Office of the Prosecutor: 10 November 2012 – 19 December 2012
Office of the Prosecutor: 20 December 2012 – 28 January 2013
Special Features
European Lawmakers Call on the EU Foreign Policy Chief to Implement Magnitsky Sanctions
Press Release
Hermitage Capital
13 February 2013 – Ahead of the upcoming posthumous trial in Russia of Sergei Magnitsky, scheduled in Moscow for next Monday, European lawmakers called upon the European Commission Vice-President Catherine Ashton to implement EU-wide visa sanctions and asset freezes against Russian officials implicated in the Magnitsky case. The recommendation to introduce visa sanctions and asset freezes was adopted by the European Parliament last October in an overwhelming vote in favor.
“The broad parliamentary support for this recommendation reflects the widespread indignation, in Russia and around the world, over the arrest of Mr Magnitsky, the inhuman conditions of his detention and the serious allegations surrounding his subsequent death in custody,” said the group of lawmakers on behalf of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament.
“The continuing posthumous prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky is a further violation of international and Russian law and clearly indicates the malfunctioning of the Russian criminal justice system and the systemic failure of the Russian state to protect its citizens,” wrote the European parliamentarians Guy Verhofstadt, Kristiina Ojuland, Marietje Schaake, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff in their formal address posted on the European Parliament’s website.
“While recognising that visa restrictions and other restrictive measures are not traditional judicial sanctions per se but constitute a political signal of the EU’s concern to a larger target audience and thus remain a necessary and legitimate foreign policy tool, does the VP/HR [vice-president of the European Commission] intend to raise this matter at the Foreign Affairs Council?” asked the European parliamentarians writing on behalf of the ALDE group in the European Parliament.
Parliamentarians are calling for answers on the position of Catherine Ashton, EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on the “need to establish a common EU list of officials responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky and for the subsequent judicial cover-up, to impose and implement an EU-wide visa ban on these officials and to freeze any financial assets they or their immediate family may hold inside the European Union.”
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/
See Question from ALDE on European Parliament website:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=OQ&reference=O-2013-000010&format=XML&language=EN
Moldova is Fifth Country to Launch a Money Laundering Investigation into the $230m Tax Rebate Fraud Uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky
Press Release
Hermitage Capital
11 February 2013 – The Moldovan authorities have opened a criminal money laundering case on the basis of $53m of funds laundered through Moldova connected to the $230m theft identified and exposed by Russian anti corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The case was opened in response to a formal complaint filed by Hermitage Capital Management in June last year, reported the EU Observer (http://euobserver.com/
“A criminal prosecution was started by…the National Anti-Corruption Centre – on money laundering in December 2012. The case is now being investigated,” wrote the Moldovan anti-corruption agency in response to EU Observer.
By opening a criminal investigation into money laundering, Moldova joins Switzerland, Cyprus, Latvia and Lithuania who all have launched money laundering investigations into the trail of funds stolen from the Russian treasury with the involvement of Russian government officials and organized criminals. So far, no bank accounts have been frozen in Moldova in relation to this case.
“Moldova was chosen as a transit point by the Russian organised criminal group behind the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars and the arrest and death of Sergei Magnitsky. An investigation held in cooperation with European law enforcement bodies could help identify further recipients and beneficiaries of the stolen and laundered funds across the EU,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.
According to the Moldovan National Anti-Corruption Centre, Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat said he would personally monitor the case, reported the EU Observer.
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/
Cherif Bassiouni: Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award Address
Article courtesy of:
ISISC Secretariat
ISISC- Istituto Superiore Internazionale di Scienze Criminali
International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences
Via Logoteta 27, 96100 Siracusa, Italia
Tel.: +39 0931 414515 / 21495
Fax: +39 0931 67622
email: segreteria@isisc.org
website: www.isisc.org
New IHRDC Testimony: A Child Unprotected and the Life of a Lesbian in Iran
Testimony of Mina Dehghani Sarkazi: A Child Unprotected
The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)—a human rights treaty that requires that states act in the best interests of the child and safeguard the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children.
In many jurisdictions, including that of the IRI, properly implementing the CRC would require significant revision of child custody and guardianship laws, as well as laws protecting against abuse and exploitation. Article 19 of the CRC provides that the state should protect children against abuse and mistreatment—however according to evidence collected by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center the IRI judiciary and legal framework often falls short in this regard. In this short video testimony, Mina Dehghani Sarkazi—a survivor of child abuse who fled Iran last year—explains how Iranian courts offered her no legal recourse when she was abused by her father. She also describes the challenges of her new life as a refugee in Turkey.
Watch the video here: http://www.iranhrdc.org/
Testimony of Maryam Ahmadi: The Life of a Lesbian in Iran
“In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your countries. We don’t have that in our country…I don’t know who has told you that we have it.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – September 24, 2007, Columbia University, USA
Despite the claims of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the contrary, individuals with homosexual sexual orientation do live in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI).
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center has interviewed many members of Iran’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community about the government’s violation of their basic human rights and the discrimination they face in society. The video clip below is part of a long audio interview with Maryam Ahmadi, an Iranian lesbian who was lashed and imprisoned for nine months on account of her sexual orientation. In this clip she talks about her court case and her life in Iran—including the abuse she was subjected to by her family, who disapproved of her lifestyle. Maryam also describes her eventual escape to Turkey, where she is currently living in difficult conditions while her application for asylum with the UNHCR—the United Nations Refugee Agency—is pending.
Watch the video here: http://www.iranhrdc.org/
For further information please contact:
Gissou Nia
Executive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: gnia@iranhrdc.org
Phone: +1 203 654 9342