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Russian Government Facilitates Lobbying by Convicted Criminal Klyuev Against Magnitsky Sanctions at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Monaco

Press Release

8 July 2012 – Dmitry Klyuev, convicted in 2006 for a $1.6 billion attempted fraud, and lawyer Andrey Pavlov, who were shown to be central to $800 million of successive frauds against the Russian treasury uncovered by the late Sergei Magnitsky, both attended the OSCE parliamentary assembly in Monaco today in order to lobby against the Magnitsky sanctions. Their participation was facilitated by members of the official Russian delegation.

In order to gain access to the OSCE parliamentary assembly facilities, two members of the Russian delegation gave their badges and escorted Klyuev and Pavlov to the OSCE Convention Center at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The Russian officials helping Klyuev and Pavlov’s attendance at the OSCE assembly were Gleb Reshetnikov, secretary of the Russian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (gleb@duma.gov.ru), and Ilya Kostunov, a deputy of the Russian Duma (http://www.duma.gov.ru/structure/deputies/131106/).

Gleb Reshetnikov (L) and Ilya Kostunov (R) helped Klyuev gain access to the OSCE parliamentary assembly.

“It is remarkable that Russian officials would advocate for convicted felon and his partner shown to have stolen $800 million from Russian people and involved in crimes that Sergei Magnitsky discovered for the exposure of which he was killed,” said a Hermitage representative.

Russian Duma deputy Ilya Kostunov who assisted Klyuev and Pavlov in Monaco is a former activist of Nashi youth movement, which is an organisation involved in attacks on Russian opposition figures and foreign diplomats. Most recently, in June 2012, Ilya Kostunov initiated an attack on Alexei Navalny, a prominent Russian blogger, over his anti-corruption work.

The details of the serial $800 million thefts and role played by Klyuev, Pavlov and his associates were revealed last month in “The Magnitsky Files,” an 18-minute movie shown in Washington by U.S. Senator John McChain and Freedom House David Kramer, and which is now available on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL9b5LP4Ubc)/.)  Over 280,000 Russians have watched it in the first week since its release.  The movie shows a pattern of joint trips by Russian government officials, Klyuev and Pavlov to Dubai, United Kingdom, and Cyprus after various crimes were committed.

Summarising the links between Russian government officials, Klyuev and his associates, U.S. Senator John McCain called on President Obama to proscribe the Klyuev group as a “transnational criminal organisation” and introduce targeted economic sanctions.

“Public information, much of it uncovered by Mr. Magnitsky himself before his arrest in Russia in 2008, suggests that the Klyuev Group has colluded with senior Russian officials to engage in bribery, fraud, embezzlement, company thefts, and other serious financial crimes…Activities of the Klyuev Group appear to put the U.S. and international financial systems at serious risk of abuse,” said Senator McCain (http://www.scribd.com/doc/98337177/Untitled).

“I write to you today to request that you begin a process to determine whether to designate and impose sanctions, under the Executive Order 13581, against a dangerous transnational criminal organization known as the “Klyuev Group,” said Senator McCain in the letter.

Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year old Russian lawyer who was investigating the money laundering by the KOCG, was falsely arrested, tortured and killed in police custody two and a half years ago. His killers have not been brought to justice in Russia.

The theatrics of swapping badges with the government officials for Klyuev and Pavlov to get access to the OSCE Parliamentary assembly was unnecessary. According to the communications director for OSCE PA Neil Simon:

“The annual session is open to the press and the public.”

 

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital

Phone:             +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail:             info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:            @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

Press Contact for OSCE PA:

Neil Simon
Director of Communications
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
+45 60 10 83 80
neil@oscepa.dk
www.oscepa.org

Danger Increases in Mali

By Vicki Turakhia
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali – School closures in Mali have increased the vulnerability for children making them susceptible to violence or recruitment as a child soldier. The increased violence in Mali has caused families to be torn apart. The age of the child soldiers are reported to be as young as 12 years old.

Since January, the fighting has displaced some 95,000 people within Mali and has forced more than 100,000 to flee (Photo Courtesy of All Africa).

Hassan Toure, a citizen of Mali, has stated that he chose to stay in Mali because he owns a shop there and wanted to prevent the shop from being destroyed or looted. But in March, Toure’s eldest son never returned home and is missing to this day.

While some children have been recruited as child soldiers, some girls also as young as 12, have been kidnapped and raped. In addition, UNICEF is fearful that 560,000 children are at risk for malnutrition this year with 220,000 needing a more involved treatment. Already, 70,000 children have already been treated for malnutrition in Mali this year.

