Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

Global Magnitsky Bill Introduced in the Canadian Parliament

12 June 2015 – Irwin Cotler, Canadian MP, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and chair of the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Inter-Parliamentary Group, has introduced the Global Magnitsky Bill to the Canadian parliament. The bill, entitled the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act [C-689], calls for sanctions on international human rights violators anywhere in the world, and is similar to the U.S. Global Magnitsky bill currently making its way through the U.S. Congress.

Explaining his new bill, Irwin Cotler MP said:

“The victims of human-rights violations in Russia and around the world… and the courageous activists who stand up to rights-violating regimes at great personal risk – were on my mind when I rose on Tuesday in the House to present my legislation… Countries that value human rights and the rule of law must use the measures at our disposal to hold violators to account and discourage future violations. Otherwise, we are exposed as having far less concern for these noble principles than our usual rhetoric.”

Introducing the legislation, Irwin Cotler MP paid an emotional tribute to his friend and advocate of Magnitsky sanctions legislation, Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated near the Kremlin in Moscow three months ago.

“I could almost feel the presence of my late friend Boris Nemtsov, the leader of the democratic Russian opposition who was murdered near the Kremlin earlier this year,” said Irwin Cotler.

Boris Nemtsov publicly supported Irwin Cotler in 2012 when the Magnitsky legislation was first introduced in the Canadian parliament.

“Magnitsky was killed by prosecutors and prison management…Putin government supported the murderers… The idea of the [Magnitsky] Act is to implement sanctions against absolutely concrete corrupt officials and people who are responsible for killing Magnitsky,” said Boris Nemtsov.

“As a country with the low level of corruption and rule of law, Canada has to fight against criminals and against corruption. You are not against Russia, you are against corruption, against criminals. It will be very painful for Russian corrupt bureaucracy to get such kind of law from Canada. Very painful. Because corrupt system in Russia means that they have property outside of the country, they relax outside the country, they send their kids to get education outside…”

(Listen to the full speech by Boris Nemtsov in Canada in 2012, starting after introduction at 4 min.: http://www.ipolitics.ca/2015/03/02/when-nemtsov-came-to-ottawa/)

In March this year, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously supported the initiative to introduce Magnitsky sanctions on individual human-rights violators, including those involved in the 2009 detention, torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky. A similar motion was adopted in the Canadian Senate a few weeks later. Yet, the Canadian Government has not acted on the call from parliamentarians.

“There is still time for the [Canadian] government to either take over my bill or to introduce similar legislation of its own, out of respect for the unanimous will of Canadian MPs, and out of solidarity with the victims of human-rights violations and those who struggle valiantly on their behalf, in Russia and around the world,” said Irwin Cotler, MP.

For more information, please contact:

Magnitsky Justice Campaign

+44 2074401777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

website: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

Twitter: @KatieFisher__

Video of Irwin Cotler MP introducing the Global Magnitsky Bill in the Canadian Parliament:

New Canadian Global Magnitsky Bill, C-689: “An Act to enact the Global Human Rights Accountability Act and to make related amendments to the Special Economic Measures Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act”

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=8035881
Original 2012 Canadian Magnitsky Bill, C-339: “An Act to condemn corruption and impunity in Russia in the case and death of Sergei Magnitsky”

http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?billId=6253662&Language=E&Mode=1
The Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Inter-Parliamentary Group website:

http://ipg-magnitsky.org/

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11 June 2015 – The European Parliament has adopted the Magnitsky Sanctions Motion which demands that EU Foreign Affairs chief Federica Mogherini act “without delay” and introduce sanctions on Russian officials involved in the Magnitsky case.

The motion proposed by European Parliament’s Rapporteur on the state of EU-Russia relations Gabrielius Landsbergis, MEP, was adopted by 494 votes to 135, with 69 abstentions.

The Magnitsky Sanctions motion highlights the assassinations of Boris Nemtsov, Sergey Magnitsky, Anna Politkovskaya, Natalya Estemirova, Alexander Litvinenko and others, and demands their proper, independent investigations.

 The Magnitsky Sanctions motion adopted by the European Parliament states:

 “European Parliament…reiterates its call on the Council to … adopt, upon a proposal which should be submitted without delay by the VP/HR, restrictive measures for the officials involved in the well-documented Magnitsky case.”

