Posts Tagged ‘irish times’
Russia forced Ireland’s hand on Magnitsky case
It is rare the joint Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs and trade hits international headlines but that is just what happened in the last week. The normally sleepy committee made its way into the New York Times , the BBC and Russian media as it waded into a high stakes war being waged ever since Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer, died in a Russian jail after uncovering fraud among state officials.
The episode saw the committee consider and then back away from sanctioning Russian officials involved in the death. It has given a stark insight into the rough workings of Russian diplomacy and has pitted Irish families trying to adopt Russian children against international power politics.
The Oireachtas committee kicked off events when US businessman William Browder appeared before it in February describing what had led to the death of Magnitsky, who worked for his firm, Hermitage Capital.
After uncovering the theft by state officials of $230 million in taxes from the firm and testifying against them, Magnitsky was jailed and died a year later, in 2009. Russia’s own human rights council said he was denied medical treatment and was probably beaten to death. “It is my duty to his memory and his family to make sure that justice is done,” Browder told the committee.
Read More →
Facebook
Twitter
Google Buzz
LinkedIn
del.icio.us
Google Bookmarks
Yahoo! Buzz
Tumblr
StumbleUpon
FriendFeed
NewsVine
Digg
Oireachtas committee backs down from sanctioning Russian officials
An Oireachtas committee has backed down from sanctioning Russian officials involved in the death of a lawyer there. A motion to list officials involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, freeze their assets and issue visa bans for them has been replaced by a motion which calls on the Government to convey the committee’s concern over the death.
This motion was unanimously passed by the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs.
The Russian ambassador to Ireland wrote to the committee in March warning that any move to introduce a Magnitsky law could “have negative influence” on an adoption agreement between the two countries.
Pat Breen, Fine Gael TD and chairman of the committee, said after the meeting he “wouldn’t regard as blackmail” the failure by the committee to support sanctions. “We have reached a motion that fulfils our obligations on human rights,” he said.
Fianna Fáil Senator Jim Walsh who proposed the original motion said after the committee meeting he was “disappointed we didn’t have some sanctions”.
“But politics is about achieving compromise,” he added. The approved motion was proposed after Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan proposed an amendment to Mr Walsh’s motion removing the sanctions.
Several members of the committee had been contacted by people trying to adopt Russian children who were fearful the applications could be jeopardised. The Russian government should be “thoroughly ashamed” for “ this use of children”, Independent Senator David Norris told the committee. He had been contacted by one couple who had already adopted a Russian child and wanted to adopt a second child from Russia but were were concerned after reading about the ambassador’s letter. The motion approved by the committee was about “realpolitik”, he said afterwards. “You have to be realistic if you want to get things done,” he added.
The approved motion notes the Russian Human Rights Council’s findings that Mr Magnitsky “died as a result of beatings by prison guards” and the dropping of charges of negligence against two doctors. It calls on the Government to use the EU presidency to highlight its concern over the death.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Russian ‘blackmailing’ of Ireland ‘unacceptable’, says EU group leader
Russian “blackmailing”of Ireland over plans for a law sanctioning officials involved in the death of a lawyer there is “unacceptable” and should be raised at the EU-Russia summit, the head of a European Parliament political group has said.
The pressure being exerted by Russia to drop support for the law or face a ban on adoptions of Russian children “must be met by a solid and united EU stand”, said Guy Verhofstadt, head of the parliament’s liberal group and former Belgian prime minister. He called on the EU’s Council of Ministers, European Commission and high representative on foreign affairs to “clearly state their solidarity” with the Irish presidency in office. “Russian foreign policy once again is showing its ugly face,” he said.
The Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs will on Wednesday consider a motion by Fianna Fáil Senator Jim Walsh calling for Russian officials involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky to be listed publicly, their assets frozen and visa bans issued for them. The committee postponed a vote on the issue last Wednesday because of an amendment by Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan, which dropped these sanctions. Committee chairman and Fine Gael TD Pat Breen delayed the vote by a week in the hope that consensus could be reached.
The Russian ambassador to Ireland, Maxim Reshkov, wrote to the committee in March warning that moves towards enacting such a law could “have negative influence on the negotiations on the adoption agreement between Russia and Ireland being proceeded”.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
‘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.”
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Russia puts dead whistleblowing lawyer on trial
A whistleblowing Russian lawyer whose death in custody became a symbol of rights abuses and strained relations with the United States will go on posthumous trial tomorrow in what relatives say is revenge by the Kremlin.
Sergei Magnitsky, who died while in pre-trial custody in 2009, is being prosecuted for defrauding the state in what will be the first time Russia has ever tried a dead person, a development Amnesty International says sets a “dangerous precedent”.
Mr Magnitsky had been jailed after accusing police and tax officials of multimillion dollar tax fraud. His employer says the charges against him were a reprisal and that he was murdered, and the Kremlin’s own human rights council aired suspicions he was beaten to death.
The circumstances of his demise led the US last year to bar entry to Russians accused of involvement in his case or in other rights abuses.
Critics say the trial – more than three years after he died and despite pleas by relatives to drop the case – is an attempt by President Vladimir Putin’s government to hit back at Washington and show the public Mr Magnitsky was a crook, not a hero.
“It’s inhuman to try a dead man. If I take part in this circus, I become an accomplice to this,” Mr Magnitsky’s mother Natalya told Reuters. “I won’t take part in the hearings.”
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
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.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
Habeas corpus
Irish Times
Sergei Magnitsky, the defendant, will not be in a position to plead. He is dead. His trial, however, following some celebrated historical precedents (notably, Joan of Arc’s), will proceed even though, as Amnesty says, it violates his fundamental rights, in particular that “to defend himself in person”.
The bizarre, and very rare, decision of the Russian authorities to go ahead with the trial is possible because the law allows a posthumous trial to continue – it closed 13 days after his death in 2011 – but only at the request of relatives anxious to clear an accused’s name. Yet Magnitsky’s mother is adamantly opposed to the reopening, and the prosecuting authorities have no intention of clearing his name. On the contrary, the point, it appears, is to discredit both Magnitsky and a US sanctions law named after him which offends President Vladimir Putin and some of his corrupt pals.
Prosecutors accuse Magnitsky and his former client William Browder, a London-based investor, of evading €12.6 million in tax. The former was arrested in 2008 while investigating a €170 million tax fraud. He died in jail after developing untreated pancreatitis. The US Congress passed a law sanctioning officials whom Browder accuses of involvement in the fraud, and Russia responded by banning adoptions by Americans.
Read More →
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Google Buzz
- LinkedIn
- del.icio.us
- Google Bookmarks
- Yahoo! Buzz
- Tumblr
- StumbleUpon
- FriendFeed
- NewsVine
- Digg
