Press Release
For Immediate Distribution
28 January 2014 – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
which unites 47 countries, has called today for the introduction of
U.S.-like Magnitsky sanctions by Council of Europe member states if Russian
authorities fail within the reasonable timeframe to adhere to the PACE
Resolution. The Resolution calls on Russia to end impunity of Russian
officials by bringing to account those responsible for Magnitsky’s death,
stopping his posthumous prosecution and the pressure on his family, and
closing criminal cases against other Hermitage Fund’s lawyers who reported
the $230 million theft and defended the Fund against the fraud.
The Resolution entitled “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei
Magnitsky” was passed by 81% of PACE delegates (151 deputies – in favor, 25
– against, 10 – abstention)
(http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/Votes/DB-VotesResults-EN.asp?VoteID=34812&DocID=14854).
The PACE also approved (151 – in favor, 29 – against, 8 – abstention) the
Recommendation to the Council of Minister to “ensure that the Russian
Federation …holds to account the perpetrators and beneficiaries both of the
crime committed against Sergey Magnitsky and that denounced by him.”
The PACE report highlights that Russian authorities are engaged in a
massive cover-up at all levels in this case:
“We are in the presence of a massive cover-up involving senior officials of
the competent [Russian] ministries, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the
Investigative Committee and even certain courts finds itself further
consolidated,” says Rapporteur Andreas Gross, MP in his report (
http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewPDF.asp?FileID=20084&lang=en).
The voting was preceded by speeches from delegates from different
countries. The Russian delegates tried to deflect blame by accusing William
Browder, the head of the Magnitsky Justice Campaign, of being responsible
for Magnitsky’s arrest and death.
Other PACE delegates from Europe stressed that this case is symbolic of
abuse and corruption. They said it was shameful that Russian authorities
have not investigated officials denounced by Magnitsky as complicit in the
$230 million theft, and those responsible for his killing in custody.
The addendum to the Report on the impunity in Magnitsky case by Rapporteur
Gross says that Russian authorities not only failed to adhere to the
recommendations made in the main report, to bring to account those involved
in the $230 million theft denounced by Magnitsky, but have instead
exonerated all officials in spite of evidence of their enrichment:
“The Russian authorities have not made any progress in investigating the
matters highlighted in the main report and in the draft resolution adopted
by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on 4 September 2013. On
the contrary, one of the main suspects – Ms Stepanova – has recently been
exonerated by the Investigative Committee, without reference to the
suspicious circumstances surrounding the disbursement in record time of a
record amount of tax refunds into freshly opened bank accounts of criminals
known as such by the authorities, with a small and ill-famed bank that
closed soon after the receipt of the funds and “lost” all records,” says
the Addendum to Report “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei
Magnitsky”.
For further information, please see:
Report: “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky”
