Posts Tagged ‘senate’
Senator denies Russian report on Magnitskiy case based on official inquiry
Interfax
There has been no parliamentary investigation of the Magnitskiy [Magnitsky] case in Russia, head of the Federation Council International Affairs Committee Mikhail Margelov has told Interfax.
“Although there has been no special parliamentary investigation of the Magnitskiy case, this does not mean that any Russian senator cannot have his point of view based on the study of documents,” Margelov said, commenting on information in the media about a report which was presented to the US side by a group of members of the Federation Council in Washington.
According to Margelov, the delegation members had requested the necessary documents in the relevant departments and held series of meetings with their leaders and experts.
“This is a common practice of preparing such meetings, so the note which was passed to the US side reflects the Russian theory of the case. To avoid broad interpretation, the document is called ‘The results of a preliminary parliamentary investigation’, not a parliamentary investigation in the usual sense,” Margelov told the agency.
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Magnitsky bill opens door to wider targets
When the Magnitsky bill first started making its way through the US Congress a couple of years ago, its authors had one target in mind: to punish Russian officials behind the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who blew the whistle on a government corruption case and died in jail.
With human rights causes, however, one powerful example can sometimes open the door to much broader action. This could well happen with the Magnitsky bill. As the legislation gets closer to passage – potentially this month – the human rights lobby is on the verge of winning an important tool to influence US foreign policy.
While Russian corruption was the initial target, some in Congress are already thinking about other causes it can be used to pursue. And they have some big fish in mind. “If the bill stays as it is at the moment,” says one Senate staff member involved with the legislation, “this will be as much about China as it is about Russia.”When Magnitsky was doing some legal work for the Hermitage investment group, he discovered evidence that a group of Russian officials had effectively stolen $230m in tax payments made by Hermitage. When he detailed his allegations, he was arrested in late 2008 and accused of fraud.
Nearly a year later, he died in jail after being denied medical treatment.
Two years ago, a couple of Democrats in Congress started to push a bill that named the 60 Russian officials and police officers they said were behind Magnitsky’s death.
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Russian delegation hits Washington to lobby against “Magnitsky” sanctions
The Russians are coming to Washington; in fact, they are already here. But they aren’t happy.
A Russian parliamentary delegation is in the U.S. capital to lobby American lawmakers against a bill sanctioning Russian officials implicated in human rights abuses — a move Moscow considers offensive outside interference in its affairs.
After some meetings on Capitol Hill, the four-man Russian delegation on Wednesday did not have a lot of progress to report from their lobbying against the “Magnitsky bill,” named after Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption Russian lawyer who died in 2009 after a year in Russian jails.
But they had a warning.
“We really don’t want that the U.S. Congress adopts this bill that has the potential to deteriorate U.S.-Russia relations for years or even for decades to come. It will become a real irritant in U.S.-Russia relations,” delegation member Vitaly Malkin told reporters, speaking through a translator at the Russian embassy.
A Russian parliamentary investigation into the Magnitsky case is underway, the group said, displaying a dossier with what they said were the preliminary findings.
The Magnitsky bill pending in Congress would require the United States to deny visas and freeze the assets of Russians linked to Magnitsky’s death, as well as those of other human rights abusers in Russia. The Senate version, sponsored by Democrat Ben Cardin, would extend the sanctions to human rights abusers anywhere in the world.
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US Sentate Approves Magnitsky Bill
Evgenia Chirikova recently testified before the European Parliament on Vinci’s role in the St. Petersburg-Moscow toll motorway project which threatens to destroy the Khimki forest. Vinci is a French company that Chirikova claims is wrought with corruption and special interests.
Chirikova’s team supported their testimony with a graphic photo exhibition documenting the arrest and use of violence against protestors. Captions on the photos read “approved by Vinci.”
According to Chirikova’s org Save Khimki Forest, the hearing represents an unprecedented step in EU/Russia relations, a step which activist see as one in the right direction.
Chirikova’s team also celebrated a victory last month as the US Senate passed the Magnitsky Bill, formally known as the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. The bipartisan bill is named after Sergei Magnitsky , a Russian attorney who implicated Russian officials of tax fraud. Magnitsky was arrested and tortured while in police custody, where he eventually died.
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Magnitsky Case ‘Not to Affect’ Russia-EU Visa Talks – Diplomat
Controversy around the high-profile death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 will not affect talks between Russia and the European Union on scrapping visa restrictions, a senior official said on Monday.
“The talks are going ahead according to schedule,” Russia’s envoy to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told RIA Novosti.
Chizhov called against “politicizing this situation” and said there would be a meeting of “high-ranking officials” at an unspecified date which would “clear up all the remaining questions.”
The Netherlands imposed travel bans on some 60 Russian officials over the Magnitsky case in July 2011, and a number of EU parliaments have vowed to follow suit.
