Posts Tagged ‘RIA Novosti’
Human Rights Activists Quit Ahead of Putin’s Inauguration
RIA Novosti
Several of Russia’s leading human rights advocates plan to quit the presidential Human Rights Council after President-elect Vladimir Putin takes up his post on May 7, Russian media reported on Wednesday.
According to Vedomosti business daily, among those planning to leave the human rights body are the head of Transparency International Russia, Yelena Panfilova, a political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin and the head of the non-government organization of working refugees, Civil Cooperation, Svetlana Gannushkina.
Panfilova, who delivered a report on corruption at the last council meeting on Saturday, said that she remained in the council only because of the pledge she gave to the mother of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in pre-trial detention in 2009, to investigate his death.
“I think I’ll do much more with my civil activity within my current job,” Panfilova said in an interview with Kommersant daily on Wednesday.
Another council member, political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin, made the decision to leave the body after his report on electoral violations which was rejected under the pretext of the president’s tight schedule.
Oreshkin told Vedomosti that he was going to deliver the facts showing up to 14 percent of ballot stuffing in Putin’s results during the March presidential elections where he secured a landslide victory which critics said was achieved through numerous violations.
“I regard Putin as an illegitimate president. I won’t be able to work in his council,” Vedomosti quoted Oreshkin as saying.
Gannushkina of human rights group Civil Assistance will also quit the council, Vedomosti said.
Veteran human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseeva however said that the human rights advocates should closely cooperate with the state authorities and not ignore them.
In December last year, amid mass street protest against alleged fraud in Russia’s parliamentary elections, a prominent human rights activist Irina Yasina and journalist Svetlana Sorokina left the Kremlin council on human rights over what they described as “falsifications” during the December 4 vote and “brutal reprisal” against pro-democracy protesters.
The presidential human rights council is known for its independent stance but it has no legal authority and had its recommendations ignored in the past. займы онлайн на карту срочно hairy girls https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php hairy woman
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‘Magnitsky List’ Court Chairman Fired
MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow’s Judicial Qualification Committee has suspended a judge who was previously involved in the Sergei Magnitsky scandal, from his post as chairman of the Tverskoy district court, Kommersant daily reported on Saturday.
Judge Igor Alisov personally considered one of the criminal cases against Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in pre-trial detention in 2009, accused of embezzlement of 5.4 billion rubles ($175.29 million) from the Russian budget, in the form of income tax rebates by companies controlled by the investment fund Hermitage Capital. Magnitsky was arrested by the same law enforcement officers he had suspected of embezzling the money by taking over Hermitage subsidiaries illegally in conjunction with corrupt tax officials.
Alisov was subsequently included in the so-called Magnitsky list of legal and political figures against whom the EU and the U.S. are introducing sanctions.
The Committee suspended Alisov from his post as Chairman of the court but he will continue to serve as a judge in the court.
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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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Trendswatcher: Punk’s Not Dead – in Russia
© RIA Novosti.
Natalia Antonova 19:37 20/04/2012
People began using the phrase “punk is dead” before I was even born – but just when everyone starts believing it, someone comes along to prove them wrong. The latest people to do that, sadly, are the jailed members of feminist punk band Pussy Riot.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, and Yekaterina Samusevich will remain in pretrial detention in Moscow until June 24, while investigators continue looking into their alleged role in a so-called “punk prayer service” that took place within the Cathedral of Christ the Savior back in February – and outraged many Orthodox Christians. The “prayer” itself was directed against President-elect Vladimir Putin.
As a Christian, I find it hard to speak about the actions of Pussy Riot. I don’t think that such performances belong in church, even a church such as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which has had a complicated history since first being destroyed by the Soviets and rebuilt following the fall of the USSR – for many Muscovites, this holy site is nowadays associated with what is known as “VIP-tusovkas” or “VIP-gatherings,” as opposed to with the Orthodox faith. Even bearing that in mind, and bearing in mind the fact that the Orthodox tradition has a long history of so-called holy fools that engage in mischief, I cannot support the performance of Pussy Riot. When I saw it on YouTube, I felt sadness, bewilderment, and hurt.
