Press Release
Originally sent by Hermitage Capital 3/9/12

Following the March 7th debate in the House of Commons which unanimously approved sanctions on the Russian officials in the Magnitsky case, the Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, posted a letter on the official Russian embassy website (http://www.rusemb.org.uk/press/650). In his letter addressed to John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, the Russian Ambassador argued against the sanctions and said that because the officials were not convicted in a Russian court, visa sanctions and asset freezes would be “extrajudicial punishment.”

Today, Hermitage Capital responded to the Ambassador’s letter.

“It is remarkable that the Russian Ambassador is fighting for the travel privileges of corrupt officials who stole $230 million from the Russian state and killed the man who exposed the theft,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.

“It is now clear that the cover-up and protection of the 60 officials who killed Sergei Magnitsky has become a national policy. When foreign ambassadors get involved, this is no longer the case of rogue officers acting on their own initiative. It is a clear directive of the Russian state.”

The Ambassador does not mention in his letter that: 58 out of 60 Russian officials involved in the Magnitsky case have been exonerated; the investigation into corruption that Magnitsky uncovered has been closed; Magnitsky’s family has been denied access to his medical records for an independent medical examination, and that the same officers who arrested Magnitsky are now organizing the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history against him.

“The Ambassador argues that only the Russian judicial system can decide the guilt of the officers. The judicial system he is arguing should be relied upon is the same judicial system that refused Sergei Magnitsky’s desperate requests for medical attention, refused his requests for visits with his children and family, and excluded all exculpatory evidence which would have allowed Sergei Magnitsky to be freed before he died,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.

“Visas are a privilege, not a right. They should not be available to the torturers and murderers,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.  

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital

Phone:             +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail:             info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org

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