Posts Tagged ‘PACE’
PACE Draft Report Slams Russia on Magnitsky Case
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Tuesday released a draft version of a report on the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in which the advisory body slammed Russia for failing to punish anyone in connection with the case and recommended that European nations pressure Russia to investigate it further.
The 41-page report, written by PACE rapporteur Andreas Gross of Switzerland, is highly critical of the Russian government’s handling of the investigation into Magnitsky’s 2009 death in prison and calls on authorities to explain such circumstances as “the unavailability of CCTV footage of the arrival of Mr. Magnitsky to Matrosskaya Tishina prison on the day of his death” and “the existence of two different versions of the ‘death report'” on Magnitsky.
But the draft stops short of recommending that European member states follow the United States’ lead in enacting sanctions against Russians implicated in Magnitsky’s death or in a $230 million tax fraud that Magnitsky said he discovered.
“The Assembly invites all other member states of the Council of Europe to consider ways and means of encouraging the Russian authorities to hold to account those responsible for the death of Mr. Magnitsky and to fully investigate the crime he had denounced, in the interests of Russia and of all her hard-working and tax-paying citizens,” the draft report says.
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Magnitsky case: Russian authorities ‘brutally silenced’ critics
Russian authorities have been accused of allowing corrupt officials to “plunder” the state while “brutally silencing” their critics in a damning report by the Council of Europe.
Andreas Gross, a Swiss MP and chair of the Socialist Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, made the accusations in an official report into death of the campaigning anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky four years ago.
The findings, in which Mr Gross claims “high level” state officials orchestrated a “cover up”, will inflame the diplomatic row over Russia’s handling of Mr Magnitsky’s death. The scandal has become a national embarrassment, damaging business investment and trade relations.
The US has already imposed visa bans and frozen the assets of 60 Russians linked to the alleged crime. In response, Moscow has barred US citizens from adopting Russian children.
Mr Magnitsky was working for UK hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management when he uncovered an alleged $230m fraud against the Russian taxpayer. After publicly naming the police involved, the same officers arrested him and threw him in jail on tax evasion charges. He was held for a year, dying after developing pancreatitis, being denied medical attention, and being beaten with “rubber truncheons”.
The Parliamentary Assembly was “appalled that Mr Magnitsky died in pre-trial detention and none of the persons responsible for his death have yet been held to account”, the report said.
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Council of Europe moots Magnitsky ‘smart sanctions’
A draft report for Europe’s top human rights watchdog advocates “intelligent sanctions” over the death of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.
Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison after he was arrested while trying to expose tax fraud nearly four years ago.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe report accuses the Russian authorities of a cover-up.
But its author, Andreas Gross, said US-style black-listing of Russian officials was counter-productive.
Washington passed legislation known as the Magnitsky Act last year, to withhold visas and freeze financial assets of Russian officials thought to have been involved with human rights violations. The law has been applied to 18 Russian individuals by name.
Russia, which is a member of the Europe-wide body, is invited to comment on Mr Gross’s findings before the report is submitted for approval in September.
Allegations that Magnitsky was tortured in custody have been rejected by Russian investigators, while attempts to prosecute prison doctors for negligence resulted in no convictions.
One trial which did begin this year is that of the dead man himself, who is being prosecuted posthumously for tax evasion.
Soon after the US Congress passed the Magnitsky Act in December, Moscow banned Americans from adopting Russian children, and it recently pressured the Irish Republic, a Council of Europe member, to back down from endorsing the American black list.
Parliaments in several other European countries have also been considering action, following the American example.
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Europol joins hunt on EU-Russia money laundering
The EU’s joint police body, Europol, is hunting down Russian mafia money laundered in EU banks.
Its operation was revealed in a report by an investigator in the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, Swiss MP Andreas Gross, out on Tuesday (25 June).
It says: “On 25 April 2013, a meeting took place at Europol in The Hague to exchange information and co-ordinate the investigation by anti-money-laundering experts of a number of countries concerned by transfers of funds originating in the tax reimbursement fraud denounced by Sergei Magnitsky.”
Gross notes the meeting “should … mark the beginning of a co-ordinated action by the competent authorities to follow the ‘money trail’ wherever it leads.”
He adds: “Russian authorities should be at the forefront of such an action, as it is the money of the Russian people that was stolen.”
The case concerns a fraudulent tax refund, in 2008, of $230 million organised by the so-called “Kluyev group” and the subsequent death of the man who exposed it – Russian accountant Magnitsky.
Europol declined to comment on the revelation, citing house rules on confidentiality.
But EUobserver understands the countries which took part in the April meeting are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Switzerland.
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Draft PACE Report Slams Russia Over Magnitsky Case
A draft report from the Council of Europe accuses Russia of allowing corrupt officials to “plunder” the state while “brutally silencing” their critics.
Swiss deputy Andreas Gross, rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the Sergei Magnitsky case, presented the report to the council’s Human Rights and Legal Affairs Committee in Strasbourg on June 25.
PACE is expected to consider the 41-page document, titled “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky,” for approval in September.
Magntisky died in pretrial detention in 2009 after uncovering a massive tax fraud scheme by police and government officials.
“It’s a report about a person who discovered injustice — you can even say a criminal act — because he discovered that not only property had been stolen but, within the tax authorities, $230 million was stolen from the Russian state,” Gross told a news conference in Strasbourg.
The report says PACE is “appalled that Magnitsky died in pretrial detention and none of the persons responsible for his death has yet been held to account.”
It claims “high-level” Russian state officials orchestrated a “cover-up.”
The document says Magnitsky died “because he refused to give in to the pressure that corrupt midlevel officials had put on him in order to get away with their crimes.”
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PACE Receives Magnitsky Resolution Proposal
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has received a motion to consider a resolution on lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s death in custody, the head of Russia’s delegation said.
“Such a motion exists, I saw it,” Alexei Pushkov said, adding that his view of the proposal was “negative.”
A source in the Assembly earlier said that the initiative was put forward by Dutch parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt, with the support of 69 parliamentarians from Moldova, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and other countries.
In the draft resolution, PACE offers Russia cooperation in preparing a report on the circumstances surrounding the lawyer’s death. The author believes that such document would benefit the Russian side.
Magnitsky was working for the Londruon-based Hermitage Capital investment fund when he was arrested in 2008 as part of an embezzlement and tax evasion investigation. The auditor died after almost a year in custody. His death triggered an international outcry.
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Mr Magnitsky’s case investigation: Written question to the Committee of Ministers
Doc. 12809
13 December 2011
Mr Magnitsky’s case investigation
Written question No 609 to the Committee of Ministers
by Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, Group of the European People’s Party
On 26 October 2011 the Committee of Ministers answered to questions on the Magnitsky case that: “The Committee of Ministers has been informed that a criminal investigation has been launched in the Russian Federation with a view to identifying those persons responsible for the death of Sergey Magnitsky” and that “The Committee of Ministers expects the investigation to be carried out in a rapid, effective and transparent manner, with a view to clarifying the circumstances surrounding the death of Sergey Magnitsky and ensuring that those responsible are identified and brought to justice.”
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