Posts Tagged ‘lithuania tribune’
President thinks that Magnitsky case reflects scope of violations in Russia
A ruling issued on Thursday in the late Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky’s case raises concern and reflects the scope of violations in Russia, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė said.
“It’s a symbolic act reflecting the scope of human rights violations and a worsening situation of ensuring human rights in Russia and the government’s attitude to human rights. It’s symbolic and should be valued negatively,” Grybauskaitė said in response to a question by BNS at a joint press conference with visiting German President Joachim Gauck.
According to the Lithuanian president, the EU does not have a common position as yet on whether to introduce sanctions against Russian officials related to Magnitsky’s death in detention, similar to those introduced by the United States.
“The EU does not have a common position as yet on the introduction of potential sanctions. And in response to the very fact of conviction, so it, obviously, concerns us,” Grybauskaitė said.
On Thursday, a Moscow court found late Magnitsky and his former employer William Browder, head of investment fund Hermitage Capital, guilty of tax evasion.
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Russian opposition leader Yashin calls for Lithuanian support to Magnitsky act
The head of the Solidarity movement, one of opposition leaders Ilya Yashin, maintains he has urged Lithuanian officials and parliamentarians to support the so-called Magnitsky act in Europe.
Yashin described his meetings in Lithuania over the past week in his accounts on Twitter and Facebook on Monday.
“I am having a useful time in Vilnius. Had a meeting with Lithuania’s presidential adviser, foreign vice-minister and a group of parliamentarians. I am persuading them to support the Magnitsky act in Europe and personal sanctions against investigators and judges in the Bolotnoye case (a criminal case on opposition protest rallies on the eve Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as president). We will do our best to bar the defiant bad guys from using their real estate and bank accounts in European countries,” Yashin said on Facebook and Twitter.
Egidijus Vareikis, a member of the Lithuanian parliamentary European Affairs Committee, said the Monday’s meeting with Yashin was informal and, among other matters, addressed the Magnitsky act.
“The meeting was informal, we discussed the political situation in Russia, we had questions, I was a pre-election observer during the presidential elections (in Russia) and said that some in the West deemed it senseless to wait for Russia to become a Western country, as Putin made Russia what he needed it to be. I asked (Yashin) about his opinion on my position, and he agreed that this was what the situation actually was,” Vareikis told BNS on Tuesday.
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Investigation into the Ūkio Bank: Prosecutors are clarifying whether money has been washed through it
Questions have arisen over whether money that was stolen from the Russian budget has been washed through Ūkio Bank, lrytas.lt reported on 25 September. After appeals by the Great Britain fund “Hermitage Capital”, Lithuanian prosecutors are trying to determine if this has happened. It is argued that illegal transactions took place in 2008. The pathways of stolen money have been investigated by the lawyer of Hermitage Capital, Sergej Magnitsky, who died in November 2009 in a Russian prison. Western media has alleged that S. Magnitsky was tortured and later killed.
The General Prosecutor’s Office received a referral by email from Hermitage Capital on July 31th, and launched a preliminary study the following day. According to head Prosector of the General’s Office Communications Division, Vilma Žemaitytė, “They [Hermitage Capital] claim that through the Ukio Bank accounts money washings had been made in Lithuania.”
The investigation was launched under the Criminal Code, Article 216 paragraph 1. This article punishes “illegally acquired money or property legalization”. The penalty associated with such a violation can entail imprisonment of up to seven years.
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Will Russia Graduate From The Jackson-Vanik Amendment? By Krickus
The Obama administration wants to scrap the Jackson-Vanik amendment, a Cold War relic that could compromise American economic interests after Russia enters the World Trade Organization (WTO). U.S. firms could be denied access to the Russian market and those operating in it would not be protected by WTO rules. But there are members of Congress in both parties who oppose granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to Moscow without a trade-off; namely in return for scrapping the amendment, the Obama administration will endorse passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act—named after the human rights lawyer who died under government custody. It is designed to punish Russian officials who engage in human rights violations, illegally seize property, and falsify elections. Among other things, they will be subjected to visa and financial sanctions.
Some supporters of this trade-off are doing so out of principle. They believe that it will offer the Russian people protections against human rights violations. This is not the view of the Obama administration. Michael McFaul, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia opposes linking wider commercial relations between Moscow and Washington to human rights. He argues that it will not advance Russia’s march towards democracy. Instead he urges congress to provide $50 million dollars to Russian NGO’s to enhance their capacity to build a civil society and notes as well that visa bans have already been issued against some Russian officials.
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