Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

European MPs call for international enquiry into Magnitsky affair

EU Observer

26.04.12 @ 18:13

BY ANDREW RETTMAN
BRUSSELS – Sixty nine MPs from across Europe have called for an international enquiry into the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

The deputies – who hail mostly from EU countries, but also Croatia, Iceland, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland – signed the motion at the human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe (CoE), in Strasbourg on Wednesday (25 April).

If the council’s steering group at its meeting on Friday gives the green light, the motion will trigger an in-depth investigation on the model of previous enquiries into CIA renditions, organ smuggling in Kosovo and death squads in Belarus.

“The competent authorities have … failed to properly investigate and prosecute those responsible for Mr Magnitsky’s death,” the motion says.

“For the sake of its own credibility and that of the Russian Federation, the [CoE] should now engage in co-operation with Russia, through the preparation of a dedicated report, in order to fully elucidate this landmark case.”

The man behind the initiative, Dutch centre-right MP Pieter Omtzigt, said the level of political support for his proposal “suggests the truly emblematic nature of the Magnitsky case.”