calling the shots as prime minister.
In Tuesday’s speech before the State Council, Medvedev repeated pledges to combat corruption, pursue political reforms and modernize economy.
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Senate supporters of Russia rights bill press on despite warning
The Hill
By Erik Wasson – 04/24/12 04:10 PM ET
Senate supporters of a Russia human-rights bill linked to trade said Tuesday that they are pressing forward despite a warning from the Russian ambassador this week that the bill will impair relations.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), would freeze the assets of Russian officials allegedly involved in the suspicious death of Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky in November 2009.
Ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) said that he is fighting to get the bill voted on, and he and Cardin dismissed the comments by Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak that it would cause a “significant” reaction in Moscow and impair relations.
“I accept that he made that assessment, but I would point out that this bill arises in the course of trying to do a number of things that will assist our relations with Russia, whether in trade or diplomacy, and it appears to me that the Magnitsky issue does make a point about our regard for human rights of citizens,” Lugar said.
Cardin said that his bill is meant to benefit the Russian people and said the United States is just reaffirming international norms.
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Kerry delays action on Magnitsky bill
Foreign Policy
Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, April 24, 2012 – 1:00 PM
A bill to sanction Russian human rights violators will not be taken up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week after the Obama administration urged Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) to keep it off the committee’s agenda, The Cable has learned.
Last month, Kerry indicated that the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011 would be brought up for a vote at the April 26 SFRC business meeting and he also endorsed the idea of combining the Magnitsky bill with a bill to grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status and repeal the 1974 Jackson-Vanik law. “In good faith, we will move as rapidly as we can, hopefully the minute we’re back, but certainly shortly thereafter,” Kerry said March 27, just before the last Senate recess.
But after what several Senate aides described as intense lobbying from top Obama administration officials, including Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, Kerry decided not to put the bill on the agenda of the next business meeting, delaying consideration of the bill until May at the earliest, after the visit to the U.S. of Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin.
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Russia Ambassador warns Congress over human rights bill
By Erik Wasson – 04/23/12
Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak on Monday warned Congress that there would be “significant reaction” in Moscow if members try to attach a human rights measure to one granting permanent normal trade relations to his country.
Kislyak told reporters that passage of the bill could “impair the ability” of the U.S. and Russia to work together.
Russia wants Congress to grant it permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) and the White House is pushing Congress to do so before Russia joins the World Trade Organization this year.
At this point, Russia will join the WTO regardless of what Congress does and if Congress does not act U.S. exporters to Russia will be hurt. Kislyak made clear Russia will deny new lower tariffs to U.S. companies if Congress does not grant PNTR, as it would be entitled to do under WTO rules.
Some in Congress want to use the occasion to press Russia on human rights and democratization, however.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) have introduced a bill that specifically addresses the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblower working for a London investment firm who died in suspicious circumstances while imprisoned by Russian authorities in November 2009.
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Russian envoy warns on U.S. human rights bill
Reuters
By Doug Palmer and Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON | Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:45pm BST
Russia’s ambassador to the United States warned that proposed U.S. legislation to punish Russian officials involved in human rights abuses could a have significant negative impact on U.S.-Russian relations.
Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak said the U.S. Congress should not tie the so-called Sergei Magnitsky bill to an expected vote this year on establishing “permanent normal trade relations” between the two countries.
“If that is taken to an extreme, it’ll be a significant negative impact on Russian-Americans relations,” Kislyak told reporters. “We are a serious country and we do not want to be told what to do within the limits of Russian law.”
The 2009 death of the 37-year-old Magnitsky, who worked for equity fund Hermitage Capital and died after a year in Russian jails, spooked investors and tarnished Russia’s image.
Before his arrest, Magnitsky had testified against Russian interior ministry officials during a tax evasion case against Hermitage. The Kremlin human rights council says he was probably beaten to death.
The case has heightened concerns in Congress about human rights conditions in Russia and made it even harder for the White House to persuade lawmakers to lift a Cold War-era trade provision known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
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Tinker, tailor, lawyer, fraudster
24th April 2012
A sad chain of events, worthy of a classic Cold War thriller, has revealed the disturbing connection between sophisticated financial fraud, geo-politics and international laws.
In 2007, Sergei Magnitsky received death threats following his discovery of a tax fraud worth £144m, the most substantial in Russian history. The allegations of fraud made by Magnitsky implicated police officers, politicians, judges and individuals connected with the Russian organised-crime underworld. During the following year, Magnitsky was arrested by the very police officers he publicly named as being involved in the tax fraud. One year later, Magnitsky was found dead in a Russian prison cell, having been mistreated and denied medication.
The great rebate scam
At the time of exposing the tax fraud, 37-year-old Magnitsky was employed by a British-based investment fund, Hermitage Capital Management. Now his work is the focus of an increasingly bitter international dispute involving dozens of foreign officials.
In 2008, Magnitsky was imprisoned in connection with unrelated tax fraud charges shortly after he made allegations that a cabal of Russian tax officials had attempted to defraud the Russian government by means of a tax rebate in the sum of $230 million involving the use of company charters and seals belonging to Hermitage Capital Management, which were confiscated in the course of a police raid.
Remarkably, the two tax departments at the centre of that murky affair were still distributing large sums, through authorising highly dubious rebates, as recently as 2010. The latest rebates are vast when compared with the previous contentious rebates and were granted by the same tax officials within two or three days of the application.
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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.
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Report: Russian Police Get New Rules For Detainees
Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
April 23, 2012
The newspaper “Rossiiskaya gazeta” has reported that Russian police will be required to check on the condition of all people about to be placed in detention facilities before they are actually put in cells.
“Rossiiskaya gazeta” reports that police must ask if the detainee has any chronic illnesses or other health issues.
All that information must be documented and available to other police officers and employees at the detention facility.
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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
