Press Release
Originally sent by Hermitage Capital 3/12/12
59 Swedish members of the Parliament from seven of the eight political parties signed a parliamentary petition to Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, calling on him to impose EU-wide visa sanctions on Russian officials in the Magnitsky case. The parliamentarians stress it is a matter of international importance given Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe and WTO.
In the parliamentary petition, Swedish MPs said:
“Law and justice in Russia – and lastly justice for Sergei Magnitsky – is a question that concerns the entire circle of member states in the Council of Europe and the WTO, of which Russia is a member. The outcome of this case will establish the country’s standing as a state governed by law.”
Swedish lawmakers urged the Swedish government to work at the EU level “for the purpose of coming to an agreement among the EU’s member states on the subject of sanctions against the offenders.”
The petition was initiated by Mats Johansson, from the ruling Moderates party, along with Olle Thorell, a foreign affairs spokesperson from Social Democrats party, and Kerstin Lundgren, from the Centre Party.
“As members of the Human Rights Group of the Swedish Parliament we often deal with cases like this. But if Russia wants to be a member of the Council of Europe, it cannot act like any other totalitarian state but must respect the rules of the club. Impunity for the perpetrators in the Magnitsky case is not in line with these rules,” says Mats Johansson, who is also a standing Rapporteur on media freedom of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The Swedish parliamentary action is a result of the impunity of Russian officials who falsely arrested, tortured and killed 37-year old Sergei Magnitsky. These officials have since opened a posthumous proceeding against him, an unprecedented act in Russian legal history.
The petition to the Swedish Prime Minister pointed out the absurdity of the posthumous prosecution by saying:
“He (Sergey Magnitsky) was murdered in prison because of his defense of the law and justice in the proceeding against officials who had stolen companies owned by the foreign investment company Hermitage. No one responsible has been punished so far. Quite the opposite – the Russian government has recently taken the unusual step of prosecuting Magnitsky posthumously, a practice that hasn’t been followed in 500 years.”
The Swedish initiative follows a number of actions by parliamentarians in Europe.
Coskun Coruz, Human Rights Rapporteur for the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly, said last week that “Russia’s lawlessness in this case is absolutely not fitting into OSCE’s values” and vowed to do everything in his power so that Russian authorities prosecute Magnitsky’s killers.
On October 4, 2011, Parliamentary Assembly delegates from 29 countries of the Council of Europe signed the Magnitsky Declaration (http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc11/EDOC12744.htm), calling upon the Russian government to cease the posthumous prosecution of Mr Magnitsky and the intimidation of his family and to allow the family to carry out an independent medical evaluation, which Russian authorities continue to refuse.
On 28 February 2012, the European Parliament’s Delegation to EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee urged EU member countries “to start immediately procedures to enact measures such as an EU-wide travel ban and a freeze on the financial assets of those believed to be guilty of the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky as well as of those covering up the case.”
On 7 March 2012, a motion was unanimously passed in the British House of Commons calling for visa and economic sanctions on Russian officials involved in the original crimes uncovered by Mr Magnitsky and the cover-up since his death.
For further information please contact:
Hermitage Capital
Phone: +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website: http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter: @KatieFisher__
Livejournal: http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/
Mats Johansson, MP:
http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/AssemblyList/AL_MemberDetails.asp?MemberID=6647
Olle Thorell, MP: http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Start/Sok/?sok=olle+thorell&rm=&typ=&titel=&bet=&tempbet=&datum=&tom=&nr=&org=&iid=&parti=&katid=&sort=rel&a=
Kerstin Lundgren, MP:
http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/AssemblyList/ALMemberDetails.asp?MemberID=5859
See Swedish Parliamentary Petition on Sergei Magnitsky case
http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D398.pdf
