Press Release 
Hermitage Capital

20  September  2012 –  Today,  the foreign affairs committee of the European Parliament voted  62-2  (with  1  abstention)  in favor of a resolution to recommend  to  the  European Council of Ministers to “establish a common EU list  of  officials  responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky, for the subsequent  judicial  cover-up and for the ongoing and sustained harassment of  his mother and widow” and, “impose and implement an EU-wide visa ban on these  officials and to freeze any financial assets they or their immediate family may hold inside the European Union”

The  EU  Council  of  Ministers  is the key decision making body of foreign ministers from the 27 EU member states and is empowered to implement a visa ban  and asset freeze. Although many national EU parliaments have called on their  governments  to  impose  national  Magnitsky  sanctions  against the Russian   officials   who  killed  Magnitsky  in  the  past,  the  national governments  have been reluctant to do so in fear of retaliation by Russia.

By  having  the  visa ban proposal initiated by the European Parliament, it bypasses  any  individual  country  risking a confrontation with Russia and allows for a common EU approach towards the problem. This same approach was taken  by  the  European  Commission  in relation to anti trust issues with Gazprom.

This  step  by the European Parliament follows two previous resolutions: in December 2010 (http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D405.pdf),  and in December 2011 calling for sanctions in the Magnitsky matter in case of “further inaction by the Russian authorities for the Council to take  into consideration actions such as an EU‐wide travel ban and a freeze on  the  financial assets of those found guilty of the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky as well as covering up the case.” (http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D406.pdf)

Since it has been nearly three years since the case was first raised at the European  Parliament,  the Foreign Affairs Committee has now concluded that no  progress  has  been  made  and  are  swiftly  moving  forward  with the implementation of sanctions in this case.

The  resolution  was  put forward by Kristiina Ojuland MEP (Estonia) who is ALDE  Spokesperson on Russia and was appointed Rapporteur on the ‘Magnitsky Report’  for  the European Parliament. In that capacity she was responsible for  drafting  a recommendation to the European Parliament on how to impose EU  sanctions  on the Russian officials responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky.

In response to today’s vote, she said:

“The adoption of the report by the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament today is a crucial step in getting the visa restrictions and asset freezes in place against the people who were involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky. These targeted sanctions proposed in the Magnitsky report put real pressure on Russian authorities to start taking criticism on human rights seriously. These sanctions are not directed against the Russian people, but area against corruption and human rights violators.”

The next step in the process is for the full European Parliament to vote on the  resolution at the plenary session of the Parliament which is scheduled to take place in October.

Link to the draft Report:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+COMPARL+PE-492.835+01+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN

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