Posts Tagged ‘UK’
Human Rights and Democracy: The 2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report – Russia
Despite some minor reforms and encouraging public statements about human rights in 2010, there was no evidence of systemic, far-reaching change. Continuing negative trends included restrictions on freedom of assembly, harassment and obstruction of NGOs and journalists, and racial discrimination and racist violence. The trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev was widely condemned for failing to adhere to basic standards of justice. No new information emerged in the investigations into the murders of the human rights defenders Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova, or the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky. Frequent reports of grave human rights abuses in the North Caucasus continued. The government also failed to provide full redress to victims of past abuses in Chechnya and elsewhere in the region.
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Sergei Magnitsky: The struggle for justice
Unlawfully arrested, tortured and murdered in Russian prison, Sergei Magnitsky paid for his fight against corruption in Russia with his life. While the severity of this human rights abuse has grabbed international attention, an even graver concern is that the Russian investigation has stagnated, providing no conclusion, justice or punishment for those involved.
Downing Street’s lack of response to the incident is embarrassing. Sixty Russian officials have been implicated in the unlawful arrest, torture and death of Mr. Magnitsky through international investigations. The European Parliament, US Congress and Canadian Parliament have revoked visa rights and frozen the assets of those involved.
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David Cameron to pressure Russia over lawyer’s death
David Cameron has pledged to press Russia to investigate the death in custody of a lawyer who accused police of complicity in a £141 million tax fraud.
The Prime Minister, who will visit Russia this year, said he was “deeply concerned” by the death of Sergei Magnitsky, 37.
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Cameron voices concerns over Russian lawyer’s death
The UK has urged the Kremlin to reveal the findings of an investigation into the death in custody of a Russian corporate lawyer who alleged police corruption.
Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working for Hermitage Capital, a Russian investment fund, died in a Moscow jail in 2009 after testifying against police for alleged complicity in a $230m tax fraud using companies that belonged to his client.
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Lavrov in London
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is visiting London this week, amid some talk of a “reset” in British relations with Russia. They have been in the deep freeze (or at least the cool box) since the murder in London in 2006 of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian emigre who had become a British citizen. The investigation is still open and many in British officialdom are convinced that the murder came about with the active help of Russia’s FSB. Others think it is time to move on: if BP, Britain’s largest company, can snuggle up to Rosneft, Russia’s best-connected one, why can’t politicians be cordial and constructive too.
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