[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE LONG ARM OF INJUSTICE: DID A
U.N. COMMISSION FOUNDED TO FIGHT
CORRUPTION HELP THE KREMLIN
DESTROY A RUSSIAN FAMILY?
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
APRIL 27, 2018
__________
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COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
HOUSE SENATE
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ROGER WICKER, Mississippi,
Co-Chairman Chairman
ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida BENJAMIN L. CARDIN. Maryland
ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas CORY GARDNER, Colorado
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee MARCO RUBIO, Florida
RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire
RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois THOM TILLIS, North Carolina
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas TOM UDALL, New Mexico
GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
Vacant, Department of State
Vacant, Department of Commerce
Vacant, Department of Defense
[ii]
THE LONG ARM OF INJUSTICE: DID A
U.N. COMMISSION FOUNDED TO FIGHT
CORRUPTION HELP THE KREMLIN
DESTROY A RUSSIAN FAMILY?
----------
April 27, 2018
COMMISSIONERS
Page
Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman, Commission on
Security and Cooperation in Europe............................. 1
Hon. Randy Hultgren, Commissioner, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.......................................... 9
Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee, Commissioner, Commission on
Security and Cooperation in Europe............................. 19
WITNESSES
Bill Browder, Founding Director, Global Magnitsky Campaign for
Justice........................................................ 5
Victoria Sandoval, Criminal and Human Rights Attorney
Representing the Bitkov Family................................. 9
Rolando Alvarado, Attorney Representing the Bitkov Family and
Professor of Law and Founding Partner, Corpolegal.............. 12
APPENDIX
Prepared statement of Hon. Christopher H. Smith.................. 25
Prepared statement of Hon. Roger F. Wicker....................... 28
Prepared statement of Hon. Marco Rubio........................... 30
Prepared statement of Hon. James Lankford........................ 32
Prepared statement of Hon. Michael S. Lee........................ 33
Prepared statement of Bill Browder............................... 34
Prepared statement of Victoria Sandoval.......................... 39
Prepared statement of Rolando Alvarado........................... 45
MATERIAL FOR THE RECORD
Response of Bill Browder to questions for the record submitted by
Hon. James McGovern............................................ 56
Letter from VTB Bank to Members of Congress...................... 61
Affidavit of Harold Augusto Flores confessing that he was
threatened by CICIG............................................ 63
Medical report on Anastasia Bitkov issued by the National
Forensic Science Institute..................................... 67
Medical report on Vladimir Rodriguez [Bitkov] after release from
a Guatemalan orphanage......................................... 70
THE LONG ARM OF INJUSTICE: DID A
U.N. COMMISSION FOUNDED TO FIGHT
CORRUPTION HELP THE KREMLIN
DESTROY A RUSSIAN FAMILY?
----------
April 27, 2018
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Washington, DC
The hearing was held at 9:20 a.m. in Room 2172, Rayburn
House Office Building, Washington, DC, Hon. Christopher H.
Smith, Co-Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in
Europe, presiding.
Commissioners present: Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Co-
Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe;
Hon. Randy Hultgren, Commissioner, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe; and Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee,
Commissioner, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Witnesses present: Bill Browder, Founding Director, Global
Magnitsky Campaign for Justice; Victoria Sandoval, Criminal and
Human Rights Attorney Representing the Bitkov Family; and
Rolando Alvarado, Attorney Representing the Bitkov Family and
Professor of Law and Founding Partner, Corpolegal.
HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, CO-CHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON SECURITY
AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Mr. Smith. The hearing will come to order, and good
morning.
The Russian Government regularly pursues its vendettas
beyond its borders, harassing and even murdering Russian
emigres abroad, people who are on the Putin circle's target
list for various reasons. The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia
Skripal in England is one of the most recent examples to reach
the news.
The Kremlin's sadistic pursuit of the Bitkov family is, in
its way, just as shocking as the cruel murder of Litvinenko and
the attempted murders of the Skripals. The Bitkovs are still
alive today, but they have been hounded for over a decade to
the opposite ends of the world and beyond the limits of human
endurance merely for resisting Putin's favorites who sought to
take over their successful paper manufacturing company.
More shocking, the facts of the case strongly indicate--and
we will hear testimony on this today--that the United Nations
International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, or
CICIG, became deeply involved in the Kremlin's persecution of
the Bitkov family--indeed, that CICIG acted as the Kremlin's
operational agent in brutalizing and tormenting the Bitkov
family.
Congress has a special responsibility in this matter
because the United States is one of the largest contributors to
CICIG, to their budget. There has been little congressional
oversight of CICIG. It is clearly time for that to change.
In the 1990s, Igor and Irina Bitkov built the North-West
Timber Company, acquiring and modernizing old factories to
increase paper production. As their company grew, the Bitkovs
took loans from several Russian state banks to finance further
modernization. Their business prospered, grew to a value of
hundreds of millions of dollars, and the family was approached
by a powerful bank executive who sought to buy a majority share
in the company at a significantly below-market rate. Other
officials asked Irina to become politically involved in
President Vladimir Putin's party. When the Bitkovs refused,
things got very, very ugly.
Their 16-year-old daughter, Anastasia, was kidnapped for
several days, drugged, and repeatedly raped. Her parents
ransomed her, paying the money to policemen who said that they
were go-betweens to the kidnappers. Then the banks suddenly
called in the loans, even though the Bitkovs had excellent
credit. The family was threatened with imprisonment and death.
Fearing for their lives, the family fled Russia. They found
what they thought was legal refuge in Guatemala with the help
of a Guatemalan law firm. They acquired Guatemalan passports,
bought a house, learned Spanish, and gave birth to their second
child, Vladimir. But the Kremlin caught up with them, and VTB
Bank--one of Russia's biggest state-controlled banks, often
referred to as Putin's piggybank--filed a complaint against
them in Guatemala alleging use of false identification
documents.
While we don't know exactly what transpired internally to
CICIG and the Guatemalan state agencies that work with them, it
appears to have been taken up by the Guatemalan state and
CICIG. In any case, the Bitkovs suddenly found themselves
catapulted into what has become for them a horror that is
without end.
On January 15th, 2015, Igor, Irina, Anastasia, and Vladimir
were awoken by an armed raid on their home. Seventy or so armed
policemen woke them up, took them away, and spent 20 hours
tearing apart their home and their office.
It got much worse. The Bitkovs were put into cages for
several days. Their daughter--remember, she had been kidnapped
and repeatedly raped years earlier--was denied medication and
now suffered a nervous breakdown. As the ordeal continued, she
would later make multiple suicide attempts. Their infant son
was torn away from them, not even permitted to stay with
friends, and sent to an orphanage where he sustained facial
injuries, a chipped tooth, conjunctivitis, lost the ability to
speak. When the family friends recovered him, they found that
even when given food little Vladimir immediately began hiding
it under his shirt.
I will not say more now about the Bitkovs' harrowing
ordeal. Their lawyers will speak to that, as will Bill Browder.
Suffice it to say Igor, Irina, and Anastasia have remained
incarcerated since January 2015.
In January of this year, despite an earlier Appeals Court
ruling that the Bitkovs' alleged offense was only
administrative in nature and punishable with a fine, Igor was
sentenced to 19 years in prison, and Irina and Anastasia were
sentenced to 14 years each. These sentences were far harsher
than those given to Guatemalan officials who perpetrated the
sale of passports. They are harsher than sentences given to
rapists and to murderers.
What was CICIG's role in all of this? I would note Bill
Browder in his testimony will point out--and I quote him, in
pertinent part--``Inexplicably, VTB Bank gained the legal
status as an `interested party' in the Migration Case against
the Bitkovs with the support of CICIG. In January 2015, a
criminal case against the Bitkovs was opened at the direction
of CICIG.'' And as he points out, as I pointed out as well,
immediately after that, ``70 armed police officers raided the
Bitkovs' home; arrested Irina, Igor, and Anastasia; and
detained them in cages behind the parking garage in the main
court building in Guatemala City.''
We need to know how this happened. What was the complicity?
