Posts Tagged ‘UN’
Norway Has No Plans for Magnitsky Sanctions
Norway has reiterated its concern about an investigation into the 2009 prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky but said it has no plans to impose any sanctions.
“Norway has no tradition of introducing unilateral actions against individual countries or persons. This policy remains also in the Magnitsky case,” the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow said in a statement.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, writing about Magnitsky in a letter to a group of the country’s lawmakers earlier this month, said Olso was following the case closely but its policy was to only accept sanctions reached by the UN Security Council.
In response to Magnitsky’s death, the U.S. has passed the Magnitsky Act that blacklists Russian officials implicated of human rights violations. Magnitsky’s supporters have been pushing other countries to adopt similar sanctions.
Norway’s foreign minister said that while Oslo would stop short of imposing sanctions, it would use its membership in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe to raise the human rights agenda in Russia.
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UN panel strongly criticizes Russia for failing to investigate widespread torture allegations
The U.N. Committee Against Torture strongly criticized Russia in a report for failing to investigate widespread allegations of torture and stepping up intimidation and reprisals against human rights advocates and journalists.
The panel of 10 independent experts expressed concern at the discrepancy between the high number of complaints of torture and ill treatment that it received from detainees and the relatively low number of criminal cases opened by authorities in response leading to prosecution.
The report on Russia’s compliance with a 1987 treaty against torture and other degrading punishments also expressed serious concern about numerous allegations that detainees have been tortured to extract confessions which were then used as evidence in court, and at Moscow’s failure to ensure all detainees the right to a lawyer.
The committee called on Russia to take “immediate and effective measures to prevent all acts of torture and ill-treatment throughout the country and to eliminate impunity of those allegedly responsible.”
It pointed to the increasing intimidation, harassment and attacks against people and organizations monitoring and reporting on human rights.
The committee urged the repeal of a new law backed by President Vladimir Putin that expands the definition of treason so broadly that critics say it could be used to call anyone who opposes the government a traitor. It called for another new Putin-backed law requiring human rights organizations that receive foreign funding to register as “foreign agents” to be amended, saying the term “seems negative and threatening to human rights defenders.”
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Sergey Lavrov discusses Magnitsky on Charlie Rose show
Lavrov, speaking during an interview with U.S. television talk-show host Charlie Rose, said Moscow supported a dialogue on human rights with Washington but did not want to be “lectured” or “judged” through efforts like the Magnitsky bill.
Lavrov spoke to Rose during a visit to New York for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly this week.
“This would be certainly something which will be detrimental to our relationship,” he said, speaking in English. “Attempts to interfere in the legal procedures of other countries are not really welcome by normal states, normal governments, and this is absolutely the case between Russia and the United States.” hairy women hairy women https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php займ на карту срочно без отказа
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UN Official Slams Russia on Magnitsky Case
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture published a report Tuesday condemning the Russian government over the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The report by Juan E. Mendez said the state should take responsibility for Magnitsky’s death in prison, since he was healthy before his incarceration.
“When an individual dies as a consequence of injuries sustained while in State custody, there is a presumption of State responsibility, particularly when the person was in good health at the time of his arrest,” the report said.
Magnitsky was arrested in 2008 on charges of tax evasion, after he began investigating Interior Ministry and tax service officials in an alleged fraud case. He spent 11 months in prison without trial and reportedly developed a number of serious illnesses, for which he was denied treatment. He died eight days before he was legally required to be released if he were not put on trial.
Western governments have harshly criticized Russia over the case, with some countries considering so-called “Magnitsky acts” barring entry to officials believed to have been involved in the lawyer’s death. Magnitsky’s former employer, Hermitage Capital, has conducted a lobby campaign to pressure the Russian government to investigate the case.
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Dutch MPs want tougher stance against Russia
A majority of Dutch MPs are calling on the government to take measures to punish Russia for alleged human rights abuses in the case of the death in prison in 2009 of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The case was highlighted earlier by Radio Netherlands Worldwide and interviews recorded by RNW have been used by UN investigators examing corruption in Russia.
The failure of punish those involved in the lawyer’s death, is causing concern among many Dutch MPs who this week again demanded action.
US businessman William Browder made a personal appeal to Dutch MPs to pressure the Dutch government to do the same. Sergei Magnitsky was working for Mr Browder’s Hermitage Fund when he was arrested in 2009.
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UN Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez, discusses the Sergei Magnitsky case
The State We’re In, Featuring an interview with UN Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, where he also discusses the Sergei Magnitsky case from 32:40
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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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Washington College of Law Prof. Juan Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Inquires Into Alleged Torture and Death of Russian Attorney
WCL Prof. Juan Méndez, in his role as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has engaged the Russian government to inquire into the alleged torture and eventual death in custody of Russian attorney Sergei Magnitsky. Prof. Méndez began the inquiry after an application from Redress, a human rights organization in London. Magnitsky died in prison after being arrested for tax evasion. He had previously uncovered evidence of Russian government tax fraud. hairy girl займ на карту онлайн https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php https://zp-pdl.com/get-a-next-business-day-payday-loan.php займ онлайн на карту без отказа
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Medvedev discusses with UN human rights commissioner
In the presidential residence outside Moscow Rosii Gorki-9, “began Dmitry Medvedev met with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.
Pillay has arrived in Russia on Sunday and plans to February 19, meet with the heads of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, Health Ministry, Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Justice, as well as to visit St. Petersburg and talk there with the chairman relocated to the Northern capital of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin.
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