[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 156 Engrossed in House (EH)]
<DOC>
H. Res. 156
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
March 12, 2019.
Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a Russian statesman who, over 25 years of public
service, served as a Member of Parliament, Governor of the Nizhny
Novgorod Region, and First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia;
Whereas throughout his life, Boris Nemtsov showed an unwavering commitment to
the ideals of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law, and to upholding
the rights and dignity of Russian citizens;
Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a powerful voice in opposition to the authoritarianism
and corruption of Vladimir Putin's government, publicizing its abuses,
leading street protests against election fraud and the war on Ukraine,
and successfully advocating for international sanctions on human rights
violators;
Whereas Boris Nemtsov was co-chairman of a leading opposition party, won
election to the Yaroslavl Regional Duma in 2013, and was planning to run
for the Russian Parliament in 2016 and challenge Vladimir Putin for the
Presidency in 2018;
Whereas, on the evening of February 27, 2015, Boris Nemtsov was shot in the back
and killed as he walked across Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge near the
Kremlin in Moscow;
Whereas, on March 7 and 8, 2015, Russian authorities arrested five individuals,
all of them natives of the Chechen Republic, on suspicion of carrying
out the assassination, while a sixth suspect allegedly blew himself up
during the attempted arrest;
Whereas the defendants were tried at the Moscow District Military Court, which
on June 29, 2017, found them guilty of carrying out the assassination of
Boris Nemtsov, and on July 13, 2017, sentenced them to different prison
terms;
Whereas at the time of the assassination, the now-convicted gunman, Zaur
Dadayev, was serving as a Lieutenant in the Internal Troops of the
Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation and as Deputy Battalion
Commander in the ``Sever'' (``North'') Regiment stationed in the Chechen
Republic, under the command of the Internal Troops Commander, General
Viktor Zolotov, and the Kremlin-backed head of the Chechen Republic,
Ramzan Kadyrov;
Whereas Ramzan Kadyrov has called Lieutenant Zaur Dadayev a ``true patriot'' and
has publicly referred to Boris Nemtsov as an ``enemy of Russia'';
Whereas by Decree No. 115 issued on March 8, 2015, President Vladimir Putin
awarded Ramzan Kadyrov the Order of Honor;
Whereas according to reports published in the RosBusinessConsulting (RBC)
newspaper on January 20, 2016, General Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of
the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, has on two
occasions prevented investigators from indicting Major Ruslan Geremeyev,
Battalion Commander in the ``Sever'' (``North'') Regiment of the
Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian
Federation stationed in the Chechen Republic and a close associate of
Ramzan Kadyrov and Russian State Duma Member Adam Delimkhanov, as an
organizer in the assassination;
Whereas according to reports published in Novaya Gazeta newspaper on December 9,
2016, operatives of the Federal Security Service of the Russian
Federation in the Chechen Republic have failed to serve Major Ruslan
Geremeyev with a summons for questioning as a witness, reporting to
their superiors that on the sole occasion they attempted to do so,
``nobody opened the door'';
Whereas despite requests from the legal team representing Boris Nemtsov's
family, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the
Moscow District Military Court have refused to question high-ranking
persons of interest, including Ramzan Kadyrov, General Victor Zolotov,
and Adam Delimkhanov;
Whereas the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has, to this day,
not issued any indictments against the organizers or masterminds of the
assassination of Boris Nemtsov, with the exception of Major Ruslan
Geremeyev's driver, Ruslan Mukhudinov, who is named alongside ``other
unidentified persons'';
Whereas the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Moscow
District Military Court have refused to classify the assassination of
Boris Nemtsov under Article 277 of the Criminal Code as ``encroachment
on the life of a statesman or a public figure,'' choosing instead
Article 105 that deals with common domestic murders;
Whereas throughout the proceedings at the Moscow District Military Court, the
judge repeatedly disallowed questions relating to political motives
behind the assassination;
Whereas the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation has refused to
release video footage from the security cameras on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky
Bridge from the night of the assassination, claiming in a letter to
State Duma Member Dmitry Gudkov on November 6, 2015, that the bridge
next to the Kremlin is ``not a protected object'';
Whereas, on May 18, 2017, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
appointed Lithuanian Member of Parliament Emanuelis Zingeris as its
special rapporteur on the need to shed light on the background of the
murder of Boris Nemtsov, with a mandate to review and report on the case
and on the progress of the official Russian investigation;
Whereas, on May 24, 2018, the Russian Foreign Ministry informed Emanuelis
Zingeris that he is forbidden from entering the Russian Federation;
Whereas, at its 27th annual session held on July 7 through 11, 2018, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) adopted a resolution urging Russian authorities to
``undertake a new, full and thorough investigation into the February
2015 assassination of Boris Nemtsov'';
Whereas, on July 8, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe held a public event to discuss the
need for OSCE oversight of the official Russian investigation into the
assassination of Boris Nemtsov;
Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation are full members of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
Whereas the OSCE Moscow Document has established that ``issues relating to human
rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law * * * are
matters of direct and legitimate concern to all participating States and
do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the State
concerned'';
Whereas, on February 27, 2018, Washington, DC, designated the street in front of
the Embassy of the Russian Federation as ``Boris Nemtsov Plaza'' to
honor Mr. Nemtsov; and
Whereas, on February 22, 2019, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the OSCE, George Tsereteli, appointed Swedish Member of Parliament and
Vice President of the Assembly Margareta Cederfelt as the rapporteur on
the investigation of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, with a mandate
to review and report on the case and on the progress of the official
Russian investigation: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns Vladimir Putin and his regime for targeting political
opponents and covering up the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, a Russian
opposition leader who worked to advance democracy and human rights in
Russia;
(2) urges the United States Government, in all its interactions with
the Government of the Russian Federation, to raise the case of the
assassination of Boris Nemtsov and underscore the necessity of bringing
the organizers and masterminds to justice;
(3) supports the efforts by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and its Parliamentary Assembly to initiate
oversight of the official Russian investigation into the assassination
of Boris Nemtsov;
(4) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to allow an
impartial international investigation of the assassination of Boris
Nemtsov and to cooperate with the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in their ongoing
inquiries over this case;
(5) calls on the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the
Treasury to use their authority under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law
Accountability Act of 2012 (title IV of Public Law 112-208) and the
Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title
XII of Public Law 114-328) to designate individuals whom they determine
to have been involved in the assassination of Boris Nemtsov as
perpetrators, organizers, or masterminds, on the list of specially
designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by the Office of
Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury, freezing their
assets and making them ineligible to receive United States visas;
(6) calls on the Secretary of State, in consultation with the
Director of National Intelligence, to prepare and submit to Congress a
report detailing the circumstances of the February 27, 2015,
assassination of Boris Nemtsov, including the list of individuals whom
they determine to have been involved in the assassination as
perpetrators, organizers, or masterminds, and identifying what measures,
if any, have been taken by the Government of the Russian Federation to
investigate this crime and bring its perpetrators, organizers, and
masterminds to justice, and evaluating the effectiveness of such
measures; and
(7) urges the Secretary of State to take all possible steps to--
(A) investigate the business activities of Ramzan Kadyrov
and any entities controlled by Ramzan Kadyrov outside the
Russian Federation; and
(B) determine whether any such activities, or any entities
facilitating such activities, are in violation of the sanctions
imposed on Ramzan Kadyrov pursuant to the authorities provided
by the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012
(title IV of Public Law 112-208; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note).
Attest:
Clerk.