Posts Tagged ‘mccain’
Will the Magnitsky Act Apply to Ukraine?
November 16 marked the third anniversary of Sergey Magnitsky’s death in a Russian jail. The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee marked the occasion by passing the Magnitsky Bill. It now has moved on to the Senate for approval—the next step on its way to becoming law.
Provided the language Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) have written survives the legislation process, it is possible that the Magnitsky Act would apply to Ukraine. It will be up to the President and the State Department to decide, who, if anyone, may end up on a “Magnitsky List”.
The Magnitsky Act seeks “to impose sanctions on persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, and for other gross violations of human rights in the Russian Federation, and for other purposes.” Individuals guilty of massive human rights violations would be refused visas, and their assets within the preview of the U.S. government would be frozen.
Ukraine’s treatment of former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko and ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, as well as of other political prisoners, may come under “other purposes” language, applicable to countries beyond Russia.
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Russia’s Victory in Congress
The Magnitsky Act, passed this week by the U.S. Congress, imposes visa and financial restrictions on Russian officials implicated in corruption and human rights violations, thus giving Russian citizens a tool for defending themselves against the authoritarian system. According to IMR Senior Policy Advisor Vladimir Kara-Murza, this is the most pro-Russian law ever adopted in a Western country.
Politicians are often accused of indifference, cynicism, a lack of principles and an adherence to realpolitik. These accusations, alas, are often accurate. But sometimes this “system” can be breached.
On December 6th, the U.S. Senate adopted H.R. 6156, previously passed by the House of Representatives, on a vote of 92–4. The bill simultaneously repeals the cold war-era trade-restricting Jackson-Vanik Amendment and introduces targeted visa and financial sanctions on corrupt officials and human rights violators from Russia. This law is dedicated to the memory of Sergei Magnitsky, a Moscow attorney who died in police custody in 2009 after being denied medical care and, according to members of the Presidential Human Rights Council, beaten by rubber truncheons. His “guilt” consisted of uncovering a $230 million tax fraud that involved law enforcement officials (it was the same officials who subsequently placed him under arrest.)
In accordance with the ruling group’s “one hand washing the other” principle, those implicated in the “Magnitsky affair” were not only spared punishment, but were actually rewarded; Interior Ministry officials linked to the attorney’s persecution and death received awards and career promotions. As for the prosecutors, they continue with the posthumous investigation of Magnitsky himself, in an attempt to “transfer” the accusations onto him.
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U.S. legislation infuriates Russia
Washington Post
The U.S. Senate on Thursday repealed a trade sanction imposed 38 years ago to force the Soviet Union to allow Jews and other religious minorities to emigrate, replacing it with a modern-day punishment for human rights abuse that has enraged Russian officials.
The old law, one of the last vestiges of the Cold War, was called the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, named after a U.S. senator and a representative. The new law, passed 92 to 4, grants Russia and Moldova permanent normal trade relations, but it is coupled with the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which honors a dead Russian. The law blacklists Russians connected to the death of Magnitsky in police custody and to other gross human rights violations, prohibiting entrance to the United States and use of its banking system.
“Today, we close a chapter in U.S. history,” Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), one of the prime movers of the Magnitsky bill, said during the debate on Jackson-Vanik. “It served its purpose. Today, we open a new chapter in U.S. leadership for human rights.”
How the United States can best promote democracy and human rights in Russia – and elsewhere – became a matter of agonizing and often bitter debate as pressure grew to repeal Jackson-Vanik. Not only was it widely considered a relic with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and freedom to emigrate from Russia, but, under the regulations of the World Trade Organization, which Russia joined this year, it also penalized American exporters.
The House approved the measure last month. President Obama said he looked forward to signing the law because of the WTO benefits for American workers, although originally the administration had argued that the Magnitsky bill was unnecessary because the president could – and would – create the desired blacklist by executive order.
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U.S. Senate Lifts Russia, Moldova Trade Barriers; Passes Magnitsky Sanctions
The U.S. Senate has voted to permanently lift Cold War-era barriers to trade with Russia, a move long sought by Moscow that could increase commerce between the countries by billions of dollars.
In the same vote, senators also voted to sanction Russian officials implicated in the death of anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and in other perceived gross rights violations in Russia.
Moscow has railed against that move, which has overshadowed the trade benefits to come.
The Senate’s 92-4 vote follows the passing of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in November. U.S. President Barack Obama is now expected to sign it into law.
When he does, Moscow will be exempted from the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which imposed trade restrictions on the Soviet Union for its policy of limiting Jewish emigration. The restrictions have been waived for nearly two decades, but remained on the books as a symbol of U.S. objections to Russia’s human rights record.
Citing the weak U.S. economy, the White House had pushed Congress to lift the restrictions and grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to Russia, the world’s seventh largest economy.
The move allows the United States to take full advantage of Moscow’s August entry into the World Trade Organization, which China and Europe have already benefited from.
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Freedom House Applauds the U.S. Senate’s Passage of the Magnitsky Act
Freedom House strongly supports the U.S. Senate’s passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, passed today by a vote of 92-4, which places a visa ban on corrupt Russian officials and prevents them from accessing U.S. banking systems. The House version of the bill, which also had strong bipartisan support, was passed on November 16th as part of a trade normalization relations (PNTR) package with Russia and Moldova.
