Many people believe that the “Magnitsky Act” applies only to those who first stole money from the Russian federal budget and then tortured and killed Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed the scheme. That is not the case: the law can be applied “to persons responsible for violating human rights and the rule of law in Russia.”
So in reality, this is a very pro-Russian law, no matter what Kremlin crooks and police thugs may say. It is a law to protect Russian citizens from lawlessness and abuse. Perhaps it will not be needed in the beautiful Russia of the future, where everyone can get justice in court, but right now it is extremely useful and yet used very little—in fact, almost never—because hardly anyone really understands how to do it.
We decided to try, and we have begun the process of adding to the “Magnitsky list” those responsible for organizing the pressure campaign against Oleg Navalny—my brother, who is sitting in prison as a hostage and guilty of nothing except being my brother.
As you have probably read, Oleg (here is his Facebook page) is now constantly being thrown into the punishment cell and has generally been declared the chief and most persistent violator of prison rules at Penal Colony No. 5, where he is serving his sentence. Previously, every wave of pressure against Oleg clearly coincided with an increase in my own activity and anti-corruption investigations; now it simply never lets up.
Here is the press release issued today by Vladimir Ashurkov, who is coordinating this campaign:
As you can see, Bill Browder, whose efforts made the “Magnitsky Act” possible, has supported our initiative, which is very important, since he understands better than anyone how all this works.
Let us hope we succeed and create something like a roadmap for those who would like to use the “Magnitsky Act” against the villains, killers, and fabricators who orchestrate politically motivated criminal cases across the country.
For now, the list we have compiled contains three people whose responsibility for organizing the pressure on Oleg is beyond doubt, but the list will grow—we are simply approaching it responsibly and want to have clear, truthful answers to the question of why any given person has been included. I have no doubt that judges and officials will be on it as well.
Let me immediately answer those who will say: the deputy head of the penal colony for security almost certainly has no assets in the United States or Europe, and is unlikely to vacation there anyway.
That is true: two of the three (though I assume the deputy head of the regional Federal Penitentiary Service does have money and enjoys trips to Europe) clearly would not suffer much from the law’s sanctions even if they were added to the list. However, it is important to understand that inclusion on the list has political and legal significance. I have no doubt that the day will come when everyone on that list ends up in the dock and receives just punishment. And as I said above, we are starting with three direct perpetrators and will add those who help them do their work and evade responsibility.
The information contained in the video “The Untouchables Caste. Film 4. The Sergei Magnitsky File” stating that: “Pavel Alexandrovich Karpov, personally or with the help of other persons, took part in the torture and murder of auditor S.L. Magnitsky in order to conceal his involvement in fraud against the Hermitage Fund”; “Pavel Alexandrovich Karpov participated in fraud and stole US$230 million from the Russian treasury, laundering the stolen funds through the purchase of movable and immovable property, including an apartment worth about US$1 million”; “Pavel Alexandrovich Karpov took part in the abduction of F.M. Mikheyev for the purpose of extorting money and later, in order to conceal this fact, fabricated a criminal case against him and helped secure a sentence of lengthy imprisonment” were found to be untrue by a ruling of the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow dated March 10, 2015.