Posts Tagged ‘council of europe’
Magnitsky case: Russian authorities ‘brutally silenced’ critics
Russian authorities have been accused of allowing corrupt officials to “plunder” the state while “brutally silencing” their critics in a damning report by the Council of Europe.
Andreas Gross, a Swiss MP and chair of the Socialist Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, made the accusations in an official report into death of the campaigning anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky four years ago.
The findings, in which Mr Gross claims “high level” state officials orchestrated a “cover up”, will inflame the diplomatic row over Russia’s handling of Mr Magnitsky’s death. The scandal has become a national embarrassment, damaging business investment and trade relations.
The US has already imposed visa bans and frozen the assets of 60 Russians linked to the alleged crime. In response, Moscow has barred US citizens from adopting Russian children.
Mr Magnitsky was working for UK hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management when he uncovered an alleged $230m fraud against the Russian taxpayer. After publicly naming the police involved, the same officers arrested him and threw him in jail on tax evasion charges. He was held for a year, dying after developing pancreatitis, being denied medical attention, and being beaten with “rubber truncheons”.
The Parliamentary Assembly was “appalled that Mr Magnitsky died in pre-trial detention and none of the persons responsible for his death have yet been held to account”, the report said.
Read More →
Facebook
Twitter
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
del.icio.us
Google Bookmarks
Yahoo! Buzz
Tumblr
StumbleUpon
FriendFeed
NewsVine
Digg
Council of Europe moots Magnitsky ‘smart sanctions’
A draft report for Europe’s top human rights watchdog advocates “intelligent sanctions” over the death of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.
Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison after he was arrested while trying to expose tax fraud nearly four years ago.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe report accuses the Russian authorities of a cover-up.
But its author, Andreas Gross, said US-style black-listing of Russian officials was counter-productive.
Washington passed legislation known as the Magnitsky Act last year, to withhold visas and freeze financial assets of Russian officials thought to have been involved with human rights violations. The law has been applied to 18 Russian individuals by name.
Russia, which is a member of the Europe-wide body, is invited to comment on Mr Gross’s findings before the report is submitted for approval in September.
Allegations that Magnitsky was tortured in custody have been rejected by Russian investigators, while attempts to prosecute prison doctors for negligence resulted in no convictions.
One trial which did begin this year is that of the dead man himself, who is being prosecuted posthumously for tax evasion.
Soon after the US Congress passed the Magnitsky Act in December, Moscow banned Americans from adopting Russian children, and it recently pressured the Irish Republic, a Council of Europe member, to back down from endorsing the American black list.
Parliaments in several other European countries have also been considering action, following the American example.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Europol joins hunt on EU-Russia money laundering
The EU’s joint police body, Europol, is hunting down Russian mafia money laundered in EU banks.
Its operation was revealed in a report by an investigator in the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, Swiss MP Andreas Gross, out on Tuesday (25 June).
It says: “On 25 April 2013, a meeting took place at Europol in The Hague to exchange information and co-ordinate the investigation by anti-money-laundering experts of a number of countries concerned by transfers of funds originating in the tax reimbursement fraud denounced by Sergei Magnitsky.”
Gross notes the meeting “should … mark the beginning of a co-ordinated action by the competent authorities to follow the ‘money trail’ wherever it leads.”
He adds: “Russian authorities should be at the forefront of such an action, as it is the money of the Russian people that was stolen.”
The case concerns a fraudulent tax refund, in 2008, of $230 million organised by the so-called “Kluyev group” and the subsequent death of the man who exposed it – Russian accountant Magnitsky.
Europol declined to comment on the revelation, citing house rules on confidentiality.
But EUobserver understands the countries which took part in the April meeting are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Switzerland.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Vladimir Putin must find it hilarious that David Cameron won’t back Europe on Russia’s abuses
I’m not sure who will pick up the well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the EU, but it should be the High Representative Cathy Ashton, who will be dining this Sunday with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov. Cathy has more steel in her than Corby and Corus put together (albeit wrapped in a paisley shawl), but this will be tough, as the EU is finally beginning to lose patience with Russia.
Successive European leaders used to fly solo to Moscow and do their own little deals with Vladimir Putin, but Russia’s disgraceful intransigence on Syria, together with the departure of Putin’s mate Silvio Berlusconi and arrival of François Hollande in France, has persuaded them that Europe needs to adopt a more united front. All of this puts Cathy firmly in the driving seat in the run-up to the EU-Russia summit later this year.