Where has the investigation been by our government, by the
United States Department of State Inspector General? There are
a number of venues that would lend themselves to a very
thorough investigation. Where's the investigation by the United
Nations? All of these things are something that we are going to
pursue very, very aggressively.
CICIG was invited to participate in this event. And when
you hear people say, Oh, they're a U.N. agency, they can't come
and testify, let me just point out to everyone, I wrote our
trafficking laws for the United States of America. It's called
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. It is our
landmark law on combating sex and labor trafficking. When I
discovered that in the Democratic Republic of Congo U.N.
peacekeepers were raping little children--these are the
peacekeepers--I convened four hearings, traveled to D.R. Congo,
went to Goma where the peacekeepers were, and invited the U.N.
to come and give testimony. Now, under our rules, they weren't
sworn in or were welcomed as absolute witnesses to the
committee, but we have a very good way of having that kind of
testimony.
They gave us a briefing. It's a distinction without a
difference. And Jane Holl Lute, who was the top peacekeeping
person--who was very much against what was happening there but
worked for the United Nations, No. 2--she came, and she sat
right there and gave a full, thorough accounting, and also a
proactive approach as to what would be done to hopefully end
this abuse by U.N. peacekeepers. I've done it other times. Kofi
Annan's chief of staff also sat here and testified. So CICIG is
invited. I want to ask them questions. But they declined to be
here.
Just yesterday afternoon, let me point out to our friends
and our witnesses, the Constitutional Court of Guatemala, the
country's highest court, upheld an earlier decision by a lower
court that had granted Bitkov's appeal to be considered
migrants, and therefore under international law not able to be
tried as criminals. It is not yet clear what this ruling will
mean. It seems to mean that the family could be released from
prison, but that they also could be deported back to Russia.
And that would be unconscionable.
So I want to make, again, the appeal to the Guatemalan
Government, to CICIG, to our government, to the United Nations,
that this is the time to be focused on restoring this family as
much as humanly possible and to provide them protection. They
were refugees fleeing a Putin hit on them and their family, and
to be treated like this is just--it's unconscionable.
You know, I've been in Congress 38 years. I chair the Human
Rights Subcommittee for the Foreign Affairs Committee, co-chair
the Helsinki Commission and have been on that commission since
1983, I've been to Russia many times when it was the Soviet
Union. To know the way the Putin government follows people that
they are in disagreement with, the way they rob and murder and
rape--and again, we've got Bill Browder here, who motivated the
passage of the Magnitsky Act--I just want to thank him and our
witnesses for being here, because that takes bravery. People
should see some of the emails we've gotten. That, too, is
unconscionable, and I won't get into that now.
With this hearing, I'd like to now introduce our
distinguished witnesses, beginning first with Bill Browder, who
has often been a witness before the Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe. He is a true human rights advocate
fighting for the weak and most vulnerable; has done it so
effectively, starting with Sergei Magnitsky. And now the Global
Magnitsky Act is a tool that the U.S. Department of State and
even other governments are beginning to adopt as a way of
holding individuals to account when they commit crimes against
humanity and human rights abuses all over the world.
Bill is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital
Management, which was at one time the investment advisor to the
largest foreign investment fund in Russia. Many of you may
remember that authorities from the government of Russia
arrested, tortured, and killed his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in
November 2009. And since then, Mr. Browder has sought justice
for Magnitsky and, again, others persecuted by corrupt
officials from the government of Russia and governments
everywhere else.
Without objection, his full resume will be made a part of
the record. But I want to thank him for his extraordinary
leadership.
Then we'll hear from Victoria Sandoval, who is a criminal
and human rights attorney who represents the Bitkov family. She
has 15 years of experience in different areas of the law and
provided technical advice to the Supreme Court of Justice of
Guatemala.
Then, Rolando Alvarado is the founding partner of a law
firm who represents the Bitkov family. He is an expert in cyber
matters and has received related training in the United States
Department of Justice on those matters. Mr. Alvarado has
advised Guatemalan Government ministers and legislators. And
again, his full resume will be made a part of the record as
well.
But I'd like to now yield such time as he may consume to
Mr. Bill Browder.
BILL BROWDER, FOUNDING DIRECTOR, GLOBAL MAGNITSKY CAMPAIGN FOR
JUSTICE
Mr. Browder. Co-Chairman Smith, thank you very much for
inviting me here to this hearing. I'm here today to present the
story of the Bitkov family to the Helsinki Commission.
As you know, Sergei Magnitsky was my lawyer. When he was
murdered by the Russian Government for uncovering corruption, I
started a campaign for justice, which led to this commission
spearheading the Magnitsky Act in 2012 and the Global Magnitsky
Act in 2016.
I also wrote a book about the Magnitsky story entitled
``Red Notice.'' Following the publication of the book, many
people got in touch with me from around the world to share
their stories.
And one of those people was a woman named Irina Bitkov.
Irina Bitkov shared a horrific story of how she was persecuted
in the same way as Sergei Magnitsky, and she and her family
fled their persecutors from Russia and ended up in Guatemala--
to terrible results, which I will explain in greater detail.
I'm here today to share the Bitkovs' story because they
can't be here today to do it themselves. They are currently in
Guatemalan prison, where Igor Bitkov, the father, is serving a
19-year prison sentence; Irina and her daughter, Anastasia, are
serving 14-year prison sentences for passport violations.
I'd like to point out that I have no business relationships
with the Bitkovs. I am receiving no compensation for my
advocacy here today. I'm here today because of the terrible,
unconscionable injustice that they've been subject to, and I
want to do something about it.
The Bitkov story starts in the 1990s, when Igor and Irina
Bitkov became the owners of a successful pulp and paper
business called the North-West Timber Company. Over the 1990s
they built their business, and it reached $80 million in
profits, and it was valued at roughly $400 million.
In the course of their business, the Bitkov family, through
their company, obtained loans from Sberbank, VTB, and Gazprom,
all state-owned banks, to upgrade their facilities. After the
loans were given, one of the bankers approached the Bitkovs and
asked them to sell 51 percent of their business for $25
million. Obviously, since their business was worth many
multiples of that, they refused.
Following this unwanted takeover request or attempt, a
terrible trauma befell the Bitkov family. At the time, their
daughter, Anastasia, was 16 years old. She was kidnapped in St.
Petersburg. The kidnappers demanded a ransom, which took the
family 3 days to accumulate. They paid the kidnappers the
ransom. Anastasia was released. But when she was safely back
home, the family discovered that she had been drugged and
repeatedly raped by her kidnappers. The ordeal left Anastasia
deeply traumatized and set off a cascade of psychiatric
ailments, which require medication and treatment to this day.
Following that, and in a further escalation of the attempts
to take over their company, the Russian state banks
simultaneously called in their $158 million of loans, forcing
the company into bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy proceedings,
the equipment of their facilities was sold at a fraction of its
true value.
The Bitkovs were then told that they would be imminently
arrested. This was the moment that the Bitkov family decided to
flee Russia. First, they traveled to Latvia. Then they traveled
to Turkey. And in Turkey, they looked around the world to seek
a country where they could find refuge and start a new life
safe from the persecution of Russians. They ended up choosing
Guatemala because Guatemala had no extradition treaty with
Russia, and they felt that they could be safe in Guatemala.
They found an advertisement on the internet from a Latin
American law firm called Cutino Associates that specializes in
immigration law and advertised its expertise in organizing
Guatemalan immigration for $50,000 per person. The family
engaged Cutino and began the process of becoming immigrants to
Guatemala.
In their initial communications with Cutino, they explained
that the reason for their immigration was to avoid persecution
in Russia. Cutino explained to them that they could change
their names in their immigration applications to avoid
detection by the Russians. Cutino then submitted for the family
papers, and the Guatemalan immigration services issued them new
documents in new names. Anastasia kept her original name,
hoping that because she was not targeted by the Russian
authorities that she would be okay.
The family then began a new life in Guatemala. Igor became
a high school math teacher at the Brillo De Sol School in
Antigua. Irina became a drawing teacher at the same school. And
Anastasia began a career in fashion after regaining some of her
confidence after her horrible ordeal in Russia. In January
2012, Irina Bitkov gave birth to a baby boy named Vladimir. It
appeared that after their terrible ordeal with the Russian
authorities had come to an end they could put that chapter
behind them.
