Posts Tagged ‘Cardin’
Visa ban?
Russian human rights activists and political opposition members have sent a new version of the controversial “Magnitsky list” to the U.S. Senate, proposing to include the names of 305 Russian officials connected to the Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yukos case – but whether or not anything will come of this proposal remains to be seen.
According to Gazeta, ru, Russia’s Prosecutor General, Yury Chaika, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, and Moscow city court chairman Olga Yegorova are on the list together with prosecutors and judges. The original “Magnitsky list” included names of 60 Russian officials who, along with their families, would be denied American visas for their alleged involvement in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Proposed by senator Ben Cardin, the visa restrictions went into effect in July.
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U.S. Senator Calls to Support Civil Society on Sergei Magnitsky’s Anniversary
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (Public Law 112-208), issued a statement ahead of the sixth anniversary of Sergei Magnitsky’s murder.
“November 16th marks the sixth anniversary of the brutal death of Sergei Magnitsky, the courageous voice against Russian corruption who was imprisoned and tortured in a Russian prison for 358 days before his death. On this anniversary, we must remember the principles of truth, justice, and the rule of law that drove Sergei, a 37-year-old tax lawyer, husband and father working for an American firm in Moscow, to expose the largest known tax fraud in Russian history.
As we honor Sergei’s life, we must recommit ourselves to supporting human rights and the rule of law globally despite an ever more dangerous space for independent voices and civil society in far too many nations.”
Senator Cardin is the author of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, a bill that would ensure human rights abusers and corrupt officials worldwide are denied entry into the United States and barred from using our financial institutions. The bill was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July. The legislation would expand the Russia-specific sanctions in the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (Public Law 112-208) and apply it globally. срочный займ на карту онлайн займ онлайн на карту без отказа https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php hairy women
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U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION MARKS FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF SERGEI MAGNITSKY’S DEATH
November 16 marked the five-year anniversary of the death of Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested by the Russian government following his investigation into fraud involving Russian tax officials. He died in prison after being held for 11 months without trial.
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, issued the following statement:
“It is with sadness and respect that we mark the 5th anniversary of the death of Sergei Magnitsky at the hands of Russian government authorities. During the past five years, the crimes that Sergei first exposed have been further documented. Despite credible evidence of criminal conduct resulting in Mr. Magnitsky’s death, Russian government officials have failed to bring those responsible to justice.
“Perhaps worse, the facts of the case – including misappropriation of Russian tax resources and the ensuing cover-up by Russian government officials – have been distorted, to the extent that the Russian government has posthumously prosecuted the late Mr. Magnitsky for the financial crimes perpetrated by those answerable for his death.
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U.S. Treasury Sanctions 12 More Russians Under ‘Magnitsky Act’
The U.S. Treasury has announced sanctions against 12 more Russians for alleged human rights abuses, including prison officials who allegedly withheld medical care from a man who uncovered tax fraud in Russia.
The visa bans and sanctions under the so-called “Magnitsky Act” freeze any U.S. assets of individuals accused by Washington in the 2009 prison death of whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, as well as other as well as other human rights abuses.
The list published on May 20 includes four Russian prison officials, a judge, a court official, a law-enforcement investigator, and alleged co-conspirators in the Russian fraud case.
Those alleged co-conspirators are said to have been involved in a massive tax fraud in Russia that Magnitsky disclosed prior to his death.
Most added to the blacklist are accused by Magnitsky’s supporters of complicity in his arrest and subsequent death while in pretrial detention at a Moscow prison in November 2009.
The judge named on May 20 was involved in the criminal proceedings against Magnitsky.
Russian prison officials on the expanded list include medical personnel who treated Magnitsky in prison.
On the list is Dr. Dmitry Kratov, who was charged with negligence in connection with Magnitsky’s death but was acquitted last December by a Russian court.
The expanded sanctions list does not include a top Russian law-enforcement official that senior U.S. lawmakers had tried to get included.
Proponents of the Magnitsky Act had called for Russian Investigative Committee head Aleksandr Bastrykin to be sanctioned under the 2012 law.
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Russian Officials Implicated in Death of Sergei Magnitsky Could Face Sanctions
Russian officials implicated in the prosecution and death of corruption whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky could soon face new European sanctions on their travel and financial assets.
U.S. lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the Magnitsky Act in December 2012, which placed visa and asset bans on 18 Russian officials either involved in Magnitsky’s case or accused of human rights abuses.
Magnitsky died in prison in 2009 after uncovering a $230 million tax fraud by Kremlin authorities and was found guilty of tax evasion last year—a posthumous conviction that was widely condemned by human rights advocates.
European governments are now taking steps toward implementing similar sanctions in their own countries.
The Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe (PACE) passed a resolution by a wide margin last week urging Russian officials to fully investigate Magnitsky’s death. It directed member governments to enact “targeted sanctions” if Russia fails to respond adequately.
Immigration authorities in the United Kingdom have also acknowledged those linked to the Magnitsky case in their visa approval instructions.
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As Congress Goes Global on Human Rights, Will the Administration Follow?
