Press Release
Hermitage Capital

5 March 2013 – In a further escalation of the persecution of Hermitage executives and lawyers by the Russian authorities, this morning the Russian Interior Ministry announced new spurious allegations targeting William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management.  The retaliatory campaign of state slander, posthumous prosecution and intimidation gained momentum in Russia after President Putin’s personal attack on Mr Browder two months ago at a national press conference. This morning, the Russian Interior Ministry made further accusation against Mr. Browder alleging “theft” of Gazprom shares by companies affiliated with the Hermitage Fund ten years ago and accusing Bill Browder of attempting to interfere with Gazprom’s strategic direction through requests for financial information and for campaigning for a seat on the board of the company between 2001 and 2004. The Russian Interior Ministry also threatened to use international search and arrest warrants in their “investigation” into Browder.

“The Interior Ministry’s allegations against Hermitage are spurious and without any foundation. The only logic that support the allegation of “theft” of Gazprom shares would be to think that the assets of the company belong to the company’s management who also happens to run the country, not to its investors and shareholders,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

“These absurd allegations are clearly motivated by the retaliation to our global campaign for justice for Sergei Magnitsky. Our campaign angers and scares the Russian officials who want to keep their criminally obtained wealth abroad. But this intimidation and harassment will not stop the campaign that is carried out by many people and organizations around the world,” said William Browder.

Mr Browder has been running a global campaign for justice seeking sanctions against Russian officials involved in the killing in Russian police custody of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The campaign has also traced significant amounts of the money that had been paid by Hermitage in taxes to the Russian Government and subsequently stolen by the Russian officials and criminals through a sophisticated fraud scheme, which is now being investigated across a number of EU countries at Hermitage’s request.

“The Russian authorities are now desperate to extend their abuse outside their own territory and use the international criminal justice channels to further harass Hermitage and stop justice from being done, –  said a Hermitage Capital representative. – These efforts have already been condemned in 2009 by the Council of Europe of which Russia is a member which issued recommendations to all member countries to reject any requests of assistance from the Russian government in relation to Hermitage executives and lawyers.”

The recent escalation in the Russian government’s attack on Hermitage follows directly from President Vladimir Putin’s 20 December 2012 press conference, where he was confronted seven times by journalists about the Magnitsky Act adopted in the United States. President Putin promised to “delve deeper” into this case.

Four days later, in an unprecedented U-turn, the Russian public prosecutor asked for an acquittal of Dmitry Kratov, the only Russian official brought to a trial for the death of Sergei Magnitsky. As a result, no one has been convicted for Mr Magnitsky’s death.

The following month, Russian state-controlled media began a campaign to slander Sergei Magnitsky and his colleagues.

In February, Sergei Magnitsky’s brother-in-law and colleagues received summonses for interrogation from the Russian Interior Ministry and were intimidated with threats of criminal prosecution.

Yesterday, the posthumous trial against Sergei Magnitsky began, which is the first posthumous trial in the history of Russia.

This morning, the Interior Ministry put forward more spurious allegations against Bill Browder and Sergei Magnitsky in relation to Gazprom shares.

“The ownership of Gazprom shares was completely legal. It was approved by the Russian authorities and the Russian Federal Securities Commission as well as Gazprom itself. If one took these accusations seriously then every foreign investor in Russia should be under arrest,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

Hermitage was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, but had to wind down its operations in Russia when the Russian government revoked the visa of its Bill Browder, Hermitage’s CEO, on “national security” grounds. Hermitage’s Moscow offices were then raided by the Russian Interior Ministry who seized documents, which were used in the expropriation of three of its investment companies and the theft of $230 million of taxes paid by Hermitage to the Russian government. The Interior Ministry then launched retaliatory criminal cases against Hermitage executives and lawyers who exposed the multi-million thefts from the Russian budget. After Sergei Magnitsky testified about official involvement in the crimes, he was arrested, tortured and killed in Moscow police custody. The Russian government has now tried to posthumously blame the theft on Mr Magnitsky, who paid with his life for exposing their crimes.