Unfortunately, their dream of a new life came crashing down
in late 2013.
Investigators working for VTB Bank tracked down the Bitkovs
in Guatemala. The head of the VTB Bank, Andrey Kostin,
personally signed a power of attorney to Henry Comte, one of
the country's most prestigious attorneys in Guatemala and an
alternative judge on the Guatemalan Supreme Court, to assist
VTB in pursuing the Bitkovs in Guatemala.
VTB Bank and Comte's first attempt was to go after the
Bitkovs in filing a criminal complaint with the Attorney
General's Office of Guatemala claiming that VTB had been
defrauded by the Bitkovs in Russia. VTB presented photocopies
of forged documents in the Guatemalan court. Those documents
already had been rejected as forgeries in similar proceedings
in Russian courts. When the Guatemalan court requested
originals, VTB withdrew their criminal complaint.
VTB and Henry Comte then came up with a Plan B to go after
the Bitkovs. For several years before 2013 in Guatemala, there
had been an ongoing investigation into human trafficking and
Guatemalan officials' complicity with human traffickers in the
country. It was called the Migration Case, and it was supported
by a U.N. organization called CICIG, whose mandate was to go
after organized crime networks who previously enjoyed impunity
in Guatemala.
VTB and Comte successfully convinced CICIG to focus on the
Bitkovs as part of the Migration Case in spite of the fact that
the Bitkovs were clearly not part of any organized network of
traffickers. Inexplicably, VTB gained the legal status as an
``interested party'' in the Migration Case against the Bitkovs
with the support of CICIG. In January 2015, a criminal case
against the Bitkovs was opened at the direction of CICIG.
Immediately after, 70 armed police officers raided the Bitkovs'
home; arrested Irina, Igor, and Anastasia; and detained them in
a cage behind the parking garage of the main court building in
Guatemala.
While they were being held, Anastasia was deprived of her
anti-depression medications and she had a severe psychiatric
breakdown. Anastasia and her mother were moved to a hospital
under armed guard, and Igor was put in pretrial detention at
the Mariscal Zavala prison while the case awaited trial.
The Bitkovs arranged for their family lawyer, who is
sitting with us today, Rolando Alvarado, to be the guardian for
their 3-year-old child, Vladimir, while they were incarcerated.
In spite of Mr. Alvarado's valid guardianship papers, the
Prosecutor of Guatemala filed a motion with the court calling
for Vladimir Bitkov to be placed in a state orphanage instead.
At this point, the Russian Government also got involved.
Pavel Astakhov, the Russian Government's ombudsman for
children's rights, publicly called for Vladimir Bitkov to be
returned to Russia to be put into a Russian orphanage. The
Russian foray failed because Vladimir is only a Guatemalan
citizen and could not be returned to Russia. However, the
Guatemalan prosecutor's motion succeeded and Vladimir was
placed in a state orphanage.
The family desperately applied to reverse the decision and
get Vladimir out of the orphanage. It took 42 days for that
application to be heard. When Vladimir finally emerged, he was
examined by medical experts who found he had an upper
respiratory infection, severe inflammation of the middle ear,
conjunctivitis in both eyes, scars along the left eyebrow, and
chipped front teeth. They concluded that he suffered from
physical and psychological abuses in the orphanage.
In the meantime, the case against the Bitkovs for passport
violations moved through the courts. They were formally
indicted as part of the CICIG Migration Case in April 2015.
The Bitkov family appealed the indictment in the Appeals
Court, arguing that they were migrants and could not be subject
to criminal prosecution applicable to the traffickers. In
December 2017 the Guatemalan Appeals Court ruled in favor of
the Bitkovs, declaring that any passport irregularities were
administrative offenses punishable by a fine and as migrants
they should not be under criminal penalty.
However, CICIG and VTB were not happy with this decision,
and both immediately filed appeals against the court decision
that would have freed the Bitkovs. While their appeal was
pending, the decision was not in force.
A few days later, on January 5th, 2018, the Guatemalan
District Court found Igor, Irina, and Anastasia Bitkov guilty
as users of the criminal network in the Migration Case. The
court sentenced Igor to 19 years in prison, and Irina and
Anastasia to 14 years. CICIG trumpeted their court victory on
their website, pointing out that they prosecuted 39 people from
the criminal network, including the Bitkovs.
I understand that the 19-year prison sentence that Igor
Bitkov was given was greater than sentences for manslaughter,
rape, burglary, and fraud in Guatemala. The sentences that all
three of them were given appears to exceed the sentences of
many of the government officials in Guatemala and traffickers
who were part of the human trafficking network.
There was no evidence that the Bitkovs bribed any
government official or were involved in any corruption. The
Bitkovs, who did not speak Spanish and did not know anyone in
Guatemala on arrival, relied on the law firm Cutino Associates,
who presented themselves as legitimate migration lawyers. It
also appears that nobody from Cutino Associates who organized
their passports and settlement documents has ever been
prosecuted. No other customers of Cutino have been tried,
convicted, and sentenced like the Bitkovs. In the list
presented by CICIG, which includes 39 people in the Migration
Case, 36 were low- and middle-level government officials from
different Guatemalan Government bodies and a few ``coyotes''
who physically moved people through Guatemala.
So what is going on here? There are two big Russian themes
in this case, neither of which is unusual.
First, in Russia, people who run successful businesses are
routinely victimized through a process called reiderstvo. I was
a victim of reiderstvo, and so were the Bitkovs. It is a
standard practice in Russia where organized criminals work
together with corrupt officials to extract property and money
from their victims. There are literally hundreds of thousands
of businessmen in Russia who are victims of this as well.
The second theme is the abuse of international
institutions. The Russian Government routinely abuses
international institutions in order to persecute its enemies
who are not inside of Russia. In my case, the Russian
Government tried six times to have Interpol arrest me after the
Magnitsky Act was passed. The Russian Government also
successfully recruited a senior official inside the Swiss
Federal Police to stymie a Swiss criminal investigation into
money laundering by Russian officials in the Magnitsky case.
The Russian Government has succeeded in getting the deputy
attorney general of Cyprus in charge of mutual legal assistance
and extradition affecting the Magnitsky case and many other
politically sensitive cases to inappropriately assist the
Russian Government in pursuing their enemies in Cyprus. This is
not uncommon.
In my opinion, the Russian Government succeeded in
compromising CICIG and the Guatemalan prosecutor for their own
purposes in the Bitkov case. CICIG and the prosecutor's office
have jointly taken up the Russian Government's vendetta against
the Bitkovs with no good explanation. CICIG did not distance
itself from the Russian persecution. They touted it on their
website and they actively tried to overturn the Bitkovs'
vindication by the Appeals Court.
Nor has VTB tried to hide their role in this case. In spite
of the fact that VTB obtained no financial recovery for their
alleged financial dispute with the Bitkovs, they became an
interested party in a case involving something that had nothing
to do with them in order to vindictively punish Igor Bitkov and
his entire family. In The Wall Street Journal on April 4th,
2018, Igor Kostin, the chairman of VTB, says: ``VTB's actions
relating to the Bitkov family is an example of standard
procedure in resolving financial business disputes through the
available legal channels.''
This is an appalling case in which the Bitkov family
deserves justice, and the United States has an opportunity to
deliver them justice. CICIG is a U.N. organization in which
approximately 50 percent of their budget comes from the U.S.
Government. I do not believe that you or anyone in the U.S.
Congress or the U.S. Government ever envisaged that U.S. tax
dollars would be spent to support a Russian Government
persecution of a family fleeing that persecution in Guatemala.
I would recommend that CICIG's funding be suspended until this
situation is resolved.
When I began this process of advocating for the Bitkov
family, I discovered that CICIG is a highly contentious issue
in DC and around the world. There are some people who are pro-
CICIG and there are some who are anti-CICIG. Up until 2 months
ago, I had never heard of CICIG. I came into this case with no
prejudices one way or another. I've gone where the evidence has
led. And so far, the evidence leads toward the conclusion about
the involvement of this organization in the Bitkovs'
persecution.
