PRESS RELEASE

3 June 2012 – On Thursday, 7 June 2012, the US House of Representative’s Foreign Affairs Committee will mark up and vote on the Magnitsky bill (H.R. 4405) that imposes visa bans and asset freezes on foreign human rights offenders and corrupt officials. Following that, the Magnitsky bill will move to the full vote in the House of Representatives. This is taking place amid the escalating Russian government rhetoric against the bill and the equally rising call from Russian civil society leaders for enacting the bill .

“This is a major development as it clears the last major bottleneck to get the Magnitsky bill passed in the House,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

The House consideration of the Magnitsky bill is significant for three reasons.

First, the consideration in the Foreign Affairs Committee is taking place a week after the Russian President’s foreign policy adviser tried to pressure the US over the Magnitsky bill. On 29 May 2012, Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, publicly threatened counter-measures if the bill gets passed:

“We got used to the Jackson-Vanik amendment, we know well how to manage it, and it has not particularly bothered us. But if this new anti-Russian law is adopted, then of course that will require some measures from our side in response.” 

The Russian government’s position on the bill is at odds with Russian public opinion. According to a Levada Center poll held last August, 60 percent of Russians support visa bans and asset freezes by the US and the EU on the Russian officials implicated in the Magnitsky case.

Second, the U.S. House of Representatives is moving on the Magnitsky bill at a much faster pace than the Senate, who origally led on the bill. In the U.S. Senate, Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry indicated that the bill would be considered in April, but in spite of a number of public promises it has not been on the agenda of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee leading some commentators to believe that Senator Kerry is being pressured by the US State Department to block the progress of the bill.

Third, the House may consider the Magnitsky bill before any consideration of repealing the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which many had believed would be linked. The repeal of Jackson-Vanik amendment isconsidered necessary by the US administration for granting Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations before Russia joins the World Trade Organization, which is expected this summer.

The Magnitsky bill is supported by Russian opposition leaders as the single most effective way to deal with widespread Russian corruption and rights abuse. A recently released movie, Sergei’s Law, features fourteen Russian civil society activists urging to enact the Magnitsky bill in the U.S. Congress. The video was produced by College-100, a network of U.S. student body presidents representing over 3 million young people.

“The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012” was introduced by U.S. House Representative James McGovern in April 2012. The bill has gained 25 co-sponsors in one month, including Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, where the bill will be up for mark up this week.

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/

By Connie Hong
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France — On June 1, 2012, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told radio station RMC and television station BFMTV that laws legalizing marriage and adoption for same-sex couples will soon be introduced to France.  Ayrault did not specify when the bills would be presented to the French Senate. Whether a draft bill has been drawn up at this time is still unclear.  The president of the Socialists’ Homosexualités et Socialisme, Gilles Bon-Maury, however, predicts that such a bill could be presented to Parliament before the fall of this year.

Ayrault, a member of the Socialist Party, was appointed as prime minister on May 15. Although the French National Assembly rejected a bill seeking to legalize same-sex marriage last year, the Socialist Party still plans on implementing measures that would introduce marriage equality to the country.  In fact, France’s new Socialist President, Francois Hollande, made a similar pledge vowing to introduce gay marriage to the country by 2013.  Hollande’s predecessor, Nicholas Sarkozy, was opposed to gay marriage.

Same-sex marriage is currently banned by law in France.  Gay couples may enter into Civil Solidarity Pacts (PACS) but they do not provide the same legal protections and benefits that marriages offer.  PACS, for example, do not give couples the right to joint adoption or artificial insemination.

The ban is highly controversial within the country, receiving much criticism from gay rights supporters.  A French couple had challenged the ban on constitutional grounds, arguing that it limited their personal freedoms.  In response to the claim, the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court of appeals, ordered the Constitutional Council to rule on the constitutionality of the law.  Last year, the council found the country’s same-sex marriage ban constitutional.  The council made clear that its power was limited to interpreting existing laws under the constitution, but that the legislature has the authority to make new laws allowing gay marriage.

France will be joining a growing number of European countries legalizing gay marriage if it goes through with its plans to introduce same-sex marriage.  France’s neighbors Spain and Belgium, as well as Holland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Portugal have already introduced marriage equality.  Other countries such as Denmark, Germany, Luxemburg, Finland and the United Kingdom have hinted that they also plan to approach the issue in the near future.

For further information, please see:

ATV Today — French Prime Minister Promises Equal Marriage Laws — 2 June 2012

Jurist — France PM: same-sex marriage, adoption laws to be introduced — 1 June 2012

Pink News — French prime minister: Equal marriage and adoption laws to be introduced ‘quickly’ — 1 June 2012

World Crunch — After Sarkozy’s Defeat, Will France Be Next To Legalize Gay Marriage? — 14 May 2012