Very badly. They should have thought long and hard before doing this. Does everyone remember the heroes of our regular feature, "Crooks and Murderers in Police Uniform"? Colonel Artyom Kuznetsov:
Major Pavel Karpov:
These people, together with a number of other characters, effectively tortured lawyer Sergei Magnitsky to death in prison, were involved in the theft of billions of rubles from the state budget, and before that were implicated in a kidnapping case. But apparently it is not enough disgrace for our country that these people are still free and still working in the police. They had to add this as well: At a formal ceremony, the most distinguished employees of the Investigative Committee under the Russian Interior Ministry were presented with state and departmental awards.[*** ]({{URL_3}})- L**ieutenant Colonel Oleg Silchenko **— was awarded the badge "Best Investigator" "for courage and selflessness shown in the line of duty, and for developing and introducing new working methods that improve the effectiveness of investigative bodies." Silchenko, who was also placed on the blacklist of the U.S. Helsinki Commission (the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe), played a key role in covering up for officials who stole 5.4 billion rubles from the budget, and in organizing Sergei Magnitsky's arrest and abuse in pretrial detention. He personally and repeatedly denied Magnitsky's requests for medical assistance and family visits, and also rejected all of Magnitsky's motions regarding the unlawful persecution by Interior Ministry officers whom he had previously implicated in his testimony; Colonel Natalia Vinogradova, Silchenko's superior — was awarded the badge "Honorary Employee of the Russian Interior Ministry" "for exemplary performance of official duties and achievements in service." Vinogradova has also been placed on the "blacklist"; L**ieutenant Colonel Pavel Karpov **— was awarded the badge "Best Investigator" "for achieving high personal performance in service and improving professional mastery." In his testimony, Sergei Magnitsky implicated Karpov in the theft of the companies belonging to his client — the Hermitage fund — and of the 5.4 billion rubles in taxes paid by those companies. At the same time, Pavel Karpov's family grew wealthy, acquiring real estate and cars worth more than $1 million; Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Churikanov — received a commendation from Deputy Interior Minister Anichin for his "contribution to the interests of the service." Churikanov handled the fabricated case under which Sergei Magnitsky was later arrested. fil_defense: quite rightly asks the question: if these people are being decorated after all this, then whom did the other award recipients kill? Everyone probably already knows that the U.S. Congress is now set to consider the "Justice for Sergei" bill, under which all persons involved in Magnitsky's murder will be barred from entering the United States, and their assets (if any are found) will be frozen. I consider this law absolutely right, and I said so when speaking in Congress. There is no interference in Russia's internal affairs here. If we ourselves are incapable of punishing crooks and murderers, then the Americans at the very least have the right not to let them onto their territory. I just want to note that the news of these awards came yesterday, right before my speech. I saw people's faces when they heard this news. It is impossible to say with complete certainty whether this bill will be passed. But if it is, then the main credit for its passage will undoubtedly belong to the Russian Interior Ministry, which decided to reward its distinguished employees. And one more very interesting question: did the idiots at the Interior Ministry come up with this on their own? Or did someone teach them?