Around 330,000 people have fled their homes in Mali, a fifth of them being children. Many of these people have fled to neighboring countries due to the fighting taking place in Mali.

As of April, the rebels in Mali have announced a new state called Azawad and are fighting with the help of the weapons from Libya. The group fighting for the separate state of Azawad calls themselves the Movement for the National Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and have been known to use child soldiers.

A separate group in Mali fighting against the MNLA, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), have also been using child soldiers. M’Bera, a refugee camp, is where many Malian citizens have gone to get away from the instability.

M’Bera is located in Mauritania and is now considered the fourth largest town in Mauritania. Security has become an issue, the Mauritanian government is reacting by providing free military escorts to aid workers. This is to prevent the same situation that occurred in Dadaab where aid workers were being kidnapped.

Other problems also remain with the availability of resources such as food, water, and firewood. The refugee population is now greater than the local population. The resources are depleted to a point where the humanitarian standard for providing 20 liters of water per person has been diminished to 10 liters per person, per day.

Solutions discussed include dispersing the people of Mali with the use of local hospitality of neighboring countries and people.

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Mali: Unicef Warns of Increasing Violence Against Children in North – 6 July 2012

Huffington Post – Mali Conflict: Children Recruited Into Armed Groups, U.N. Says – 6 July 2012

Yahoo News – Mali children raped, maimed, recruited by armed groups – 6 July 2012

All Africa – Mali: Beyond Big Refugee Camps – 3 July 2012

All Africa – Mali: Child Soldiers Used in Conflict – 4 May 2012

 

General Bachelet’s Death Confirmed as Aggravated by Torture

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile—On June 21, 2012, investigations confirmed that General Alberto Bachelet’s fatal heart-attack was induced by torture while he was held in captivity.

General Bachelet's Cause of Death Confirmed as Aggravated by Torture. (Photo Courtesy of Merco Press)

In 1973, Bachelet was charged with treason after showing support for the socialist President Salvador Allende in opposition to the military coup led by the late Augusto Pinochet. Bachelet died in captivity. Investigations as to the cause of his death were reopened by the Santiago Court of Appeals last year in 2011, along with another 700 cases of human rights violations under Pinochet’s regime and dictatorship.

Bachelet joined the Chilean army in 1940. He served as Brigaidier General in the Chilean Air Force and also served as a Secretary for President Allende’s government. Bachelet strongly opposed Pinochet’s military coup in 1973. Because of this, he was held captive at the Air Force’s War Academy along with many of his colleagues, where they were interrogated and tortured. Bachelet’s wife, Angela Jeria, and his daughter Michelle, did not escape Pinochet’s regime. They too were tortured and held in captivity until they were able to escape to Australia where they lived with relatives.

During the investigation, a forensic study was conducted by Judge Carroza, who was assigned to study and review the complaint brought by Bachelet’s relatives alleging that he had been tortured to death. The study convinced Carroza that “all the interrogations to which General Bachelet was submitted damaged his heart and was the likely cause of death.” Judge Carroza has also been assigned to investigating the death of former President Allende himself. While a team of international experts concluded that Allende committed suicide, many of his supporters suspect that he was killed by military soldiers.

Deputy Guillermo Tellier of Chile’s Communist Party (PC), who was also detained and tortured alongside Bachelet stated that, “The information submitted by Minister Carroza on the death of the father of former President Bachelet, apart from being painful for the family, is also painful for our entire society, which must relive these atrocities every time the justice system is able to establish the truth about the fate of our countrymen.”

In the General Cemetery, in Chile’s capitol city of Santiago, stands a memorial to honor more than 3,000 people who disappeared or were executed under Pinochet’s dictatorship. It is here that Alberto Bachelet is buried and his name appears on the monument along with thousands of other Chilean victims.

 

For further information, please see:

I Love Chile – Investigations Confirm Bachelet’s Father Died of Torture – 21 June 2012

Merco Press – Father of Former President Bachelet Was Tortured to Death by Pinochet Dictatorship – 21 June 2012

The Santiago Times – Bachelet’s Father Confirmed Among Chileans Tortured Under Pinochet – 21 June 2012

BBC News – Chile to Probe General Bachelet’s Death Under Pinochet – 25 August 2011

Turning Point for Human Rights in Azerbaijan

By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BAKU, Azerbaijan –  The legal affairs and human rights committee of the Council of Europe voted on a resolution that calls for Azerbaijani authorities to resolve the cases of more than 80 political prisoners and to ensure that no further arrests on politically motivated charges are made. By the passing of this resolution, the Council of Europe has sent a clear message to the Azerbaijan government to stop using its criminal justice system as a way to deal with political oppositions.

