Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Vlad the Violator

The Washington Free Beacon

The United States and other Western nations should be doing more to respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s human rights violations, members of Congress and foreign policy experts said Monday during a United States-Russia relations event hosted by the Foreign Policy Initiative, Freedom House, and the Institute of Modern Russia.

Rep. James McGovern (D., Mass.) said the current trial of dead Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky represents a “malevolent move” that makes “it clear that Russian leaders recognize that they no longer have the support of the people they govern, and so they must resort to scare tactics to try and keep the lid on dissent.”

Magnitsky was killed while in a Moscow detention center in November 2009 after being imprisoned by Russian authorities. He claimed to have uncovered massive tax fraud that involved Russian government officials.

The Senate passed in December 2012 the Magnitsky Act, which applies visa sanctions to Russians who are believed to be engaged in human rights violations.

Senator Ben Cardin (D., Md.), who sponsored the Magnitsky Act, said the “objective is not to ban Russians from visiting the United States or using our banking system.”

“The objective is to get Russia to do what is right for its citizens,” he said.

The Russian government, led by President Putin, recently banned Russian children from being adopted by American parents in response to the Magnitsky Act.