As journalists from The Wall Street Journal and other news
organizations have started to investigate, CICIG has avoided
answering a number of crucial direct questions about their role
in the Bitkov case and their support of VTB. When CICIG was
invited to give evidence to Congress they declined, claiming as
a U.N. institution they were not accountable to anybody in
Congress.
They can't have it both ways. They can either be the heroic
anti-impunity organization that their mandate sets them out to
be or the situation at CICIG needs to be cleaned up.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Smith. Thank you so very much for your very incisive
testimony and recommendations.
We are joined by Commissioner Hultgren. Do you have
anything you'd like to offer at the opening?
HON. RANDY HULTGREN, COMMISSIONER, COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND
COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Mr. Hultgren. No. I want to hear as much as I can, so thank
you. I yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you so much. I would just note that
Congressman Hultgren is also the co-chairman of the Tom Lantos
Human Rights Commission and a very distinguished member of our
commission. So it's so great to have you here. Thank you.
I'd like to now recognize Ms. Sandoval.
VICTORIA SANDOVAL, CRIMINAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS ATTORNEY
REPRESENTING THE BITKOV FAMILY
Ms. Sandoval. Good morning, Chairman Smith. Good morning,
Commissioner Hultgren. Distinguished members of the Helsinki
Commission, for me, it is an honor to be invited to this
hearing as a witness of the Bitkov Case.
My name is Victoria Sandoval. I am a lawyer, and I have
been working with the Bitkovs since January 2015. I knew the
Bitkovs back in 2011, when they came to live at the same
neighborhood I was living. I could see how they were--they were
a happy family raising his kid, Vladimir, into his Russian
culture.
On January 15th, 2015, I saw more than 16 official vehicles
from Ministerio Publico, CICIG, and Policia Nacional Civil.
They were raiding the Bitkovs' house, and they were being
arrested. The next day I saw the Bitkovs' house had been locked
up and was being guarded by two policemen. Even though it was
guarded, their house was looted completely.
They were transferred to the carceletas at the courthouse--
the carceletas as the cages Bill Browder just described. These
are located at the basement of the courthouse, and people
should not stay there for more than 24 hours. But the Bitkovs
were kept in for 5 days, Irina and Anastasia; and 9 days, Igor.
The Russian ambassador didn't show any concern about his fellow
citizens.
Anastasia, whose life depends on the regular intake of
medication, was deprived of them.
A judge ordered that Anastasia and Irina be transferred to
a psychiatric hospital due to Anastasia's psychiatric
breakdown. The Sistema Penitenciario in charge of that transfer
refused to do it for 4 days. It wasn't until Anastasia's health
became worse that they obeyed that order. Along with 50 agents
of the Sistema Penitenciario, they were transferred to a 10-
room hospital. The hospital declined receiving them because
they feared such high number of officials will scare their
other patients. So they were returned to the courthouse, where
they were locked in an annex to the men's area--only separated
by a fence, which means that the men will have direct contact
with them. Not even at the bathroom did they have any privacy.
That meant torture for them. On the fifth day Irina and
Anastasia were finally transferred to the Hospital Concepcion,
where they stayed for one year, guarded by two armed guards.
In Igor's case, at the carceleta he was deprived of proper
sleep. After 9 days he was taken in front of the judge to give
his first testimony. He was completely dumbfounded, had not
been provided with any translator. His Spanish was not good at
that time.
At the hearing, CICIG's senior attorney, Claudia Gonzalez
Orellana, clearly supported VTB Bank participation by stating
that the attorney acting on behalf of the VTB Bank actually has
competency due to the offenses that happened in Russia, and
that the Bitkovs are avoiding justice in that country. They
came to Guatemala and committed other offenses, and none of
this can be left in impunity. We consider that the offenses
that took place in Russia and in Guatemala are related.
I have an audio that I ask to be entered in the records.
\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Note: As of press time, the audio was no longer available
online.
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Mr. Smith. Without objection, it will. So ordered.
Ms. Sandoval. When Igor was already at Mariscal Zavala, he
was visited by the child prosecutor of the Procuraduria General
de la Nacion, Harold Augusto Flores Valenzuela. He told him
that he had been called and visited by CICIG officials that
told him that he had to do everything in order to send Vladimir
to an orphanage, that he couldn't be sent with guardians.
That's why Vladimir was sent to the orphanage Amor del Nino,
where he was abused. Harold Flores saw that the reports on
Vladimir's guardians were just fine and he chose to ignore
them. Also did Judge Maria Belen Reyna Salazar. And, in
consequence, Vladimir was sent to that orphanage. Flores also
told that he was threatened by CICIG's officials that if he
didn't comply he will be fired or prosecuted.
All this is written in an affidavit that Igor signed that I
ask that also be added to the records, please.
Mr. Smith. Without objection.
Ms. Sandoval. Okay.
Anastasia's psychiatric disorder were triggered by her
kidnapping in Russia in which she was repeatedly raped and
drugged. She has been diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder
and borderline syndrome. According to the psychiatric reports
of the National Institute for Forensic Science of Guatemala,
INACIF, that also has stated that Anastasia should not be sent
to a prison because it could cause her to make further attempts
to commit suicide. She has already attempted five times to
suicide.
Ignoring this, the president of the tribunal, Judge Yassmin
Barrios, ordered to send her to the Mariscal Zavala prison for
14 years, the judge threatening her, as well as the warden of
the prison, with sending her to the Federico Mora Psychiatric
Hospital if she shows any sign of her illness.
I also have the link to a video that was recorded by BBC
where it shows the condition of this National Mental Hospital,
qualifying it as the worst in the American continent. So I ask
it to be added at the records. \2\
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\2\ https://www.bing.com/ videos/
search?q=hospital+psiquiatrico+federico+mora+bbc&&view=
detail&mid=C8314C4E3EFF3B347152C8314C4E3EFF3B347152&&FORM=VRDGAR;
https://www.bing.com/videos/
search?q=hospitalde+salud+mental+federico+mora+bbc&&view=
detail&mid=F15517CDCB9A2C709187F15517CDCB9A2C709 187&&FORM=VRDGAR
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Smith. Without objection.
Ms. Sandoval. Thank you.
Ignoring this, the Bitkovs were sentenced for 19 and 14
years in prison last January 5th by the tribunal proceeded by
Judge Yassmin Barrios. There are many similar cases of people
accused of similar offenses, but they have all been treated
very differently.
Among them I will like to describe you this one that is
rather shocking. In February 2018--that means 1 month later
after the Bitkovs' verdict--a verdict was issued by the same
tribunal proceeded by Judge Yassmin Barrios. Two members of the
dangerous and notorious MS-13 were condemned to suspended
prison for 5 years and no expulsion for the same offenses.
These members of the MS-13, Israel Antonio Cabrera, whose alias
is ``the demon,'' and Mauricio Antonio Rivas, alias ``the
goat,'' were from El Salvador, and there they have been accused
of murdering 25 people. Now they are free in Guatemala's
streets.
I also have this ruling that I will ask to be also added to
the records.
The evil within this case is shocking. The Kremlin, through
VTB Bank, has conspired in the Guatemalan justice system to,
one, separate a 3-year-old boy from his family and send him to
an orphanage where he was tortured; two, to lock up in a prison
a young woman with a psychiatric disorder; and finally, and
third, condemn with ridiculous punishment a family who went to
Guatemala in order to flee Russian persecution that was
threatening to destroy their lives in contravention of the
Palermo Convention, Guatemalan migration law, and an order from
the Constitutional Court.
Anastasia told me once: I have suffered a lot. My life has
never been even close to normal. I want to fight so my little
brother can have a normal life, and he still has still some
time to do that.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Smith. Thank you so very much for your testimony and
for your bravery in helping the Bitkov family.
I would like to now yield the floor to Mr. Alvarado.
[Note: Mr. Alvarado's remarks are made through an
interpreter.]
ROLANDO ALVARADO, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING THE BITKOV FAMILY AND
PROFESSOR OF LAW AND FOUNDING PARTNER, CORPOLEGAL
Mr. Alvarado. Good morning, Co-Chairman Smith,
distinguished members of the Helsinki Commission, and everyone
here in this room. It's an honor for me to have been invited to
this hearing to bear witness in the Bitkov case.