Previously, Ms Mogherini, EU VP/HR (Vice President and High Representative) for foreign affairs and security policy, strongly opposed the enactment of EU-wide Magnitsky sanctions, in spite of four resolutions by the European Parliament in their favour. In a letter to the European parliament members on 12 January 2015, Ms Mogherini steadfastly refused to impose sanctions on Russian officials in the Magnitsky case.

“I consider that additional sanctions targeting human rights violators would not be the appropriate response as they would risk neither triggering a change in policy nor improving the human rights situation,” said Ms Mogherini at the time in her letter.

One and a half month after Ms Mogherini’s refusal, Boris Nemtsov, the leading proponent of the EU Magnitsky sanctions, and a key Russian leader of the opposition to president Putin, was assassinated next to the Kremlin.

In his public appearances before his assassination, Boris Nemtsov stated his belief that Magnitsky sanctions, enacted by the United States under the “US Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012,” represented the “most powerful instrument against killers and cleptocrats” (see in Russian at 27 min of youtube video debate with Boris Nemtsov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n1AJ0oCIJE)

Boris Nemtsov campaigned for the adoption of Magnitsky sanctions by the EU and for the expansion of the US Magnitsky sanctions list.

“We owe it to the memory of the courageous Russian patriots Sergei Magnitsky and Boris Nemtsov to create consequences for those in Russia who act with impunity and continue to cover up brutal murders with a straight face in the international settings. Inaction by Ms Mogherini today, after the fifth vote by the European Parliament, is no longer acceptable,” said Bill Browder, leader of the Magnitsky Justice campaign.

 

For more information, please contact:

 Magnitsky Justice Campaign

+44 2074401777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

website: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

Twitter: @KatieFisher__

 

 

Russian Government Continues to Eliminate Evidence in the Magnitsky Case by Destroying Video Recordings of Magnitsky’s Last Hours in Detention

5 June 2015 – The Russian authorities have told Sergei Magnitsky’s mother that they have destroyed the video recordings of Sergei Magnitsky’s last hours before his killing in Matrosskaya Tishina detention center.

In correspondence with Sergei Magnitsky’s mother, General Major V.Alyshev, Deputy Head of the Russian Investigative Committee’s Main Investigative Department, has confirmed the Russian authorities have destroyed the video records from Matrosskaya Tishina.

“Video recordings from video surveillance cameras …have not been seized due to objective reasons– due to the expiry of the period of storage on the disc,” said General Major of the Russian Investigative Committee V. Alyshev.

Sergei Magnitsky was transferred to Matrosskaya Tishina detention center at 6:30 pm of 16 November 2009. Less than three hours later he was found dead with signs of bodily injuries in the isolation cell. The official Russian investigation into his death found that he died from a heart problem and that he had caused his own injuries.

An independent domestic investigation by the Moscow Public Oversight Commission concluded Sergei Magnitsky was kept in detention in torturous conditions, that civilian doctors were not allowed by detention center officials to enter his cell for an hour and eighteen minutes before his death, while a team of eight detention center officers restrained him and beat him. Immediately after Magnitsky’s death, detention center officials showed some video footage of Sergei Magnitsky to members of the Moscow Public Oversight Commission. However, video recordings from Matrosskaya Tishina have been absent from the Magnitsky’s death case investigation file.

In response to the request from Magnitsky family about the whereabouts of the video footage from Matrosskaya Tishina, the Russian Investigative Committee reported that the recording has been destroyed:

“[Video recording] is automatically deleted from the hard drive after 30 days, and new information is recorded in its place,” General Major Alyshev has informed Magnitsky’s mother.

“It is consistent with the overall cover-up of Sergei Magnitsky’s murder that the key video evidence from the crime scene was not preserved. An investigation should be opened into those who allowed the destruction of the videos,” said a representative of Justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign.

 

For more information, please contact:

 Magnitsky Justice Campaign

+44 2074401777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

website: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

 

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

Russian Government Destroys Evidence in the Magnitsky Death Case In Spite of his Family’s Request to Preserve Them

3 June 2015 – The Russian Government has been destroying records and evidence in the Sergei Magnitsky death case defying his family’s appeals to preserve them.