 

For further information please contact:
Hermitage Capital
Phone:             +44 207 440 1777
Email:              info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:           http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:            @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     //hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

Jennifer Trahan is associate clinical professor at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs (NYU-SCPS). She is also chair of the American Branch of the International Law Association International Criminal Court Committee and was a member of the American Bar Association’s 2010 International Criminal Court Task Force.

A little-noticed event has taken place.  Before he returned to Yale Law School, top State Department Legal Advisor Harold H. Koh has made it clear in three speeches that the U.S. (despite an earlier writing to the contrary made under the Bush Administration), does respect the “object and purpose” of the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute.  In other words, the U.S. considers itself a signatory to the treaty.  Koh’s words—which reaffirm only a lose commitment to support the Court—are nonetheless a significant step in the right direction, continuing the U.S.’s policy (under the Obama Administration) of positive engagement with the ICC.

On December 31, 2000, then-U.S. War Crimes Ambassador David Scheffer signed the Rome Statute on behalf of the U.S.  Under article 18 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, a signatory is obligated not to do anything that would undermine the “object and purpose” of a treaty.  (The U.S., which is not a party to the Vienna Convention, does recognize it as customary international law.)  However, by note dated May 6, 2002, the Bush Administration stated that the U.S. was no longer bound by the obligations of a signatory. Specifically, the note from John R. Bolton stated that “the United States does not intend to become a party to the treaty.  Accordingly, the United States has no legal obligations arising from its signature on December 31, 2000.”

Koh has now orally negated the Bolton note by remarks he made that the Administration’s policy is not to defeat the object and purpose of the Rome Statute.  He stated this at N.Y.U.’s Center for Global Affairs on October 27, 2010, the Grotius Center of Leiden University on November 16, 2012, and the New York City Bar Association on November 26, 2012.

The Bolton 2002 note did not in fact withdraw the U.S.’s signature because there is no provision in the Vienna Convention for removing a signature to a treaty.  Yet, it was nonetheless a dispiriting low-point that the Bush Administration chose not to adhere to even the very minimal obligations of a signatory to the treaty—not to undermine the “object and purpose” of the ICC.

While various NGOs and others—including the American Branch of the International Law Association’s International Criminal Court Committee (which this author chairs)—have urged the Obama Administration to send a new note negating the Bush Administration’s note, Koh’s oral statements are nonetheless welcome.  While the statements do not necessarily have the weight of a counter-note, hopefully, support will galvanize to send such a counter-note.  Koh has taken the position that Bolton’s note is merely a piece of “graffiti” and no further action is required; yet, the U.N., in its listing of Rome Statute States Parties and signatories has a footnote by the U.S.’s name still reflecting the Bolton note as the official position of the U.S. government.

Being a signatory only creates a loose commitment for a state to support a treaty, and is in no way akin to joining the treaty—done through the process of ratification or accession.  The U.S.—which now supports the ICC’s work on a case-by-case basis—should have no problem in supporting the “object and purpose” of a court designed to prosecute the worst instances of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

*Article re-posted with permission of author*

Dear all,

Please find below the news headlines on international criminal justice from February. You can find past headlines and other relevant resources on the International Association of Prosecutors’ (IAP) Forum for International Criminal Justice(FICJ) website.
The FICJ is password protected and only IAP members have access. This is meant to facilitate open and frank dialogue between prosecutors. Please contact Evie Sardeman, Office Manager (OM@iap-association.org) or Janne Holst Hübner, Communication Manager (CM@iap-association.org) with questions about IAP membership and website access.

 

******

28 February
Haiti’s ex-ruler ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier attends court 
(Source: BBC News)
Haiti’s former ruler Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier has appeared in court for a hearing to determine if he can be charged with crimes against humanity. At the hearing he denied responsibility for abuses carried out during his time as president, between 1971 and 1986. Human rights groups say hundreds of political prisoners were tortured or killed under his rule…

Bangladesh war crimes tribunal sentences Jamaat-e-Islami leader to death 
(Source: Jurist)
The International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) on Thursday sentenced to death Jamaat-e-Islami party (JI) leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedee. Following the death sentence, violence between police and activists from Sayeedee’s party ensued throughout the country resulting in at least 30 deaths while more than 300 were wounded…