I am knowledgeable about what has transpired in the case
involving the Russian family, the Bitkov family, because I
personally met Irina Bitkova and Anastasia Bitkova 2 years
before they were arrested. I am knowledgeable about the facts
surrounding their case because I was the lawyer of their family
and currently I have guardianship over their child and have had
since 2015--that's Vladimir Bitkov, who is now 6 years of age.
That is the son of Igor and Irina.
So the activities for which the Bitkov family have been
accused are as follows: For the use of a passport and identity
documents that were issued by the Guatemalan state, and that
CICIG and the Public Ministry of the Office of the Attorney
General now consider to have been issued illegally.
So these activities do not constitute a crime; however,
CICIG and the Public Ministry brought criminal charges which
were egregiously disproportionate, as if they had been crimes
of drug trafficking or terrorism, crimes of high impact.
Furthermore, CICIG brought criminal charges or pursued criminal
proceedings before special courts known as courts for cases
involving high levels of risk--all this for what amounts to
migratory law misdemeanors.
CICIG has no jurisdiction to take part as a complainant
against the Bitkov family because the mandate given it by the
United Nations and by the government of Guatemala establishes
that said commission would only have jurisdiction to
investigate crimes committed by members of illegal security
forces or clandestine security bodies or forces. And the Bitkov
family was not accused of being a part of these illegal
security forces, and therefore does not fall under the aegis of
the authority entrusted to CICIG, which means that CICIG has
overstepped its boundaries in exercising these legal powers,
which is tantamount to the abuse of authority.
Furthermore, CICIG, in violating the agreement that gave
rise to its creation, is also in violation of the Palermo
Convention because it has deliberately accused or charged the
victims in this case--the immigrants, the Bitkov family--and
did not bring charges against the perpetrators of these crimes,
which is the Cutino international organization, which is a
trafficking organization.
Despite the fact that the activities that the Bitkov family
were accused of don't constitute any crime, the following
ensued: On January the 15th of 2015, CICIG and the Public
Ministry, with the support of the national police, carried out
three searches. I personally witnessed the search that was
conducted in the Bitkov family home. It lasted 20 hours and
close to 70 police officers who were heavily armed took part in
that search. They went into their rooms while they were
sleeping and they didn't even let them get dressed in privacy.
They weren't allowed to call their lawyer until 3 hours after
the beginning of the search.
I asked the prosecutor, Stuart Ernesto Campo Aguilar, why
there were so many police officers, and he told me that this
case stemmed from a multimillion-dollar fraud case that the
Bitkov family had committed against a Russian bank, and it was
the Russian bank that was bringing criminal charges against the
Bitkov family.
So they seized vehicles, jewelry and the personal
belongings of the Bitkov family. And after that, the national
police actually looted their home. This search lasted until
1:40 in the early morning of the next day, when it finally
ended. And that was when they woke up Vladimir, the little boy,
and they put him in a pickup truck headed to the courts that
were open at that hour. The child was only 3 years old. All
this information can be found in the search warrant, which I
would ask be admitted on the record.
Mr. Smith. Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Alvarado. So the judge in chambers, the judge on that
shift at that time, granted me custody of the child, and also
appointed, as custodian of this child, the baby sitter Veronica
Gonzalez. On February the 10th of 2015, Judge Maria Belen Reyna
Salazar illegally ruled that the child be taken away from their
legal guardians--from us, their legal guardians--alleging that
we were not the child's relatives and that even the identity of
their--of the child's parents was in question. That doubt or
question about the child's identity stemmed from a report that
the Special Prosecutors Office Against Impunity, FECI, had sent
in which it states that the identity of Vladimir was flawed.
And that is the rationale under which the child was sent to the
orphanage called Amor del Nino, Love of the Child, where he was
kept for 42 days.
The judge denied any visitation rights to little Vladimir,
which means that he was left entirely alone. He emerged from
this orphanage with a broken tooth, with a scar above his
eyebrow, with conjunctivitis, and with amibus [ph]. I have the
medical records of the injuries sustained by Vladimir. And I
would ask that they be admitted to the record.
Mr. Smith. Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Alvarado. From the outset of these proceedings, the VTB
Bank justified its participation in the proceedings, alleging
that it had been defrauded in Russia by the Bitkov family. The
involvement of the VTB Bank was always supported and defended
by CICIG through CICIG's agent that had the power of attorney
to operate on CICIG's behalf, Claudia Gonzalez Orellana, who
declared to a judge that the facts that occurred in Russia were
related to facts that occurred in Guatemala, and therefore VTB
Bank should be allowed to defend its interests in Guatemala.
The Bitkov family said that the identity documents had been
processed by a law firm known as Cutino International. Cutino
was never investigated by CICIG, despite the fact that the
Bitkov family reported Cutino, requesting that it be
investigated, and offering sufficient evidence with which to
identify the responsible parties. Igor declared that the
payment made to Cutino was done via bank transfer, and asked
CICIG to look into that, to trace that transfer. It was also
reported that the Cutino case, or its involvement, was also
reported directly to Commissioner Ivan Velasquez. And we have a
video showing the conversation between Commissioner Velasquez
and Irina that also bears witness to the political persecution
perpetrated by Russia.
So we have sufficient evidence. And we provided that
evidence to Commissioner Velasquez, as well as a letter written
by Senator Roger Wicker of 2015, yet the commissioner did not
act on that evidence presented. CICIG then participated as a
complainant against the immigrants, the Bitkov family, and
asked for a 19-year prison sentence. And such a sentence has
never been meted out against any other foreigner.
During the debate, the manager of the company that issued
the passports stated that thousands of passports are processed
irregularly on a regular basis, and in favor of foreign
nationals. Furthermore, the witness Carlos Rene Gomez Diaz
stated in witness testimony that the General Office on
Migration issued between one and three illegal passports every
week in favor of foreign nationals. However, the Bitkov family
was the only family ever to be given prison sentences. And the
few foreigners who were ever tried only received commuted
sentences. That is to say that instead of going to jail, all
they had to do was pay a fine and go back to their country of
origin.
Another illegal act that emerged during the criminal
proceedings was that before the Bitkov family was found guilty,
during the discussion a superior constitutional court granted a
writ of amparo in favor of Igor Bitkov, and in the sentence
said that migrants cannot be criminally tried. CICIG appealed
that sentence, and the court did not follow through--did not
adhere to the ruling that had been issued regarding the prior
appeals. Anastasia Bitkova was sent to prison, despite the fact
that she suffers a psychiatric illness, and that as a result of
this her life is in danger.
Yesterday the Constitutional Court, the highest court of
Guatemala, issued a sentence whereby it declares that the
Bitkov family are immigrant and they never should have been
criminally tried. This confirms the human rights violations
that were perpetrated against the Bitkov family that I have
described in my witness testimony. Furthermore, the human
rights ombudsman's office has said that the rights of the
child, the rights of Vladimir, the boy, were also violated by
the judge who illegally sent him to an orphanage.
So everything that I have said can be legally
substantiated. And all of these illegal acts that destroyed the
Bitkov family were carried out at the request of CICIG and the
Public Ministry. And these are acts that cannot go unpunished--
cannot remain in impunity.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much for your testimony and for
your very incisive words today. Let me just begin the
questioning with Mr. Browder first.
Thank you for giving us a backdrop of how the Russian
officials act--reiderstvo, as you said. And you also pointed
out that you have been victimized by this as well, so you speak
from a first-
person account. Six times the Russian Government tried to get
Interpol to arrest you for your incredible work on the
Magnitsky Act. I would just point, parenthetically--and the
press might want to take note of this--I've traveled to the
Soviet Union when it was the Soviet Union, on behalf of the
Soviet Jews, on behalf of religious freedom. And always got a
visa. When I worked to get the Magnitsky Act passed, I was
denied a visa. And I haven't gotten once since.
