Posts Tagged ‘ireland’
Moscow uses Irish adoption threat to block use of Magnitsky list
Russia has threatened to block Irish adoptions of Russian children if the Dublin parliament adopts a US-style “Magnitsky List” imposing sanctions on Russian officials.
Moscow barred US citizens from adopting Russians in retaliation for the US Congress passing the Magnitsky Act last December, marking a chill in transatlantic relations. The act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on officials allegedly connected with the 2009 death in jail of the anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The warning to Ireland, in a letter from Russia’s ambassador to the parliament’s foreign affairs and trade committee, is the first time Moscow has threatened similar action against another country.
It appears designed to head off attempts to persuade other EU states to adopt Magnitsky measures. Ireland holds the EU presidency, and a draft motion before the committee last month called on the government to use that role “to impose EU-wide visa sanctions”.
The March 11 letter from Maxim Peshkov, a career diplomat, warns that steps by Ireland towards adopting such sanctions “can have negative influence on the negotiations on the Adoption Agreement between Russia and Ireland being proceeded”.
The Russian embassy in Dublin on Thursday declined to connect calls to Mr Peshkov, saying the embassy was “closed for technical reasons”.
Bill Browder, the formerly Russian-based fund manager who employed Magnitsky and has led the campaign to bring those linked to his death to justice, said the letter was an “attack on Irish democracy”.
“Even though Ireland is a small country, the fact that they are [EU] president means they have a hugely disproportionate voice, for a fixed period,” he said. “The Irish parliamentarians have interpreted this as a threat to their adoptions.”
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Russia threatens Ireland with adoption ban
Russia has threatened to impose a US-type adoption ban on EU presidency country Ireland if its MPs pass a tough resolution on the late anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky.
Its ambassador in Dublin, Maxim Peshkov, made the threat in a letter to deputies on the Irish parliament’s foreign affairs and trade committee dated 11 March and seen by EUobserver.
Referring to the committee’s draft resolution of 4 March, which urged the Irish EU presidency to push for an EU-level visa ban on Magnitsky’s alleged tormentors, Peshkov said: “This approach … can have negative influence on the negotiation of the Adoption Agreement between Russia and Ireland being proceeded.”
Magnitsky, a Russian accountant, died in pre-trial detention in prison in 2009 after exposing a scam by Russian officials to embezzle $230 million from the Russian treasury.
His former employer, UK-based investment fund Hermitage Capital, has amassed evidence that prison guards starved him of pancreatic medication and subjected him to a brutal beating in the final hours of his life.
Its case was strong enough for the US to impose sanctions on 18 Russian officials earlier this month.
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‘Spectacular attack’ on Oireachtas committee over plan to sanction Russian officials
A “spectacular attack” has been launched on Irish democracy by Russia over attempts to get a law dropped which would sanction officials responsible for the death of a lawyer who uncovered corruption, a US businessman has warned.
Russia has warned the joint Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs and trade it could stop Irish adoptions of Russian children if it today supports the law, which has been introduced in the US, Canada and Italy, William Browder has said.
Mr Browder visited the committee in February and urged members to adopt the law, which sanctions Russian officials allegedly responsible for the death of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in 2009.
A letter to the committee in March by the Russian embassy in Dublin states a move towards enacting such a law “can have negative influence on the negotiations on the adoption agreement between Russia and Ireland being proceeded”.
An original motion by Fianna Fáil Senator Jim Walsh is to go before the committee today supporting a law which would list a number of individuals for asset freezes and visa bans. But an amendment is also to be proposed by Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan which drops references to such sanctions.
“If this goes ahead it would be a spectacular attack on Irish democracy,” Mr Browder told The Irish Times . “It would be a sad day for Irish democracy.”
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Tycoon presses for sanctions over torture and death of lawyer
A US businessman will meet Irish officials and testify before an Oireachtas committee today to press Ireland during the EU presidency for sanctions against Russian officials responsible for the torture and death of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who blew the whistle on a $230 million fraud in 2008.
Bill Browder, the founder and chief executive of the London-based Hermitage Capital Management, is seeking justice for Mr Magnitsky who uncovered the fraud involving Russian state taxes paid by the firm.
The largest foreign investor in Russia, Mr Browder spent $4.5 billion on shares in Russian public companies until he was denied entry to Russia in 2005 and declared “a threat to national security” by the Russian government for exposing corruption in Russian firms.
After testifying against state officials, Mr Magnitsky was arrested and imprisoned without trial, then tortured in an attempt to force him to retract his testimony. He was held for almost a year in appalling conditions, including cells with 14 inmates and eight beds with sewage on the cell floor.
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