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Updated Magnitsky Act Introduced in U.S. Congress
An updated bill imposing a visa ban and asset freeze on Russian officials allegedly linked to the death in custody of Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, as well as on “individuals responsible for other gross violations of human rights” in Russia has been introduced in the U.S. Congress.
Magnitsky, who worked for Hermitage Capital, a British investment fund, died in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow in November 2009, almost a year after being arrested on tax evasion charges. He suffered from untreated pancreatitis and gallstones. Two former prison doctors have been charged with negligence in connection with his death, but a criminal case against one of them was recently dropped.
Just days before his arrest, Magnitsky claimed to have uncovered a massive fraud in which Moscow tax and police officials had allegedly embezzled $230 million in tax rebates by taking over Hermitage subsidiaries and using them to claim tax rebates. His supporters say the legal case investigators launched against him was a means for the same security officials he had accused to muzzle him and stop his activities.
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Russia Slams Attempts to Link Jackson-Vanik with Magnitsky Case
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov strongly rejected on Thursday attempts by some U.S. lawmakers to link the repeal of the Soviet-era Jackson-Vanik amendment hampering Russian-U.S. trade with the adoption of new “anti-Russian laws” related to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
“Attempts to replace an anti-Soviet amendment with anti-Russian laws are categorically unacceptable for us,” Lavrov said.
The Magnitsky case is Russia’s domestic affair which is being dealt with at the highest level, he said, and “before the court makes a decision in this case, we should not interfere.” The U.S. authorities know Russia’s position on the issue “very well,” he added.
A group of influential U.S. senators, including former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, proposed in mid-March introducing a blacklist of Russian officials allegedly linked to Hermitage Capital lawyer Magnitsky’s death in a Moscow pre-trial detention center in November 2009 in exchange for the cancellation of the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
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Investigation of Magnitsky’s Death ‘Inadequate’ – U.S.
Russia’s investigation into the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky has been “inadequate,” U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.
“The investigation into the circumstances of Magnitsky’s death has been inadequate and has failed to produce justice,” Nuland said.
“We continue to call on Russian authorities to conduct a genuine investigation, to prosecute and punish those responsible for Magnitsky’s death,” she added.
Arrested on tax evasion charges just days after accusing police investigators in a $230 million tax refund fraud, Magnitsky died after almost a year in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow in November 2009.
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Magnitsky Doctor Cleared of Charges
Prosecutors have dropped negligence charges against a doctor at the pre-trial detention facility where 37-year-old lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died because the statute of limitations has expired, Hermitage Capital, reported on Monday.
Larisa Litvinova was charged with negligence contibuting to Magnitsky’s death.
Magnitsky died after almost a year in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow in November 2009. He had been arrested on tax evasion charges just days after accusing police investigators in a $230 million tax refund fraud.
Magnitsky was serving as outside counsel for Hermitage Capital when he uncovered the alleged fraud.
Magnitsky had been diagnosed with pancreatitis and gall bladder disease. Prison officials said he died due to heart failure and toxic shock.
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Anti-Russian Amendment Now Headache for U.S.
Economic sanctions against Russia imposed by the United States in 1974 could backfire on America this year, but are likely to stay in place because of persistent political and ideological grudges between the two Cold War rivals, analysts said.
The Jackson-Vanik amendment was defunct in practice over the last two decades, but things got tricky after Russia completed its 18-year-long path to the World Trade Organization (WTO) last year, with more than a little help from the White House.
WTO rules ban formal trade restrictions such as the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which means the United States could face economic sanctions from Moscow and pressure from WTO once Russia completes the treaty’s ratification, expected this summer.
Elections First
“Russia has no practical interest in canceling the Jackson-Vanik amendment,” Konstantin Kosachyov, then-State Duma lawmaker with United Russia and deputy head of the international affairs committee at the lower chamber, said in late February.
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