Congress often plays an important corrective role when the Executive Branch puts pragmatism before principle on human rights. Last week, bipartisan pairs of senators did so again by introducing a new bill and pushing the Obama administration on implementing an existing one.
On January 15th, Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and John McCain (R-AZ) introduced the Global Human Rights Accountability Act (S. 1933), which would enact visa and banking bans on the most serious human rights violators around the world. China’s Communist Party would be a prime target of this new bill. Chinese officials responsible for the persecution of the Falun Gong, Uighurs, and Tibetans, and for the Tiananmen massacre of June 4, 1989, for starters, have turned up in the United States, sometimes even on visits to the U.S. Capitol.
The Cardin-McCain bill was inspired by the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (Public Law 112-208), a Russia-specific law enacted in December 2012, and named after a lawyer who died of abuse in jail after he exposed a massive tax fraud. In December 2013, the Obama administration decided, without explanation, that it would not, for the time being, add names to a list compiled last April of individuals responsible for “gross” human rights abuses against Russians and who are now barred from traveling to the United States or using American financial institutions. That list included 18 mostly low- and mid-level officials associated with Mr. Magnitsky’s persecution and death. Two others are Chechens thought to be linked to political assassinations. Reportedly, a classified list included Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
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USA: Lawmakers Seek To Expand Magnitsky Act Beyond Russia
Extending the reach of the 2012 Magnitsky Act, US Senators have introduced a new bill that aims to block human rights abusers from any country, not just Russia, from entering the United States and using its financial institutions, reports RIA Novosti.
The Magnitsky Act, which was signed by US President Barack Obama in December 2012, places visa and financial bans on individuals linked to the 2009 death of Russian lawyer and whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.
After Magnitsky uncovered and reported a US$230 million tax fraud to Russian authorities, he ended up in prison, charged with having committed the very fraud he reported. He later died in prison.
The newly introduced Global Human Rights Accountability Act expands upon the Magnitsky Act by targeting not only Russian officials but also “human rights abusers from anywhere in the world,” denying them entry into the US and banning them from using American financial institutions.
According to Senator Ben Cardin, who co-introduced the bill with Senator John McCain, the act ensures that “Gross violators of human rights from Zimbabwe to Ukraine, and Honduras to Papua New Guinea, are put on notice that they cannot escape the consequences of their actions even when their home country fails to act.”
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US Congress Seeks to Globalize Magnitsky Act
This week, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced a new bill, S.1933 (the Global Human Rights Accountability Act), that would extend across the world the targeted visa and financial sanctions on human rights abusers established by the Magnitsky Act. That law, passed in 2012, bans Russian officials who engage in gross human rights violations from traveling to and keeping assets in the United States. The new bill would extend these sanctions beyond Russia to human rights abusers in every country.
“Visiting the United States and having access to our financial system, including US dollars, are privileges that should not be extended to those who violate basic human rights and the rule of law,” Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland and author of the original Magnitsky Act, said in introducing S.1933. “Gross violators of human rights from Zimbabwe to Ukraine, and Honduras to Papua New Guinea, are put on notice that they cannot escape the consequences of their actions even when their home country fails to act.” “Standing up for the rule of law and establishing clear consequences for abuses of fundamental human rights serves our nation’s interests and reflects our deepest values,” added Senator John McCain, the Republican cosponsor of both measures.
The extension of sanctions makes perfect sense—human rights are universal, and so should be the accountability for their abuses. No doubt, S.1933 will enjoy broad bipartisan support in Congress—just like the Magnitsky Act, which passed the House of Representatives by 365–43, and the Senate by 92–4, almost unthinkable numbers in the current political environment in Washington.
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Congress Presses Obama On Russia Sanctions
On Friday, key senators pressed the Obama administration to crack down on Russian human rights violators.
Four leading senators Friday called on President Obama to enforce U.S. law and sanction more Russian human right violators, despite the administration’s reluctance to rock the U.S.-Russian relationship.
Last month, the Obama administration declined to add names to a list of human rights violators in Russia created by Congress under the Magnitsky Act. The act is named in honor oof Sergei Maginitsky, a Russian anti-corruption lawyer who died in prison after being tortured after being arrested on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.
The decision not to add new names to the Magnitsky list came as a shock to lawmakers and human rights advocates, who had been told the State Department and Treasury Department were vetting several alleged Russian human rights abusers for addition to the list, an action that would subject them to visa bans and asset freezes.
Late Friday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and the ranking member, Bob Corker (R-TN) invoked a section of the Magnitsky Act that allows senior lawmakers to submit names to the administration for the list on a bipartisan basis. Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and John McCain (R-AZ), the bill’s original co-sponsors, supported the move. The Obama adminstration is ultimately responsible for accepting or rejecting these recomendations to add names to the list.
“On December 20, 2013, we received the Department of State’s first annual report. Disappointingly and contrary to repeated assurances and expectations, this report indicates that no persons have been added to the Magnitsky list since April 2013 and does not provide adequate details on the administration’s efforts to encourage other governments to impose similar targeted sanctions,” the senators wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. “We look forward to your response to our request and hope you will also clarify when we can expect additional names to be added to the Magnitsky list as well as specific administration efforts to encourage other governments to adopt legislation similar to the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012.”
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