“This is a historic day for the cause of promoting human rights in Russia,” said David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House. “Huge credit goes to the House and Senate leaderships for getting this done, to Congressman Jim McGovern and Senator Ben Cardin for their invaluable shepherding of the legislation, to the other Senate and House sponsors of the bill on both sides of the aisle, and to all those have been seeking justice for Sergei Magnitsky and for other cases of gross human rights abuses like his. Next year, the Congress should apply this model to human rights abusers in other countries where there is impunity for such violations.”
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U.S. Senate To Vote On Key Russian Trade Bill
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote later on December 6 on legislation that would end Cold War-era restrictions on trade with Russia and Moldova but also impose sanctions on alleged human rights violators in Russia.
Last month, the House of Representatives approved the legislation, which grants “permanent normal trade relations” to Moscow. That would allow U.S. companies to take advantage of the benefits from Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization in August.
But the legislation also requires the United States to freeze assets and deny visas to Russian officials implicated in the death of anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and in other perceived gross violations of human rights.
Magnitsky died in torturous prison conditions in 2009 after exposing a massive fraud scheme.
On the eve of the vote, senators debated the bill.
Many argued that passage of the Magnitsky Act would provide the United States with a powerful tool to advance human rights in Russia.
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Sergei’s Law: A Congressional victory for trade and human rights in U.S. relations with Russia.
Bravo, Congress. Seriously. The House has earned this praise after Friday’s legislative victory for trade and human rights.
Passed with a rare bipartisan majority of 365 to 43, H.R. 6165 “normalizes” trade ties with Russia by retiring Jackson-Vanik, a landmark 1974 law that pressed the Soviet Union to liberalize Jewish emigration during the Cold War. The bill will let American investors take advantage of lower tariffs and better protections for intellectual property from Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization this summer.
But the law will be forever and justly associated with Sergei Magnitsky. The House voted on the third anniversary of the anticorruption activist’s death in a Moscow jail, after months of torture and neglect. Title IV of the trade measure bans Russian officials who commit such abuses from traveling or banking in the U.S. The “Magnitsky Act” is the most consequential piece of human-rights legislation since Jackson-Vanik, and a worthy successor.
The law grew out of the tireless lobbying of William Browder, an American investor who employed Magnitsky, and the persistence of Senator Ben Cardin, the Maryland Democrat who introduced the bill in 2010. It went nowhere at first, as the Obama Administration opposed sanctions in the name of protecting its “reset” in relations with Russia, and Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry did his best to kill the Magnitsky provision despite bipartisan support.
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Sen. Cardin optimistic on Magnitsky bill
Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, interviewed at the Convention Center, says he’s optimistic that the House will pass his Magnitsky legislation.
It’s an amendment to the normal trade relations with Russia bill and would bar Russian human rights violators from entering the United States. It’s named for the Russian lawyer who defended dissidents and who died in prison after being denied medical treatment.
“It’s an outrage,” Cardin says, with strong emphasis, “something you just can’t be silent about.” He goes on, “Russians I talk to have encouraged me. They say ‘our country can do better than that.’”
He emphasizes this is a bipartisan cause, that he’s working closely on every step with Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl and has been in touch with the House Republican leadership. The Obama administration has pushed against including the Magnitsky amendment.
But Cardin said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s letter in response to his letter asking to bar the human rights violators “showed some interest.”
Anyway, let no one say there’s not one note of bipartisanship at this convention. unshaven girl unshaven girl https://www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php займ срочно без отказов и проверок
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The Magnitsky law
After Sergei Magnitsky was beaten to death in a Moscow jail for uncovering fraud by Russian authorities, investor Bill Browder devoted himself to publicising the case. As a result, the US is close to passing a dramatic human rights law.
Browder remembers receiving the phone call at his London home at 7am informing him of Magnitsky’s fate. “When I learnt of his death it was like a knife going right into my heart. And I can’t say that I’ve even begun to recover from the shock, trauma and outrage that I felt on that day,” he says. “The only thing that gives me any comfort is spending my days single-mindedly pursuing his killers.”
From that day, Browder has devoted the same near-manic energy he once spent on cheerleading investment opportunities in Russia to exposing the country’s darker side. He has travelled widely in Europe and North America, publicising Magnitsky’s case and lobbying politicians and diplomats to raise the issue with their Russian counterparts. He and a team of five dedicated researchers have published reports forensically describing Magnitsky’s detention and death, financed several films highlighting the links between Russian officials and the criminal underworld, and, with the lawyer’s family and friends, helped set up a website, called Russian Untouchables, which airs the videos and documents corruption.
His campaign may soon result in the US Congress adopting a law naming the 60 Russians identified by Browder as being responsible for the false arrest, torture and death of the 37-year-old lawyer. The act, which has been ferociously resisted by the Kremlin and the US administration and some business interests, would freeze the foreign assets of, and deny visas to, those named individuals.
A decade ago, Bill Browder was flying high as one of the most successful foreign investors in Russia. With $4.5bn under management, Browder had committed his career and a lot of his investors’ money to proving his proposition that the shares of Russia’s newly privatised, resource-rich companies were absurdly cheap.
The cocksure, US-born fund manager aggressively argued to anyone prepared to listen – and to many who weren’t – that President Vladimir Putin had been unfairly maligned in the western press and was intent on bringing prosperity and order to the biggest country in the world, after the rapacious criminality of the 1990s. To the disgust of many, Browder declared himself delighted when Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest and most powerful oligarch, was arrested in 2003 and jailed. “Who’s next?” Browder asked cheerfully.
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