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Press Release: Sergei Magnitsky’s Mother Slams Russian Foreign Ministry’s Comments About New US Magnitsky List
11 February 2016 – Natalia Magnitskaya, the mother of Sergei Magnitsky, released a statement today responding to the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s recent commentary that the expansion of the Magnitsky list was an effort to “discredit” Russia.
Natalia Magnitskaya asked the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry to publish her statement on its website.
“Each of the officials [included in the list of Magnitsky] has been involved in malfeasance, acting with impunity guaranteed by beneficiaries of the 5.4 billion rubles ($230 mln) theft, and is rightly included in the sanctions list,” said Natalia Magnitskaya.
“Our country is discredited not by the existence of this list, but by officials who worked towards corrupt goals instead of performing their duties to safeguard and protect our country and its citizens,” said Natalia Magnitskaya.
“I take as an insult the recent comment [from the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry] that the tragic fate of my son was a ‘bargaining chip’ in the ‘unscrupulous Washington’s campaign to discredit our country.’ For my son, such concepts as ‘honesty’, ‘honor’, ‘patriotism’ and ‘duty’ were not empty words, but his life’s principles”, said Ms Magnitskaya.
“The [Russian] investigators and prosecutors tasked to investigate my son’s death and the embezzlement of budget funds deliberately destroyed evidence, sabotaged the investigation, advanced knowingly false theories and ended up with accusing my son after his death of organizing the theft of 5.4 billion rubles – the crime for the exposure of which he suffered martyrdom and death,” said Ms Magnitskaya.
“With bitter regret I note that the Magnitsky Law and the Magnitsky Sanctions List, which the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Information Department called ‘notorious,’ today are the only means to tell the public about the abuses committed by some officials in the law enforcement and judicial authorities,” said Ms Magnitskaya.
Earlier this month, the US State Department announced the addition of four Russian Interior Ministry officials for their role in the posthumous persecution of Sergei Magnitsky to the visa and financial sanctions list under the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012.”
For more information, please contact:?
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Campaign
e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Twitter: @KatieFisher__
www.facebook.com/russianuntouchables
New Entries in the Magnitsky List, February 2016
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20160201.aspx
Mass Graves Found in Burundi?
By Tyler Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
BUJUMBURA, Burundi – Human Rights group Amnesty International has released Satellite photos of suspected mass burial sites inside Burundi. There are five separate areas outside the capitol of Burundi, which seem to indicate mass burial. This report is corroborated by eyewitness stories and a UN investigation into 9 mass burial sites. These sites are linked to the violence that occurred when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would be running for a third term.
Back in April 2015 President Nkurunziza made his announcement and it lead to violence in the nations capitol. The UN has reported that since his announcement at least 400 people have died and 240,000 people have fled the country.
The images of the reported mass grave sites are linked to new violence that occurred in early December. Government authorities, mostly police, carried out attacks on civilians on December 11th, in response to an attack on a military base in Bujumbura. These attacks have been focused on areas and villages believed to be in opposition to the reelection of the president.
The UN is worried that these mass graves are just the beginning of trends of other human rights violations. Along with the mass graves there have been reports of sexual violence, torture, and increased disappearances. The UN believes 87 people were killed last month bringing the total to above 400 since the April announcement. Although, the UN admits the actual number may be much higher.
In response to the allegations from the UN and Amnesty International, Burundi’s foreign minister called it “mudslinging against the authorities in Bujumbura.” The minister also asked that organizations wait to see result of an investigation that had been ordered by the attorney general. Organizations and governments alike are worried that the violence could devolve back into the civil war that rocked the country from 1993 through 2003. It is believed nearly 300,000 people died during that war.
For more information, please see:
CNN – U.N. rights chief calls for investigation of rapes, mass graves in Burundi – 15 Jan. 2016
BBC – Burundi crisis: Amnesty claims evidence of ‘mass graves’ – 29 Jan. 2016
France 24 – Amnesty says dozens buried in Burundi mass graves – 30 Jan. 2016
The Herald – Burundi mass graves “a lie” – 6 Feb. 2016
Body of Italian Student Found With Evidence of Torture
By Brittani Howell
Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East
CAIRO, Egypt – The body of an Italian student was found on Thursday in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo. The student, 28-year-old Giulio Regeni, was last seen at 7pm on January 25, 2016, the fifth anniversary of the uprising, as he was headed to a friend’s birthday party.
Mr. Regeni’s body was found half-naked with “evident signs of torture,” namely cigarette burns and head wounds. The Egyptian prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Ahmed Nagy, stated that “there were bruises all over the body, swelling in the hands, and wounds on the face and head.” This form of torture is a signature of a form of abuse associated with the Egyptian security forces. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was from internal bleeding due to a beating to the head.
All of the findings so far have been preliminary. Forensic authorities have yet to release a final report on the incident. Prior to the autopsy, the deputy heard of criminal investigations in Cairo, Alaa Azmi told the Associate Press that, “What we know is that this is an accident.” However, Nagy told CNN that the, “Initial inspection of the body indicates that (this) was no accident.”
Paolo Gentiloni, the Italian foreign affairs minister, stated, “We want the truth to come out, every last bit of it.” He continued, “We owe that much to a family that has been stricken in an irreparable way and, at the very least, has the right to know the truth.
Mr. Regeni was a doctoral candidate at Cambridge University. He had arrived in Cairo to research informal labor organization and to improve his Arabic. He was aware of the politically sensitive nature of his research and according to his supervisor at the American University in Cairo, “He steered clear of anything politicized” and was cautious in his work.
It has not been ruled out that Mr. Regeni’s death was the result of a random criminal act, either a failed kidnapping or a militant act.
Gentoli stated, “Obviously, we are very upset for what happened, and we asked the Egyptian government to cooperate and to allow the Italian authorities to be involved in the inquiry to understand what happened there.” Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ensured that Egyptian authorities will pay, “the utmost attention to investigating the incident.”
Egyptian novelist, Ahdaf Soueif, stated on her Facebook page that there was, “something so extra sad about a person who comes to Egypt in good faith to live and study and gets caught in a nightmare, this obtuse and brutal thuggery that’s the undertone of our lives here today.”
For more information, please see:
CNN – Italian Student Who Went Missing in Cairo Found Battered and Dead – 4 February 2016
Reuters – Body of Italian Student Shows Signs of Torture: Egyptian Officials – 4 February 2016
The New York Times – An Italian’s Brutal Death in Egypt Chills Relations – 4 February 2016
The Washington Post – Italian Student’s Battered Remains Reveal Torture and ‘Slow Death,’ Egyptian Prosecutor Says
– 4 February 2016