Posts Tagged ‘browder’
Bill Browder: the man making Moscow squirm over the death of Sergei Magnitsky
Bill Browder is a man on a mission. “I want to change Russia and change human rights advocacy in Russia in a profound way,” the hedge fund millionaire says with almost messianic zeal, in his sparsely furnished offices in London’s Golden Square.
It is, safe to say, an unusual ambition for a successful financier with $1bn of assets under management. But Browder has had an unusual time of late.
Two years ago, the founder of Hermitage Capital Management discovered a new calling. The catalyst was the tragic death of a colleague, Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old tax lawyer and married father of two, at the hands of the Russian state. Until then, Browder’s activism had been limited to boardroom battles against corruption in Russia, where he had been the largest foreign portfolio investor with a track record for boosting shareholder returns by cleaning up companies.
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Death and diplomacy in Russia
There’s a little diplomatic row happening between Russia and the United States. Odds are very good you haven’t even heard about it. It hasn’t received much coverage. But as quiet and minor as it may be, with each country putting a handful of citizens from the other country on a visa blacklist, it has to do with a much deeper, more troublesome story: the story of human rights abuses and corruption running as rampant as ever in Russia.
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Russia: Charges against Magnitskiy case doctors see mixed response
Medical officers Larisa Litvinova and Dmitriy Kratov from the Butyrka pre-trial detention centre have been charged with the manslaughter of Hermitage Capital fund lawyer Sergey Magnitskiy, the privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 12 August. They are said to have been negligent in providing care to Magnitskiy before his transfer to the Matrosskaya Tishina remand centre, where he later died.
Litvinova and Kratov were among those identified by rights activists as being complicit in Magnitskiy’s death. The Russian rights activists, who were involved in the independent probe, have not responded with a great deal of enthusiasm, expressing concern that charges against Litvinova and Kratov will become something of a smoke screen.
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Russia charges doctors over jail death
Russia has charged two doctors at a Moscow prison with causing the 2009 death in pre-trial detention of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, a tragedy that ignited global outrage, investigators say.
The Investigative Committee said on Friday it had “established a direct link between Magnitsky’s death and actions of the doctors in the prison” and had charged prison doctors Larisa Litvinova and Dmitry Kratov.
Litvinova is charged with causing death by negligence and if convicted could face up to three years in prison.
Kratov, who holds the senior post of deputy prison director, is charged with carelessness and faces up to five years in jail.
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Russia Charges Prison Doctors in Magnitsky’s Death
Russia has charged two doctors in the 2009 death of imprisoned lawyer Sergei Magnitsky after he spent almost a year in a pre-trial detention center.
A spokesman for the Investigative Committee said Friday it had established a direct link between Magnitsky’s death and the actions of the doctors in the prison.
The chief physician at Moscow’s Butyrskaya prison, Larisa Litvinova, was charged with manslaughter by negligence, while the prison’s deputy chief, Dmitry Kratov, was charged with negligence. They are the first people charged in the case.
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Russia Charges 2 Doctors Over Magnitsky’s Death
Russia said it charged two doctors at a Moscow jail with causing the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, AFP reported.
Magnitsky’s death ignited worldwide outrage, and he has been hailed as a martyr by activist groups. The Investigative Committee said it had “established a direct link between Magnitsky’s death and actions of the doctors in the jail,” and charged doctors Larisa Litvinova and Dmitry Kratov.
Litvinova is charged with negligence and manslaughter, and AFP reports she could face three years behind bars. Kratov is charged with carelessness and could face up to five years in prison. Neither appeared to be contacted for comment by AFP.
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US visa ban on Russian officials poses questions for EU
The US has quietly imposed a visa ban on senior Russian officials believed to have played a part in the murder of lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, posing questions about EU handling of the affair.
A state department memo confirms that most or all of the 60 officials implicated in the Magnitsky conspiracy have been red-flagged in the Consular Lookout and Support System (CLASS), a database used to grant or refuse visas.
The non-public memo, dated 22 July, says: “[US secretary of state Hilary] Clinton has applied existing laws and authorities to implement the visa limitations on multiple individuals associated with the wrongful death of Sergey Magnitsky.” It adds: “Individuals included on the list … are already flagged in the visa adjudication (known as CLASS) system used by visa officers.”
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U.S. gets serious on Russian mega-corruption case
One of Russia’s most notorious scandals, the death in prison of hedge fund lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, is taking on an international political dimension. The United States has become the first country to impose a visa ban on Russian officials accused of complicity in the affair, which threatens to sour U.S.-Russia relations. But Russia’s conspicuous failure to investigate this crucial case means the West is right to act.
No case better illustrates the pervasive nature of Russian corruption — and the Kremlin’s woeful failure to tackle it. A lawyer for London-based Hermitage Capital, managed by the well-known investor William Browder, Magnitsky was arrested after he had accused Russian officials of involvement in a $230 million tax fraud. His subsequent death in prison naturally caused a global stink. But the subsequent cover-up was even more shocking and revealing. Russia’s inability to pursue the real culprits seems to indicate that its entire law enforcement system is rotten to the core.
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U.S. puts Russian officials on visa blacklist
The U.S. State Department has quietly put Russian officials connected to the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky on a visa blacklist as Moscow threatens to curtail cooperation on Iran, North Korea, Libya and the transit of supplies for Afghanistan if the Senate passes a measure imposing even tougher sanctions for human rights abuses.
The Russian government has grown ever more infuriated by a series of international reprimands over the case of the 37-year-old lawyer who died a painful death in pretrial detention, and it has complained that other countries are interfering in its domestic affairs.
The European Parliament, Canada and the Netherlands are moving toward their own visa bans for a list of 60 Russians involved in the case. The United States, however, is the first to have an active blacklist for the Russians, although senior U.S. officials say it has fewer than 60 names.
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