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11 November 2013 – In a powerful multi-country move, parliamentarians from 21 countries have pledged their support to further the Magnitsky cause and Magnitsky sanctions around the world. Those sanctions include targeted visa bans and asset freezes on the Russian officials responsible for the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky as well as other gross human rights abusers.
The newly formed Inter-parliamentary Group formed under the title “Justice for Sergei Magnitsky” will hold its inaugural meeting at the European Parliament on 13 November 2013.
“The Magnitsky case has come to represent all that’s wrong with Putin’s Russia. By forming the inter-parliamentary group on the Magnitsky case, we hope to give expression to the best initiatives from parliaments around the world and implement them across the countries represented by parliamentarians participating in this group,” said Hon. Irwin Cotler, MP, the chair of the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Inter-parliamentary Group, who was counsel to Nelson Mandela and Natan Sharansky during their long periods held behind bars. He also served as Attorney General and Justice Minister of Canada.
The first parliamentary meeting of the Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Group will take place on the eve of fourth anniversary of Magnitsky’s murder in Russian police custody, which took place on the 16th of November 2009. The parliamentarians are committed to advancing the campaign for Magnitsky sanctions in Europe, Canada and other parts of the world.
“This will be the inaugural launch of a global, coordinated campaign to impose Magnitsky sanctions internationally,” said Hon. Irwin Cotler, MP.
Magnitsky sanctions are already in place in the United States under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act signed by President Obama into law in December 2012.
In the EU, the European parliament has passed three resolutions calling on the Council of Ministers of the EU to implement a similar approach. Up to now, the Council of Ministers has stalled the implementation of sanctions fearing Russia’s retaliation. Now, with the new inter-parliamentary initiative, the legislators hope to make the Magnitsky Law a reality in Europe and overcome the resistance from the European Council.
The Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Inter-parliamentary group (IPG, website:http://ipg-magnitsky.org/) consists of members of parliament from 21 countries, including Kristiina Ojuland, an Estonian MEP, who initiated the latest Magnitsky resolution at the European parliament; Senator Jim Walsh, who spearheaded the Magnitsky resolution in the Irish Parliament; Dominic RaabMP, who authored the Magnitsky Motion at the British Parliament; Barbara Lochbihler, German MEP and chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee of the European Parliament; Marek Migalski, a Polish MEP, and Jose Ignacio Sanches, a Spanish MP, who took upon the Magnitsky case in their respective roles. The Magnitsky Inter-Parliamentary Group also comprises an advisory board of Russian activists and campaigners involved in human rights and civil advocacy. It aims to build momentum around the initiatives that developed organically in different countries around the Magnitsky legislation.
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