11 November 2015 – Alexei Navalny, Russian anti-corruption activist, whose brother has been jailed by Russian authorities since December 2014 on trumped up charges and who has been subjected to discriminatory pressure in detention, has urged the US Government to add new names onto the Magnitsky Sanctions list under the US Sergei Magnitsky Law (https://navalny.com/p/4533/) which imposes visa bans and asset freezes on gross human rights violators.

“[The Magnitsky Law] is a truly pro-Russian law…This is the law that protects Russian citizens from the lawlessness,” said Alexei Navalny on the role of the Magnitsky Act in today’s Russia.

“My brother [Oleg Navalny] is being held in jail as a hostage. His only guilt is that he is my brother,” said Alexei Navalny.

“Previously, each new wave of pressure on Oleg [Alexei Navalny’s brother] was precisely timed with my activities?and anti-corruption investigations. Now this pressure simply never subsides,” said Alexei Navalny about the treatment of his brother in Russian penal colony No 5.

Alexei Navalny and his colleagues have identified three officials responsible for applying the pressure to Navalny’s brother:

1. Yuri Dorokhin, deputy head of prison system in Orlov region;
2. Yuri Afanasiev, head of penal colony IK-5;
3. Gennady Grevtsev, deputy head of IK-5 colony in charge of security.

In the last several months, Oleg Navalny was moved three times to a penalty facility where he spent 45 days, according to Alexei Navalny’s colleague Vladimir Ashurkov (https://www.facebook.com/vladimir.ashurkov/posts/1059742160743615)

The United States passed the?Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in December 2012. The US law, named after deceased Hermitage Fund’s Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, imposes visa bans and asset freezes on those involved in his arrest, torture, death and cover-up, as well as other gross human rights abuses.

So far the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has publicly sanctioned 34 Russian nationals under the US Magnitsky Act, including 28 who played a role in the Magnitsky case and 6 persons involved in other gross human rights violations in Russia. The lists of names were previously published by the US Government on 12 April 2013, 20 May 2014 and 29 December 2014.

For more information please contact:

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

website: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI

Twitter: @KatieFisher__

 

5 October 2015 – Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian lawyer who exposed a $230 million corrupt scheme by Russian officials, has been posthumously honoured by the Allard Prize Committee for International Integrity. The recognition comes one month before the 6^thanniversary of his murder in Russian police custody at the age of 37.

Sergei Magnitsky’s mother, wife and son attended the award ceremony held in Vancouver, Canada at the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.

On accepting the honourable recognition on behalf of Sergei Magnitsky, his mother said:

“I would like to thank all people who remember Sergei. Because when the person is remembered, that person is alive. I recently saw a person who said I am alive because of Sergei’s sacrifice.”

Valery Borschev, chair of the Moscow Public Oversight Commission, who investigated how Sergei Magnitskyhad been tortured and murdered in police custody, said:

“Magnitsky lived like Solzhenitsyn wrote – don’t be afraid, don’t beg. I think he is a hero.”

Sergei Magnitsky was one of four finalists for the 2015 Allard Prize for International Integrity. The other finalists included Indonesia Corruption Watch, and two recipients of the prize – John Githongo, who exposed a $1 billion corruption scandal in the Kenyan government, and Rafael Marques de Morais, a journalist writing on issues of conflict diamonds and army brutality in Angola. (View the Allard Prize short film about Sergei Magnitsky and the other finalists)

The Allard Prize for International Integrity recognizes individuals and organisations who show exceptional courage and leadership in combating corruption.

Sergei Magnitsky’s name has become synonymous with the lack of rule of law in Russia. His torture and killing in Russian police custody after he uncovered and testified about Russian officials involved in the $230 million theft has led to the adoption of the 2012 Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in the United States which imposes targeted sanctions in the form of visa bans and asset freezes on those involved in his case, as well as in other gross human rights abuses. A Global Magnitsky Bill which would apply similar sanctions to cases of human rights violations around the world is currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate after its approval by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

For more information please contact:

 

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org  

website: www.lawandorderinrussia.org  

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI

Twitter: @KatieFisher__

 

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

Senior Coroner Has Ruled That Hermitage Capital is an ‘Interested Person’ in the Perepilichnyy Inquest in Surrey

6 August 2015 – Today, the Senior Coroner ruled that Hermitage Capital will be recognized as aninterested person in the Alexander Perepilichnyy inquest which took place in Surrey, England today. Hermitage Capital made the application because of specific facts which pointed to the possibilitythat Alexander Perepilichnyy was murdered in November 2012 in Surrey.

Hermitage Capital was forced to intervene in the coroners inquest because the Surrey police decided that Alexander Perepilichnyy’s death was ‘not suspicious’ and ‘did not involve third parties’. In written and oral applications submitted by Geoffrey Robertson QC and Henrietta Hill QC, Hermitage disclosed how Alexander Perepilichnyy had described fears over being murdered by members of the Russian organised crime connected to the Russian government.

“We cannot allow the Russian government to get away with murder in the UK. We will make sure that all the facts surrounding Alexander Perepilichnyy’s death, including any suggestion that it was linked with his involement in exposing the Russian organised crime connected to the Magnitsky case are elucidated in full at the inquest,” said William Browder, leader of Justice for Sergei MagnitskyCampaign.

In 2010, Alexander Perepilichnyy provided evidence to Hermitage Capital which lead to the freezing of accounts belonging to Vladlen Stepanov, husband of a senior Russian tax official held in Swiss banks. He twice testified to the Swiss prosecutors and subsequently received death threats by various elements inside the Russian government.

Alexander Perepilichnyy died on 10 November 2012 after returning from a trip to Paris. The British police closed the case but the French authorities have since opened a full murder investigation.

For more information, please contact:

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign

+44 207 440 1777

info@lawandorderinrussia.org

For Immediate Distribution

 30 July 2015 – Yesterday, in a landmark vote, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved “The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act,” paving the way for its approval for a full vote in the Senate. The Global Magnitsky Act extends the concept of personalised sanctions on kleptocrats and human rights violators around the world, giving hope to victims from any country where those abuses occurred.

“Sergei Magnitsky‘s epic battle against evil, his faith in the law, and his ultimate sacrifice continue to empower and inspire lawmakers around the world to take concrete action and create real consequences for human rights abusers“, said William Browder, leader of the Magnitsky Justice campaign.

The new legislation is authored by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who in 2010 together with Senator John McCain initiated the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act,” an innovative 21-century piece of legislation that for the first time has provided redress and a meaningful way to deter impunity for corruption and human rights abuses in Russia.

The Russia-specific Magnitsky bill became law in December 2012. Over 30 persons have been included on the public sanctions list since. Persons included on the sanctions list are publicly named on the federal register, prohibited from obtaining U.S. visas and subject to a freeze on all their U.S. assets and bank accounts.

The Global Magnitsky bill authorises the President to create similar consequences for persons involved in corruption, extrajudicial killings, torture and other human rights violations from all countries around the world.

“This is an important step in a long road of targeting human rights abusers and corrupt individuals around the globe who threaten the rule of law and deny human rights or fundamental freedoms,”said Senator Cardin.

The bill authorizes the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually to Congress regarding actions taken against human rights abusers. In determining the sanctions list, the President must consider requests made by the Chairperson and Ranking Member of one of a number of congressional committee.

For more information, please contact:

Magnitsky Justice Campaign

+44 2074401777

info@lawandorderinrussia.org

See also the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee press release on the passing of the Global Magnitsky Bill:

http://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/cardin-legislation-the-global-magnitsky-human-rights-accountability-act-approved-by-senate-foreign-relations-committee