I had hoped to go to Russia to talk and work with them in
combating human trafficking. I've worked with a number of NGOs
in Moscow and elsewhere that combat human trafficking and help
Russian women who are victimized. And yet, the long arm of this
corruption denied me--continues to deny me a visa to go to
Russia. That's nowhere near as burdensome and threatening, of
course, as what you have faced and so many of these others.
You also point out that thousands of businessmen are in
jail who are victims of this. And that's the best-kept secret
out there. Some journalists have pointed this out, but this is
common practice. It's not an exception. It's a common practice.
And so, if you could, Mr. Browder--you also talked about
how a Swiss Federal Police--they successfully recruited a
senior official inside the Swiss Federal Police, to stymie a
criminal investigation into money laundering. So this is a
modus operandi that is global. And this is a manifestation that
has happened with CICIG complicity in Guatemala.
How do they do it? Do they pay people? You did point out in
your testimony that a very distinguished attorney was hired by
VTB Bank, Henry Comte, as you point out.
And I mean, so a plan was hatched. Obviously, or likely,
huge amounts of money were conveyed to interested parties. Then
all of a sudden, with the support of CICIG, they are part of
the migration case. And again, when it comes to trafficking, I
take a backseat to no one, because I've written four major laws
on combating human trafficking, including our first. And
there's nowhere here any suggestion that the Bitkovs are
involved with trafficking.
They are involved in trying to protect their children
from--and just let me say parenthetically that Pavel Astakhov,
the Russian Government's ombudsman for children's rights, cut
off inter-country adoptions, which had been a lifeline for
Russian children finding homes--loving homes in the United
States and elsewhere. But that was a total reaction to the
Magnitsky Act, that we were finally holding people who are
corrupt and commit serious, serious human rights abuses
personally responsible for their crimes.
So if you could further elaborate on that backdrop, because
the question is why and whether or not there were bribes
involved, who was paid, why did they become a part of this?
Nineteen years, fourteen years prison sentences. You know, I've
never seen anything like this, except in gulag states. You
know, Guatemala is not a gulag state, but they certainly have a
situation that is outrageous. So if you could give us--talk
about that----
Mr. Browder. That's an excellent question, and a crucial
question. The Russian Government has unlimited resources that
they're using to corrupt and infiltrate international
institutions. We have evidence of their involvement in
corruption in the Swiss Federal Police, as I mentioned. We have
evidence of involvement in the corruption of the deputy
attorney general of Cyprus. And we have evidence of their
involvement in the corruption of international organizations
like the Olympics. We have evidence of their involvement in all
sorts of activities like that.
And what the Russian Government does is, they poke around
to see who is susceptible to corruption and bribery. And many
people say no. But they find people who say yes. And they have
plenty of money to do it. They know exactly how to do it,
because they do it all day, every day inside their own country.
And so they're experienced at doing it. And the Putin regime
does it in foreign countries. And they find willing takers.
And what makes it more pernicious is that once the person
has become involved in their corruption, they threaten them
with murder if they stop doing it. They say: You've taken our
money. If you stop doing the things we ask you to do, not only
will we expose you, but we will kill you. And so people become
very scared of backing down. And we see a lot of situations
where people have been corrupted and they dig their heels in,
even after they've been exposed, because they're so afraid of
the people who corrupted them in the first place.
I do not have any direct evidence of why CICIG was involved
in this inexplicable persecution of the Bitkov----
Mr. Smith. But there is no doubt that they are.
Mr. Browder. The Bitkovs have been inexplicably persecuted
by CICIG, with the involvement of VTB Bank. That we have
evidence. That evidence has been presented today. I don't know
why. But it tends to be that when people behave irrationally,
when this organization which is supposed to be an anti-impunity
human rights organization is persecuting a Russian family who
is fleeing for their life, the obvious question is why. And we
can't leave it unanswered.
And I've seen the answers that CICIG has tried to give for
justifying themselves, and none of those answers make any sense
or address the crucial questions. Why were they supporting VTB
in court hearings? Why did they, together with VTB, appeal the
exoneration of the Bitkovs by the Supreme Court? None of these
questions have been answered by them. And they refused to show
up here today to answer those questions. And you need to get
answers to those questions.
Mr. Smith. Well, I would assure you, we will ask them again
to come. I will pose a series of questions in total
transparency. We want to know when was the decision made? By
whom, or how many people were involved in that decision,
whether or not there was any kind of conveyance of financial
money of any kind, anything of value. And as I said in my
opening, there needs to be a full and robust investigation of
CICIG's complicating in this persecution of a family that was
trying to evade a modus operandi of the Russian corruption
system. And this is how they do it. And they do it everywhere
they can get away with it. And they should not be a part of
that in any way, shape, or form.
I would point out, you said in your statement that the Wall
Street Journal April 4th article--and you quote Igor Kostin,
the chairman of the VTB Bank, where he says, ``VTB's action
relating to the Bitkov family is an example of standard
procedure in resolving financial business disputes through the
available legal channels.'' Persecute, give massive prison
sentences, put a young woman named Anastasia, a daughter, tried
to abduct--and I would call this a kidnapping--of a young boy,
who was not even Russian--he's Guatemalan, born in Guatemala.
To kidnap him back to an orphanage, and the very man doing it
is the one who ended inter-country adoptions in Russia.
We got a letter to the commission from the VTB Bank, from
the general counsel. And he says that VTB has been a model
corporate citizen, VTB has worked to combat corruption, every
action we have taken comports with global norms. Well, let's
hope that they are completely transparently open to the
investigation and will answer every question and provide every
set of documents asked and requested by either the U.S.
Government or any other responsible body in trying to get to
the bottom of this. Because this kind of assertion, when people
are suffering so cruelly in prison as we meet here today, is
beyond comprehension.
Let me ask you, if I could, what do you make of the attempt
to abduct Vladimir and to take him back to a Russian orphanage,
as if the Russian Government owns this little boy rather than
his loving parents and you, who have tried to provide help and
assistance to him, and love.
Mr. Browder. It's very clear. The VTB Bank and their co-
conspirators stripped the Bitkov family of all their wealth
back in Russia. There was nothing more to get. The cupboards
were empty. And so many people ask me when they look at this
case: Why? Why are they doing this? And I believe that the
answer is very similar to the answer of why they attempted to
murder Sergei Skripal, which is Sergei Skripal had no more
intelligence to provide the U.K. Government. But the purpose of
both of these exercises for different audiences--and these are
all directed toward domestic audiences--in the Skripal case, it
was to say: If you betray us, it doesn't matter where you go,
it doesn't matter when you go, we'll track you down anywhere in
the world and we will kill you and we will kill your family.
That's the message to their secret service.
In the Bitkov case, the message for VTB Bank and other
banks is: If we come and ask you to sign over your wealth to us
don't object, because look what happened to the Bitkov family.
We tracked them down in Guatemala. And we didn't just go after
Igor Bitkov. We went after his wife, his daughter, and their 3-
year-old son. And we will destroy you and we'll destroy
everybody. That's the message that they're trying to send to
anybody they're trying to extract money from in Russia. So the
next time they go and ask them for money, the people will say:
Here you go. Let me sign the papers.
Mr. Smith. Has CICIG or any Guatemalan authority ever
provided justification why the prison sentences are so
outrageously long, or a document?
Mr. Browder. I'm not an expert on Guatemalan law, but the
documents that I've seen, they just rotely write down the
justification by the judge, which it reads like something out
of Kafka, suppression of civil status, 5 years. Alteration of
government document, 7 years--or 8 years. And none of this
stuff makes any sense when you sort of step away and say, let's
look at the real-world situation. As Mr. Alvarado has said--or,
actually, I think it was Victoria who said, that members of the
Nicaraguan criminal gangs that have killed 25 people were given
suspended sentences for the same crime. How does that work?
Mr. Smith. Let me ask you, what is the relationship between
Guatemalan law enforcement and judicial authorities and CICIG?
How easily can those authorities say no to a CICIG instruction
regarding the prosecution of, say, the Bitkovs?
Mr. Browder. I think this would be a question better for
the Guatemalan lawyers.
Ms. Sandoval. They have a very big power. They are not
accountable to anyone in Guatemala. They have the power to
destroy careers, professionals. There are many people that fear
them. Might be people that have something beneath them that
they can be chased for and that helps them control them, maybe.