ICTY overturns ex-Yugoslav army chief’s war crimes conviction 
(Source: Jurist)
The appeals chamber of the ICTY on Thursday overturned the convictions of ex-Yugoslav army chief Momcilo Perisic for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war. The appeals chamber found that the court’s trial chamber had failed to apply the law correctly when it determined that “specific direction is not an element of aiding and abetting liability.”…

27 February
Trial delay likely for Kenya’s ICC accused 
(Source: Al Jazeera)
Kenyan presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate, William Ruto, have won a reprieve in their legal fight against accusations of crimes against humanity…”At the same time, the prosecution recognises that logistical constraints such as courtroom availability make a trial on April 11, 2013, unlikely. Therefore, the prosecution does not object to a reasonable adjournment, to allow time for protective measures to be put in place for the witnesses whose identities remain to be disclosed and to provide the defence with adequate time to prepare.”..

26 February
Britain pledges £1.4 mn for Cambodia war crimes court
(Source: AFP)
Britain pledged £1.4 million ($2.1 million, 1.6 million euros) on Monday to fund Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge war crimes court, which is close to running out of money. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the court, which is trying top leaders of the murderous communist regime that ruled Cambodia in the late 1970s, was one of the most important since the post-World War II Nuremberg trials…

23 February
Uruguay high court declares dictatorship trials unconstitutional 
(Source: Jurist)
The Uruguay Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a 2011 law allowing for investigations into crimes committed during the country’s 1973-1985 dictatorship is unconstitutional. Uruguay’s legislature passed the law in 2011, allowing the government to investigate human rights violations that occurred during the 12-year dictatorship and not subjecting these violations to a statute of limitations…

21 February
Jury convicts Rwandan of lying about genocide to enter U.S.
(Source: Los Angeles Times)
A year after her first trial ended without a verdict, a Rwandan-born woman was convicted by a second jury Thursday of lying about her role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide to gain entry to the United States. A judge immediately stripped 43-year-old Beatrice Munyenyezi of her citizenship, 10 years after she was granted it in the same Concord, N.H., courthouse where her two trials took place. Munyenyezi became the fourth member of her family to be convicted of crimes stemming from Rwanda’s 1994 political turmoil and genocide, which left hundreds of thousands of people dead across the East African nation…

20 February
I. Coast’s Gbagbo ‘responsible’ for post-poll bloodshed, ICC hears
(Source: AFP)
Ivorian ex-president Laurent Gbagbo bears responsibility for some of the worst crimes committed during a bloody post-election standoff in the west African nation two years ago, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said on Tuesday. “We will show that Mr Gbagbo and forces under his control are responsible for the death, rapes, serious injuries to, and arbitrary detention of countless law abiding citizens,” Fatou Bensouda told judges at the Hague-based ICC…

Rwanda: ICTR Speaks Out On Genocide Cases in France
(Source: allAfrica)
The Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has said that structural concerns are the reason France has delayed to try cases of Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and Laurent Bucyibaruta which were referred to Paris under the tribunal’s completion strategy in 2007…

18 February
U.N. Rights Officials Urge Syria War Crimes Charges
(Source: New York Times)
The United Nations Security Council should refer Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to prosecute those responsible for war crimes and other abuses committed in nearly two years of conflict, Carla del Ponte, a United Nations human rights investigator, said Monday…

17 February
Rwandan jailed in Norway genocide trial
(Source: The Local)
A 47-year-old Rwandan was on Thursday jailed for 21 years by an Oslo court for being complicit in the massacres of more than 2,000 people in his home country in 1994. Sadi Bugingo, a 47-year-old Hutu who has lived in Norway since 2001, was found guilty of being an accessory to genocide for ensuring that orders issued for the killings were carried out. He did not face any charges of having carried out any killings himself. The 21-year-sentence demanded by prosecutors is the maximum available in Norway…

14 February
Bangladesh: Post-Trial Amendments Taint War Crimes Process
(Source: Human Rights Watch)
Retroactive legislation that violates fair trial standards undermines the legitimacy of the work of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT). The amendments were offered to enable an appeals court to overturn a life sentence imposed on Abdul Qader Mollah and impose the death penalty…