Sergei Telyatnikov, Head of Butyrka detention center, has notified the Magnitsky family that the detention center has destroyed all records containing data on transporting Sergei Magnitsky to court and therefore could not disclose to the family information evidencing his conditions. This is in spite of numerous requests from the Magnitsky family to the Russian government bodies to safeguard and preserve all documents and evidence concerning him.

“Those involved in destroying the records in relation to the Magnitsky case should realize their responsibility in covering up his torture and murder. Appeals have been filed to all Russian state bodies to preserve this evidence so justice can be obtained for the Magnitsky family in this horrific case,” said a representative of Justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign.
Sergei Magnitsky described the circumstances of his transportation to court from Butyrka in his complaints and letters to his lawyer.

In a letter to his lawyer dated 8 August 2009, Sergei Magnitsky described them as “meat grinder for labour camps”:

“Justice in these conditions turns into the process of grinding human meat into mince for prisons and labour camps, the process in which a man cannot effectively defend himself, cannot even comprehend what is happening to him, and can only think when all of this is going to end, when can he get rid of this physical and emotional torture and get to the camp where the degree of human suffering …turns out to be less …than here where you are being put through the grinder.”

Sergei Magnitsky detailed one episode of being transported back to his detention center cell from a court hearing at which he challenged his rights violations by the Russian Interior Ministry.

“All of us, about 20 people, were placed in a collection cell… This cell is about 22 sq m, without windows, with one ventilation hatch to the corridor, which also does not have windows… The toilet was not separated and no one could make themselves use it...There was no tap with water… We banged on the door, but for a long time nobody came. Finally, a staffer of the detention center came and asked why we are banging. I said that I needed to take medicine and asked that we be taken to our cells soon. The staffer said that it will happen soon, closed the door and left. In another half hour, we heard the noise of the locks, and I heard that the door was beingopened. But instead of taking us out, they brought in another 20 people who came from other court hearings. Almost all of them started smoking. One could not breath. There were at least 40 people in the cell… We spent like this another hour and a half, and then they started taking us to cells. I ended up in my cell only half pasteleven.….”

For more information, please contact:

Magnitsky Justice Campaign

+44 2074401777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

website: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

 

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

Canada’s Senate Adopts Magnitsky Sanctions Resolution

6 May 2015 – The Canadian Senate has adopted the Magnitsky sanctions motion and condemned those involved in the cover up of the $230 million corruption exposed by Sergei Magnitsky.

“Joining with parliaments around the world, the Senate’s adoption of this motion expresses our commitment to accountability for foreign nationals who commit the most serious violations of human rights,” said Senator Andreychuk, who introduced the motion in the Senate of Canada.

The Canadian resolution condemns the unprecedented posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky in Russia, and those who have been involved in covering up the crimes he exposed.

The Resolution encourages sanctions against any foreign nationals who were responsible for the detention, torture or death of Sergei Magnitsky, or who have been involved in covering up the crimes he exposed.

Comparable resolutions, motions and acts have been adopted by the European Parliament, the British House of Commons, the Dutch Parliament, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and others.

Senator Linda Frum, supporting the Senate motion, said:

“We in Canada and other countries where justice and the rule of law prevail must always speak up and take action when possible against foreign nationals who commit crimes and violate human rights, and then attempt to cover them up. Sergei Magnitsky’s courage, which led to his torture and death, should be recognized and applauded everywhere.”

The Senate’s Magnitsky Motion further calls upon the Canadian government to explore sanctions against any foreign nationals responsible for violations of internationally recognized human rights in a foreign country, when authorities in that country are unable or unwilling to conduct a thorough, independent and objective investigation of the violations.

A similar motion was adopted unanimously by all parties in the House of Commons on March 25, 2015.

“The adoption in the Canadian parliament of the Magnitsky motion is a significant step forward in bringing accountability and consequences for the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky and the global fight against Russian impunity,” said William Browder, leader of the Magnisky Justice campaign and author of best-selling book ‘Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s Number One Enemy,’ released in nine languages and thirteen countries (www.billbrowder.com).

For more information, please contact:

Magnitsky Justice Campaign

+44 2074401777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

website: www.lawandorderinrussia.org

Twitter: @KatieFisher__