People--many judges try to please them. They try to please them
what they are--they asked.
Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Okay. Could I ask you about Vladimir--what is
the state of health right now? You know, how well or poorly is
he doing? And----
Mr. Alvarado. After he got out of the orphanage we've had
to hire psychological therapy--intensive psychological therapy
for him. He would wake up at night having awful nightmares. So
he's 6 years old now. He had just turned three when I got him.
And he has matured quite a bit. He has been forced to grow up
really fast. And something really interesting that he says all
the time, and that is, if I weren't a kid I would be in jail.
Mr. Smith. And if I could, on Anastasia, who has suffered
so much, having been raped, denied her medicine, as you've
pointed out in your testimonies, in another manifestation of
cruelty in this whole process--how is she faring?
Ms. Sandoval. She's having a very hard time right now
since, as I told you, she has been threatened to be sent to the
Federico Mora National Mental Hospital. This hospital, as I
told you before, has been qualified as the worst hospital in
the whole American continent. And she fears to be free to
express herself because she thinks people might interpret that
as she's having a breakdown and she could be sent, because the
Judge Yassmin Barrios, a few days after they were sent to
Mariscal Zavala, ordered the National Forensic Science
Institute to go and check on her to see if it was necessary to
send her to that hospital. So she's living through a living
hell, not being able to be herself. She is trying to fit in
what she cannot fit completely.
Mr. Smith. Thank you. If I could ask you, who is Mayra
Veliz? Are you aware of any position she may have had in any of
the organizations, entities that are relevant during the time
period pertinent to the Bitkov case? And to the best of your
knowledge, are you aware of CICIG or the attorney general of
Guatemala investigating Mayra Veliz for wrongdoing or bringing
any charges against her?
Mr. Alvarado. Mayra Veliz is the secretary general of the
Public Ministry. That means she's second in authority after the
prosecutor or the attorney general himself. She worked in
immigration policy. And she was the one who would sign off on
documents or sign for national documents because she worked in
that part of the Public Ministry responsible for foreign
affairs involving foreign nationals. Now, there's a rumor that
one hears constantly in the halls of the courts to the effect
that Mayra Veliz is closely associated with Cutino
International.
So recently a lawyer visited Igor in jail and reported to
him some information about Mayra Veliz to the fact that for
some time when she worked in migration she would sign the
documents for different foreign nationals, some of whom were of
Arab descent, Pakistanis. And also, that she had signed the
documents for members of ISIS, that is, the Islamic State. So
this lawyer provided his name and phone number. He does not
want to be a witness in Guatemala because he fears for his
life. What he wants is for the United States to call him, to
grant him special protection in exchange for his providing
information on this criminal structure--information that he has
on it.
So this leader, as we identified him as being--the leader
of this criminal structure that is the Cutino International
that CICIG did not want to investigate is Marcos Cutino. This
lawyer said that Marcos Cutino goes by different alias,
different names, in the U.S. and Mexico, Canada and Guatemala.
Mr. Smith. We're quickly running out of time, if you could
provide--okay.
Mr. Alvarado. Sorry. Something very interesting about the
Bitkov case that's suspicious is that when we reported this
criminal activity on the part of this criminal structure,
Cutino International, 2 days after that, Thelma Aldana--that
is, the prosecutor general of the country--or, we actually
heard from lawyers who identified themselves as American
lawyers, said that they were already aware of this case, and of
the fact that we were reporting this case to the attorney
general, and they wanted to meet with us about it. So these
reports were also sent to CICIG. And they asked us what we--
okay, we asked for a hearing, a meeting with Thelma Aldana, the
prosecutor general, and rather than being met by her, it was
Mayra Veliz who received us. And so I think that this warrants
that the U.S. Government conduct an in-depth investigation into
what the true role of Mayra Veliz is.
Mr. Smith. Thank you.
Ms. Jackson Lee.
HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE, COMMISSIONER, COMMISSION ON SECURITY
AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me thank the witnesses that have come
this morning--Victoria Sandoval, Rolando Alvarado, and Mr.
Browder. This commission, the Helsinki Commission, for those of
us who are on it, is taken enormously seriously. And I thank
the presiding chair.
Our time is short so, Mr. Browder, let me just say to you
that my outrage is mounting. And of course, as we are involved
in the trail of Russian involvement in the 2016 elections,
we're beginning to see certainly their despotic handprint
across the world as it relates to humanitarian issues. So let
me just quickly ask just one question which disturbs me.
I was at the United Nations this past Monday. And I have
long been a supporter of the value of the United Nations. So I
am interested in how we can intervene and while the CICIG, a
U.N.-backed organization to promote the rule of law, allowed
the Bitkovs to be treated as scandalous passport violators. And
is there any hope in that entity, and/or the United Nations--
because the husband and wife are still incarcerated. The
daughter, I did not hear where, I'm sorry.
Mr. Browder. Is incarcerated as well.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Is incarcerated. And the son is now back
in Guatemala.
Mr. Browder. The son is with Mr. Alvarado.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Yes. But can we just go to that question
about how it was fraudulently made into an organization that
would do what they did to the Bitkovs?
Mr. Browder. The Russians are specialists at this. As I
mentioned, they've abused Interpol, in my case. And let me
point something out, which is that from everything that I've
been told, the concept of CICIG is a good concept. To fight
impunity and fight human rights abuses with a strong
organization is a good concept, as is Interpol for going after
fugitives.
The issue is not the organization itself, but it's if that
organization is being abused. And I've seen how Interpol's
abused, which doesn't make the argument that we shouldn't have
Interpol. It makes the argument that we should set up checks
and balances and reviews so that abuses can't happen.
It appears, from this gross abuse of process with the
Bitkovs by CICIG that there's something wrong in their controls
and their reviews. And this is a highly politicized story.
There are many people at this hearing. Many people probably
disagree with me about even bringing up CICIG. But how could I
not when they've been involved in this terrible persecution of
this family? And so there needs to be a review. And if it turns
out that there was corruption or malfeasance, then those people
need to be punished.
And there needs to be a checks and balances in place so
that doesn't happen in the future. There are many U.N.
organizations, as Chairman Smith has told us, that function
badly. And in the case of raping--in Africa, raping young girls
by U.N. peacekeepers, bad things do happen by organizations
that are set up for good purposes. There's a bad thing that's
happened here. And it needs to be reviewed, and it needs to be
reviewed aggressively and thoroughly.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me just conclude my point and say that
obviously peacekeepers are the soldiers that are offered by
countries. I would give, not the U.N. a pass, but I would
explain that they are, you know, extensions thereof, and
certainly should not be condoned in their behavior. In this
instance, I think the U.N. can be involved positively. I would
like to have a way for the Helsinki Commission to--we have a
lot of hearings--but to take this issue on. It is tragic what
has happened, but I think the important point for the world to
hear is that Russia acts as an international thug. And what has
happened is the world allows it to do so. Not the Russian
people--that I respect and love. I'm sure they're there doing
all they can for their families. But we have to say to the
Russian Government, the intelligence agency, Vladimir Putin,
that enough is enough in thuggery. So I hope that we will
pursue this, Mr. Chairman.
And with that, I yield back.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Ms. Lee.
And that is why we're having this hearing. This is the
first step in what will be a series of not only hearings but
action items. I agree with Mr. Browder that we need to suspend
CICIG's funding. I mean, this is outrageous. This is cruel and
degrading treatment. I mean, even the Convention Against
Torture body--you know, the implementing body ought to be
looking at this. To so mistreat people for a document?
And the document was done--if my family were in that
situation and we were fighting to get into another country
because the goons from Russia were on the prowl to take out
their lives, so you end up with a document to try to protect
you. And then you get 19 years, 14 years, and 14 years--it is
absolutely outrageous. This is cruel and degrading treatment.
And we will pursue this aggressively.
With that, I would ask unanimous consent that statements by
Marco Rubio, James Lankford, and Michael Lee--three senators
who couldn't be here today but wanted to express their strongly
held opinion--be made a part of the record.