Magnitsky, who worked for a British investment fund, was detained in November 2008 after accusing officials of a $230 million tax fraud. He died a year later in his cell after deliberate neglect and beatings, the Kremlin’s human rights body said in a report in 2011.
Last month, a U.S. Senate panel unanimously passed the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act,” a bill that would penalize Russian officials linked with Magnitsky’s jailing and death, as well as other human rights abusers in Russia.
Russia has called the bill an attempt to interfere in its domestic affairs and threatened to respond.
In January, a senior EU official said an agreement to ease visa procedures for short-term stays may be signed within the next six months. hairy girl займ на карту https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php займ на карту
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It matters where Russian money comes from; Oligarchs find it easy to settle in Britain. But more questions should be asked about them
A huge stream of money has flowed into Britain from the old Soviet Union since the end of Communism. The British public seems used to the fact that, from time to time, another flamboyant or publicity-shy oligarch whom nobody had previously heard of pops up on the radar as if descending from another planet.
All he has to do is buy a stake in a high-profile business or make a record-breaking bid on a house or country estate and a Russian billionaire or millionaire can easily break into elite British society.
Very little is required to establish oneself as a plutocrat in this country. Local banks apply meagre “know your client” procedures to vet applicants: a passport copy and a utility bill are all that is needed to open an account at any London-based private bank. Then, as if by magic, funds pour into the UK as clean capital, free from any taxation or further scrutiny. Getting the right to stay permanently in the UK with an investor visa is just as easy; all that is needed is a minimum of £2 million in personal assets.
Most rich Russians living in the UK have made their wealth honestly, but there is money sloshing around Britain tainted by corruption. Yet few new arrivals can expect to be challenged on where the money came from, or what they had to do back in Russia to acquire it.
Many in the British Establishment aren’t bothered by this laxness. After all, few Russian billionaires have so far parlayed their fortune into politics — particularly after the fuss caused when George Osborne and Peter Mandelson enjoyed the hospitality of Oleg Deripaska on his yacht off Corfu.
But you should be bothered. Evidence in the court case brought by Boris Berezovsky against Roman Abramovich gave us an insight into how those who amass (and lose) fortunes in Russia, however upright or law-abiding, have to do so against a backdrop of corruption and political interference. This case introduced British lawyers to krysha (the Russian for roof) — the protection money many businessmen pay to do business.
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The Sergei Magnitsky Act: Russia Warns Obama Not to Pass Human Rights Bill
Sergei Magnitsky was a 37-year-old attorney in Russia who uncovered a plot so sinister that he was thrown in prison. He found, during the course of his work, that some officials were involved in an alleged scheme to embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars from the Russian treasury.
When his firm, Hermitage, contacted the government to expose the plot, Magnitsky himself was investigated and the chain of events that would follow led to his death in prison where he was denied medical treatment and beaten by prison guards. Sadly, he died days before the one year limit that he could be held without trial.
An article by Owen Matthews titled, “There’s something rotten in the state of Russia” published in the Spectator reported:
“According to [Magnitsky’s] heartbreaking prison diary, investigators repeatedly tried to persuade him to give testimony against Hermitage and drop the accusations against the police and tax authorities. When Magnitsky refused, he was moved to more and more horrible sections of the prison, and ultimately denied the medical treatment which could have saved his life.”
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Matvienko and Clinton discuss “Magnitsky law”
The discussion of the “Magnitsky law” in the US Senate is an attempt to influence Russian investigative and judicial institutions, the speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, said at a meeting with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, RIA Novosti reports.
On Tuesday, the law about visa sanctions for the Russian bureaucrats allegedly connected to the death in prison of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 was approved by the international committee of the
US Senate.
“We would understand if it was some universal law that would forbid the entrance to the US of state employees and bureaucrats that violate human rights. But it is obvious that the situation with
democratic development is not that bad in Russia,” Matvienko added.
According to Matvienko, Clinton promised to try to remove this amendment. займ на карту займ онлайн zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php микрозайм онлайн
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Magnitsky Act’s sponsor may be denied entrance to Russia
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, the sponsor of the contentious Magnitsky Act, may be denied entrance to Russia, Izvestia daily reports on Monday.
The newspaper says Russia’s parliament is discussing a large group of individuals, including the U.S. Consul General in Vladivostok Douglas Kent, as well as Drug Enforcement Agency officers Scott Hacker and Derek Odney, who are involved in the case of Russian businessman Viktor Bout.
Entry may be denied under draft law On Measures against Individuals Involved in Violation of Russian Citizens’ Rights Abroad, talk of which may soon be resumed in parliament.
The draft was submitted to the lower house in June 2011 and it may be adopted if the United States passes the Magnitsky Act.
Some MPs do not consider it an appropriate response to Washington. Deputy foreign relations committee head Leonid Kalashnikov thinks that a more radical step is required.
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