Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Senators Cardin, Wicker, Shaheen: Spoke on human rights violations in Russia and the case of Sergei Magnitsky

Republican Senate Gov

Morning Business
Feb 16 2012
10:46 AM

Colloquy: (Senators Cardin, Wicker, Shaheen)
Spoke on human rights violations in Russia and the case of Sergei Magnitsky.

Senator Cardin: (10:08 AM)
“Just last week as part of a bilateral Presidential commission, Attorney General Holder met with Russian Minister of Justice to discuss the rule of law issues. That same week, Russian officials moved in their criminal prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky. I remind you that Mr. Magnitsky has been dead for more than two years. Last may, I joined with Senator McCain and Senator Wicker and 11 other of our senators from both parties to introduce the Sergei Magnitsky rule of law accountability act. We now have nearly 30 cosponsors, and I urge more to join us and look at ways to move forward on helping halt abuses like this in the future. After exposing the largest known tax fraud in Russian history, Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer, working for an American firm in Moscow, was falsely arrested for crimes he did not commit and tortured in prison. Six months later, he became seriously ill and was consistently denied medical attention despite 20 former requests and then on the night of November 16, 2009, he went into critical condition, but instead of being treated in a hospital, he was put in an isolation cell, chained to a bed, beaten by eight prison guards with rubber batons for one hour and 18 minutes until he was dead. Sergei Magnitsky was 37 years old, left behind a wife, two children and a dependent mother. While the facts around his arrest, detention and death has been independently verified and accepted at the highest levels of Russian government, those implicated in his death and the corruption he exposed remain unpunished, in positions of authority, and some have even been decorated and promoted. Following Magnitsky ‘s death, they have continued to target others, including American business interests in Moscow. These officials have been credibly linked to similar crimes and have ties to Russian mafia, international arms trafficking and even drug cartels. The money they stole from the Russian budget was bartered through a network of banks including two in the united states. Calls for investigation have fallen on deaf ears, and in a turn of events, law enforcement officers accused by Magnitsky and those most involved in his murder are – and those that are accused by Magnitsky and those most complicit in his murder are moving to try him for the very tax crimes they committed. think of the irony here. He exposed corruption in Russia. As a result, he was arrested, imprisoned, tortured and killed. Now, those who perpetrated the crime on him are charging him after his death with the crimes they committed. We cannot be silent.”