Vivdadi Isganderov, detained human rights defender. (Photo Courtesy of Frontline Defenders)

The adopted resolution comes from a report by Christoph Strässer, who was assigned to follow up on political prisoners in the country. Azerbaijan has denied Strässer’s visa for entry into the country since 2009. Strässer was forced to write his report without meeting with the political prisoners and relied on information provided by consulting Azerbaijani lawyers, and local and international human rights groups. His report listed around 100 political prisoners who are in detention due to trumped up charges.

Azerbaijan was admitted into the Council of Europe in 2001 but on the condition that they would release all political prisoners. Among the political prisoners is Vidadi Isganderov, a human rights defender who was sentenced for three years following a complaint he submitted to authorities alleging vote rigging during his 2010 parliamentary election. Instead of investigating his complain, he was charged and convicted of interfering with the elections.

“ARTICLE 19 welcomes this decision by the Council of Europe as crucial step in recognizing that political prisoners exist in Azerbaijan, something which the authorities in that country have continued to deny,” says Dr. Agnes Callamard, director of ARTICLE 19, a London based human rights organization.

Azerbaijani authorities released nine political activists last week, but a number of journalists, human rights defenders and activists remain in custody. This month alone, three were arrested on false charges in what appears to be retaliatory action for their human rights work.

Hilal Mammadov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Tolishi Sadoi, was arrested on June 21 on alleged drug possession charges and is in pre-trial custody for three months. Mehman Huseynov, a blogger for Institute for Reports’ Freedoms and Safety is in custody and charged with “hooliganism”. Ilham Amiraslanov, an activist for the country’s 2001 flood victims is currently detained on weapons charges.  sent to pre-trial custody for three months. On June 12, Mehman Huseynov, a blogger and photographer at the Institute for Reporters’ Freedoms and Safety, was arrested and charged with “hooliganism.” And on June 8, police arrested Ilham Amiraslanov, an activist who worked on behalf of victims of a 2010 flood in eastern Azerbaijan, on trumped-up weapons possession charges.

For further information, please see:

Public Service Europe – Enough is Enough Azerbaijan Must Act On Human Rights 28 June 2012

Azeri Report – Council of Europe Adopts Resolution on Azerbaijan’s Political Prisoners 26 June 2012

New Europe Online – Amnesty International Welcomes Release Azerbaijani Activists 26 June 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest – Sunday 24 June 2012 Part II

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

On the Road (4)!

The official statement by the White House on the downing of a Turkish jet by Assad air defenses promised that the U.S. will “work with Turkey and other partners to hold the Assad regime accountable.” Let’s see to what further inefficient and laughable policies this promise will engender on Tuesday when NATO is scheduled to meet. Because after 16 months of stupidity, hypocrisy and inefficiency, I do not dare expect anything from international policymakers except more of the same. Of course, that’s what all can expect from us as well, because we are not planning on giving up.

Sunday June 24, 2012

Clashes are now taking place on a regular basis in towns and communities across Syria, including Homs, Idlib, Hama, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Daraa and Damascus Suburbs. The average daily death toll is around 150. Recourse to helicopter gunships and heavy artillery by pro-Assad troops and militias continues to be a routine occurrence.

News

Op-Eds & Special Reports

What Russia Gave Syria A guide to Bashar al-Assad’s arsenal.

“The Wounded Will Be Killed” An American photojournalist describes what he saw during the month he spent in a Syrian village under siege. The Martyrdom of Al QusayrImages from photojournalist Robert King’s recent visit to a Syrian community under siege.

Video Highlights

Shelling in Maarbah, Daraa http://youtu.be/naX791iSjKU Daraa City, Daraahttp://youtu.be/a5WlwtikWno Al-Hraak, Daraa – a dead child is mourned by his motherhttp://youtu.be/Btlb1jzbLXY Talbisseh, Homs http://youtu.be/jLDD9CBXGLI Rastan, Homs http://youtu.be/0MHax97PwrU The mangled bodies of the localshttp://youtu.be/gyZDrMovU24 Homs City http://youtu.be/M_Brv5q0pBI ,http://youtu.be/ZxBIoGzwzTY Deir Ezzor City http://youtu.be/BRQhTC_pTM8 Ariha, Idlib http://youtu.be/qatXgmCmd08 Hass, Idlib a tank takes part in the poundinghttp://youtu.be/tFSdnrsUZx8