11 February
Kenya’s Odinga taunts vote rival over war crimes court
(Source: Reuters)
Raila Odinga, the frontrunner in Kenya’s presidential election, taunted his rival Uhuru Kenyatta in a debate on Monday, asking how he would be able to rule from the Hague, where Kenyatta goes on trial shortly on charges of crimes against humanity…

10 February
Bangladesh to amend war crimes law amid protest
(Source: Reuters)
Bangladesh is planning to amend a law to allow the government to appeal for tougher penalties for war criminals, the law minister said on Sunday, the sixth day of protests since a convicted Islamist leader got a sentence many people think was too light…

Rwanda: ICTR’s Weak Legacy Further Tarnished By Acquittals
(Source: allAfrica)
While the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has in the past already been criticized for having a relatively low output compared to its huge budget, at least it contributed to justice with its convictions and a few mostly justified acquittals.That legacy, however, is now being eroded by a series of incomprehensible acquittals by the appeals chamber, especially of people who were high-ranking officials at the time of the Genocide against the Tutsis…

9 February
Senegal war crimes court starts work on Habre trial
(Source: AFP)
A special African court set up to try ex-Chadian president Hissene Habre for war crimes and crimes against humanity officially began its work on Friday in Senegal, where he has lived in exile for over two decades. The trial against Habre, delayed for years by Senegal where he has lived since being ousted in 1990, will set a historic precedent as until now African leaders accused of atrocities have only been tried in international courts…

7 February
Thousands in Bangladesh war crimes protest 
(Source: Aljazeera)
Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied in cities across Bangladesh for a third consecutive day, demanding the execution of a religious political leader who was sentenced to life in prison for war crimes committed during the country’s 1971 war of independence. The sentencing of Abdul Quader Mollah by a war crimes tribunal on Tuesday for charges including murder, rape and torture was the second verdict in trials that have reopened the wounds of Bangladesh’s struggle to break away from Pakistan…

ICC: Libya Must Hand Over Gadhafi Spy Chief 
(Source: VOA News)
International Criminal Court judges ordered Libya on Thursday to hand over Moammar Gadhafi’s former spy chief and let him see his lawyer, raising the stakes in a dispute over who has the right to try the deposed strongman’s top lieutenants. The statement placed the Hague-based court on a collision course with Libya’s new rulers, who say Gadhafi-era leaders in their custody should face local justice over charges of mass killings and other atrocities…

6 February
Kenyan war crimes suspect asks international court to reconsider trial decision
(Source: Washington Post)
One of four prominent Kenyans charged with involvement in crimes including murder and deportation following disputed elections wants the International Criminal Court to reconsider its decision to put him on trial, saying it was based on “fraudulent evidence.” In a written motion released Wednesday, lawyers for Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta have asked the court to halt the April 11 start of his trial and again assess whether prosecution evidence is strong enough to warrant his prosecution…

5 February
Bangladesh: Abdul Kader Mullah gets life sentence for war crimes
(Source: BBC News)
A war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh has found a leader of the main Islamist party guilty of crimes against humanity during the war for independence from Pakistan in 1971. Abdul Kader Mullah of Jamaat-e-Islami, who denied all the charges, was sentenced to life in prison. Official estimates say more than three million people were killed in the war…

A flawed international tribunal [Bangladesh]
(Source: The Law Society Gazette)
…Sadly, the so-called international tribunal, which is trying 12 individuals, is tainted. Opponents describe it as a political witch-hunt against Jamaat-e-Islami. In December, the tribunal chairman, Mohammed Nizamul Huq, resigned when a dossier of emails and telephone conversations came to light suggesting collusion between the government, prosecution counsel and judges…

4 February
Rwanda genocide: ICTR overturns ex-ministers’ convictions
(Source: BBC News)
A UN-backed court has overturned the genocide convictions of two Rwandan former ministers and ordered their immediate release. Justin Mugenzi and Prosper Mugiraneza had been sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2011 for complicity, and incitement, to commit genocide. Analysts say Rwanda’s government is likely to be angry at their acquittal…

Press Release
Hermitage Capital

1 March 2013 – Ahead of the 4 March hearing in Moscow in the first ever posthumous trial in the history of Russia of dead whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, ten French lawmakers published an open letter calling on the Russian authorities to cease this “grim comedy” echoing of “repression” and take steps to bring Magnitsky killers to justice and protect his family from intimidation.

