Posts Tagged ‘house of commons’

06
November 2013

Andy McSmith’s Diary: Magnitsky’s law will be the legacy he deserved

The Independent

Next week will mark a grim anniversary, four years to the day since a Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died of ill treatment in prison because he refused to end his lone campaign to expose corrupt officials who had embezzled more than £140 million from Russian taxpayers.

Unfortunately for his persecutors, Magnitsky wrote everything down, including names. An act passed by the US Congress empowers the American government to refuse visas and freeze assets of the people on his list, but nothing prevents them coming to London, where one even tried to bring a libel case that was thrown out of court.

Today, there was a ceremony in the Commons to launch a book by a young Paris based Russian journalist, Elena Servettaz, who has collected essays from more than 50 people, including 19 from Russia or Belarus, who want more governments to pass a Magnitsky Law, something neither the UK nor the EU is keen to do.

Magnitsky’s widow, Natalya Zharikova, was there. She told me: “This book shows how many people cared about Sergei.” So was William Browder, the London based investment fund manager who hired Magnitsky to represent his firm and so feels a personal responsibility for what became of him – and who is, by the way, the grandson of Earl Browder, war time head of the American Communist Party.

The Tory MP Dominic Raab is pushing for a British Magnitsky Law. “I don’t want the henchmen of despots and dictators waltzing into this country spending their money or sending their kids to school here. That offends me,” he said.

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01
May 2012

UK restricts entry for rights abuse suspects

Financial Times

Britain has strengthened its immigration rules to make it more difficult for people believed to have perpetrated human rights abuses abroad to enter the country, according to Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials.

In a move this week that could make it particularly difficult for individuals accused of human rights abuses in Russia to enter the UK, the FCO announced a change to British immigration rules in its annual Human Rights Report this week.

In that report, the FCO states for the first time that “where there is independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the individual will not normally be permitted to enter the United Kingdom.”

Before this week’s change, UK immigration rules stated broadly that an individual “could be refused a visa or entry on the general grounds that entry to the UK would not be conducive to the public good”.
FCO officials say this week’s change implies a deliberate new emphasis by the UK government on the need to penalise human rights abuses.

“Where there is reliable evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the presumption is that they would not be allowed entry in to the UK,” said an official. “Many people are drawn to visit London to buy property, invest money and educate their children. What we are saying is that if you are guilty of human rights abuses you cannot now expect to do that.”

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19
December 2011

British Parliament Questions

Hansard

14 Dec 2011 : Column 772W

Sergei Magnitsky

Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has given any consideration to bringing forward proposals similar to the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act proposed in the US Congress. [86072]

Mr Lidington: We are aware of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, introduced to the U.S Congress in 2011, which if passed, would see sanctions imposed on Russian officials allegedly responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky.

The Immigration Rules enable us to refuse a visa where, for example, information on an individual’s character, conduct or associations makes entry to the UK undesirable. However, the UK has a long established practice of not commenting routinely on individual visa cases.

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