Sadly, the fly in the ointment is David Cameron, who is trying to play both ends against the middle. British relations with Moscow have been fraught since the murders in Britain of Alexander Litvinenko and in Russia of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who worked for a British firm.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
PACE to consider expediency of separate resolution on Magnitsky
STRASBOURG, April 27 (Itar-Tass) —— The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Bureau will consider the expediency of a separate resolution on the death of Hermitage Capital Management attorney Sergei Magnitsky in prison in late May, Assembly rapporteur on Russia Andreas Gross (Switzerland) said on Friday.
He said the Magnitsky case would be discussed at the Assembly Bureau meeting in Tirana. Also, the monitoring report on Russia due to be presented in October 2012 will also have a section dedicated to Magnitsky.
Itar-Tass
STRASBOURG, April 27
Some Assembly deputies insist on debating the Magnitsky case and publishing a separate resolution. The demand was made first by Pieter Omtzigt (the Netherlands). He drafted the petition in October 2011 and 53 deputies, among them PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon and head of the Assembly’s second largest political group European People’s Party Luca Volonte, signed it. The number of deputies supporting the petition has grown by approximately a third.
Omtzigt sent a parliamentary inquiry to the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers requesting to spell out the official position on that case. The Committee expressed the hope that the culprits of the Magnitsky death would be identified and brought to justice, and the investigation would be open, rapid and efficient.
Magnitsky, 37, spent almost a year at a detention ward on tax evasion conspiracy charges. He was not given medical aid on time and died on November 16, 2009. The death caused a broad public response.
займ на карту без отказов круглосуточно займы на карту срочно https://zp-pdl.com/emergency-payday-loans.php https://zp-pdl.com/emergency-payday-loans.php unshaven girl
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
PACE Receives Magnitsky Resolution Proposal
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has received a motion to consider a resolution on lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s death in custody, the head of Russia’s delegation said.
“Such a motion exists, I saw it,” Alexei Pushkov said, adding that his view of the proposal was “negative.”
A source in the Assembly earlier said that the initiative was put forward by Dutch parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt, with the support of 69 parliamentarians from Moldova, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and other countries.
In the draft resolution, PACE offers Russia cooperation in preparing a report on the circumstances surrounding the lawyer’s death. The author believes that such document would benefit the Russian side.
Magnitsky was working for the Londruon-based Hermitage Capital investment fund when he was arrested in 2008 as part of an embezzlement and tax evasion investigation. The auditor died after almost a year in custody. His death triggered an international outcry.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Cameron Council of Europe Visit a Waste of Air Miles
The Prime Minister’s flying visit to the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly today is mission undeliverable, even if many may feel Cameron has a good case. But the way he has pandered to the worst atavistic elements of the Europhobe right and the clamour of the off-shore press for retributionist punishment of prisoners means he will hardly get a hearing.
A simple solution to the issue of prisoners voting rights, for example, would be to do what the French do which is to empower judges to add an additional sentence of loss of civic rights for those imprisoned for serious crimes. This is in conformity with ECHR judgements. Switzerland, the dream nation for anti-EU Tories, has allowed its prisoners to vote for 40 years as have all the more civilised European nations.
Britain has eight, just 8, cases before the ECHR but the real problem is the 100,000 plus cases from Russia. One answer may be to suspend Russia as it was clearly an error to let Russia join the Council of Europe in 1996 when the country had made no effort and still makes no effort to introduce rule of law. The death of Sergei Magnitksy, lawyer of a British firm, in gruesome circumstances in a Russian prison highlights the contempt Russia’s kleptocratic rulers have for legal norms.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Mr Magnitsky’s case investigation: Written question to the Committee of Ministers
Doc. 12809
13 December 2011
Mr Magnitsky’s case investigation
Written question No 609 to the Committee of Ministers
by Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, Group of the European People’s Party
On 26 October 2011 the Committee of Ministers answered to questions on the Magnitsky case that: “The Committee of Ministers has been informed that a criminal investigation has been launched in the Russian Federation with a view to identifying those persons responsible for the death of Sergey Magnitsky” and that “The Committee of Ministers expects the investigation to be carried out in a rapid, effective and transparent manner, with a view to clarifying the circumstances surrounding the death of Sergey Magnitsky and ensuring that those responsible are identified and brought to justice.”
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Dutch MPs want tougher stance against Russia
A majority of Dutch MPs are calling on the government to take measures to punish Russia for alleged human rights abuses in the case of the death in prison in 2009 of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The case was highlighted earlier by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and interviews recorded by RNW have been used by UN investigators examing corruption in Russia.
The failure of punish those involved in the lawyer’s death, is causing concern among many Dutch MPs who this week again demanded action.
US businessman William Browder made a personal appeal to Dutch MPs to pressure the Dutch government to do the same. Sergei Magnitsky was working for Mr Browder’s Hermitage Fund when he was arrested in 2009.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