“Magnitsky killers should not be above the law, and the grim comedy of his posthumous trial must stop. Similarly, the ongoing harassment and suffering caused to his mother and widow must stop,” said French lawmakers.

The open letter published yesterday in the weekly French magazine Marianne (http://www.marianne.net/Monsieur-le-President-les-droits-de-l-Homme-en-Russie-c-est-maintenant-_a226954.html) is signed by Bruno Le Roux, President of the ruling Socialist group in the National Assembly, Senator Jean-Vincent Place, chairman of the Green faction in the Senate, Senator Andre Gattolin, Deputy Axelle Lemaire and other lawmakers from both the French Senate and National Assembly.

“Those whom Magnitsky sought to prove complicit with the impunity denounce him today and accusing him of fraud. His trial reopened in a closed court in Moscow a few days ago sounds like an echo of repressive mobilization,” said French parliamentarians.

French lawmakers urge Russia to return to the values of Enlightenment and the European Human Rights Convention which bars posthumous proceedings as being contrary to the principle of fair trial where people cannot obviously defend themselves.

“In ancient times the dead were sometimes judged – in ancient Egypt, in medieval Italy or in France of the Ancien Régime. But in the legal tradition of the Enlightenment, “it does not suit the corpses or the memory of the dead,” and the post-mortem condemnation of an accused is precluded by the European Court of Human Rights under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights ratified by the Russian Federation,” said French deputies and senators in their open letter.

In making their point about the Magnitsky case being symbolic of human rights violations, French lawmakers drew parallels between the Magnitsky’s ordeal and his prison diaries with the poignant description by Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn of the Soviet Gulag.

“Fifty years ago Alexander Solzhenitsyn published One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a literary narrative of the daily life of a “zek”, a prisoner of the Gulag, describing fatalism with deprivation and torture. The same attention to detail in his presentation but with a revolt of an alive was applied by the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky to explain in the hundreds of letters from prison in Moscow his ordeal and the reasons for his innocence. But after 358 days of detention, threats, isolation, cold and lack of care the determination of this young tax lawyer came to an end, when he died November 16, 2009 at the hands of his captors.”

 

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital
Phone:             +44 207 440 1777
Email:              info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:           @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     //hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

Press Release
Hermitage Capital

28 February 2013 – A major French opinion poll was published showing that 85% of the French people support the adoption of a Magnitsky Act in France. The poll results were released ahead of today’s meeting between French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin to show the widespread support in France for imposing EU-wide sanctions on Russian officials involved in the torture and murder of the whistle-blowing lawyer.

In a poll conducted by the French polling organization IFOP, an overwhelming majority of French population supports the idea of introducing legislation sanctioning Russian officials who commit human rights abuses with visa bans and asset freezes – measures similar to the those already adopted in the United States under the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act,” signed by U.S. President Barack Obama last December.

The polster asked the question: “The United States has recently passed a law to prohibit entry and block accounts and assets held by some Russian citizens suspected of crimes, but have not been pursued by the Russian justice. Would you support or oppose similar legislation to be adopted in France?,” and 85% of French respondents answered that they would support it.

Andre Gattolin, French Senator, said:  “With this type of public support we are now in a strong position to push through a resolution in the French Senate and National Assembly to freeze assets and ban visas for the Russian officials who killed Sergei Magnitsky and perpatrators of other similar crimes.”

“The overwhelming sentiment of the French public to support ban visas and asset freezes for the Russian human rights abusers will hit these people right where it counts. France is one of the key countries where they like to spend their ill gotten gains. They better enjoy their last remaining French holidays because their days of partying in Paris and Monaco are numbered,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

 

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital
Phone:             +44 207 440 1777
Email:              info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:           @KatieFisher_
Livejournal:     //hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

Survey published here:
http://www.metrofrance.com/111129-Les-Francais-et-les-libertes-publiques-et-le-respect-des-droits-de-lHomme-en-Russie.pdf

IFOP polling organization:

http://www.ifop.com/?option=com_in_brief