Again, I thank you so much--we're only finishing up because
we do have a whole series of votes. Thank you so much for your
testimony and for your leadership.
The hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
=======================================================================
Prepared Statements
----------
Prepared Statement of Hon. Christopher H. Smith
The Russian Government regularly pursues its vendettas
beyond its borders, harassing and even murdering Russian
emigres abroad--people who are on the Putin circle's target
list for various reasons. The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia
Skripal in England is one of the most recent examples to reach
the news.
The Kremlin's sadistic pursuit of the entire Bitkov family
is in its way just as shocking as its cruel murder of
Litvinenko and the attempted murders of the Skripals. The
Bitkovs are still alive today, but they have been hounded for
over a decade, to the opposite end of the world, and beyond the
limits of human endurance--merely for resisting Putin favorites
who sought to take over their successful paper manufacturing
company.
More shocking, the facts of the case strongly indicate--and
we will hear testimony on this today--that the United Nation's
International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, or
CICIG, became deeply involved in the Kremlin's persecution of
the Bitkov family. Indeed that CICIG acted as the Kremlin's
operational agent in brutalizing and tormenting the Bitkov
family.
Congress has a special responsibility in this matter
because the United States is one of the largest contributors to
CICIG's budget. There has been little congressional oversight
of CICIG--it's clearly time for that to change.
In the 1990s Igor and Irina Bitkov built the North-West
Timber Company, acquiring and modernizing old factories to
increase paper production. As their company grew, the Bitkovs
took loans from several Russian state banks to finance further
modernization. Their business prospered--grew to a value of
hundreds of millions of dollars--and the family was approached
by a powerful bank executive who sought to buy a majority share
in the company at a significantly below-market rate. Other
officials asked Irina to become politically involved in
President Vladimir Putin's party.
When the Bitkovs refused things got very ugly. Their 16-
year-old daughter, Anastasia, was kidnapped for several days,
drugged, and repeatedly raped. Her parents ransomed her--paying
the money to policemen, who said they were go-betweens to the
kidnappers. Then the banks suddenly called in the loans, even
though the Bitkovs had excellent credit. The family was
threatened with imprisonment and death.
Fearing for their lives, the family fled Russia. They found
what they thought was legal refuge in Guatemala with the help
of a Guatemalan law firm. They acquired Guatemalan passports,
bought a house, learned Spanish, and gave birth to their second
child, Vladimir.
But the Kremlin caught up to them and VTB Bank, one of
Russia's biggest state-controlled banks, often referred to as
``Putin's Piggy Bank,'' filed a complaint against them in
Guatemala, alleging use of false identification documents.
While we don't know exactly what transpired internally to
CICIC and the Guatemalan state agencies that work with them, it
appears to have been taken up by the Guatemalan state and
CICIG. In any case, the Bitkovs suddenly found themselves
catapulted into what has become for them a horror without end.
On January 15, 2015, Igor, Irina, Anastasia and Vladimir
were awoken by an armed raid on their home--70 or so armed
policemen woke them up, took them away, and spent 20 hours
tearing apart their home and their office.
It got much worse--the Bitkovs were put into cages for 9
days. Their daughter--remember she had been kidnapped and
repeatedly raped years earlier--was denied medication, now
suffered a nervous breakdown. As the ordeal continued, she
would later make multiple suicide attempts. Their infant son
was torn away from them, not even permitted to stay with
friends, and sent to an orphanage, where he sustained facial
injuries, a chipped tooth, conjunctivitis, lost the ability to
speak. When family friends recovered him they found that, when
given food, little Vladimir immediately began hiding it under
his shirt. I will not say more now about the Bitkov's harrowing
ordeal--their lawyers will speak to that. Suffice it to say
that Igor, Irina, and Anastasia have remained incarcerated
since January 2015.
In January of this year, despite an earlier appeals court
ruling that the Bitkov's alleged offense was only
administrative in nature and punishable with a fine, Igor was
sentenced to 19 years in prison and Irina and Anastasia were
sentenced to 14 years each. These sentences were far harsher
than those given to Guatemalan officials who perpetrated the
sale of passports--they are harsher than sentences given to
rapists or murderers.
What was CICIG's role in all of this? What we know for a
fact is this: CICIG and a special branch of the attorney
general's office worked together on the investigation and
arrest of the Bitkovs--CICIG personnel participated in the raid
on the Bitkov's home. Then CICIG and VTB Bank initiated and
aggressively pursued the legal case against them, consistently
arguing at every level of the judicial process against the
Bitkovs, including against their appeal to be tried as migrants
guilty of an administrative offense rather than a criminal one.
CICIG--via its representative Claudia Gonzalez Orellana--
defended the role of the VTB Bank in the prosecution of the
Bitkovs. Oddly, CICIG never prosecuted the law firm which
provided the Bitkovs with the passports that destroyed their
lives.
As we will hear from Bill Browder: ``Inexplicably . . . in
January 2015, a criminal case against the Bitkovs was opened at
the direction of CICIG. Immediately after, 70 armed police
officers raided the Bitkov's home, arrested Irina, Igor, and
Anastasia and detained them in cages behind the parking garage
in the main court building of Guatemala City.''
CICIG was invited to participate in this event and brief us
today, but declined. They have sent a note, requesting that it
be made part of the record, as has VTB Bank. Without objection,
that will be done.
During questions, I will quote from CICIG's note--asking
our witnesses about CICIG's account.
Just yesterday afternoon, the Constitutional Court of
Guatemala--the country's highest court--upheld an earlier
decision by a lower court that had granted the Bitkovs' appeal
to be considered migrants, and therefore, under international
law, not able to be tried as criminals. It is not yet clear
what this ruling will mean--it seems to mean that the family
could be released from prison--but also that they could be
deported back to Russia. Time will tell.
I want to make an appeal to the Guatemalan government, to
CICIG, to our government, and to the UN--this is a time to
focus on restoring to this family as much as possible of what
has been unjustly taken from them. Their safety must come
first--we must assume that they remain targets for the Kremlin.
They must not be returned to Russia. They have to be protected,
and safe haven must be found for them.
And then there must be accountability for the grotesque
wrong that has been done to them. There must be further
inquiry, and we must get to the bottom of this.
It would be the worst irony if CICIG, which was created to
battle for accountability for corruption, were now to seek only
to avoid scrutiny and accountability. CICIG cannot credibly do
battle against a culture of impunity if it demands impunity for
itself.
This is the time for CICIG--and its commissioner Ivan
Velasquez--to throw open its doors, provide transparency, and
give an honest accounting to the world of exactly what was
CICIG's role in the cruelty that was wreaked on the Bitkovs.
Unfortunately, up to now it has done nothing of the sort. I
urge CICIG to change course now.
Prepared Statement of Hon. Roger Wicker
Thank you, Co-Chairman Smith, for convening this emergency
hearing today. As our longest-serving commissioner, your
doggedness to defend human dignity over the years has advanced
the cause of freedom and saved countless lives around the
world.
As members of Congress, we have a particular obligation to
ensure the causes and institutions funded by the United States
remain consistent with our values and our interests.
Today, the Commission will examine the harrowing experience
of a Russian family who fell victim to an all-too-common
corporate raider scheme in Russia. Facing violent extortion,
financial ruin, and imprisonment, the Bitkovs sought refuge
abroad. Using the services of what they believed to be a
legitimate immigration firm, they received new identities from
the Government of Guatemala and began a new life in Central
America. A few years later, Kremlin agents tracked them down
and colluded with the UN's International Commission against
Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) to sentence them to nearly twenty
years in prison.
We know the lengths Russia's kleptocracy will go to
intimidate those who challenge its crimes. We remember the
stories of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose successful company was
expropriated and who spent 10 years in the Siberian gulag, and
Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed corruption at the top of Russia's
government and was tortured and killed for doing so. In the
case of the Bitkov family, the Kremlin agents persecuting the
Bitkovs are sanctioned by the United States. In addition, the
CICIG, a powerful and active participant in this gross
miscarriage of justice, is funded in large part by the United
States.
We are right to ask: Why would agents from one of the
world's most ruthless kleptocracies join forces with an agency
set up to combat corruption and impunity? Why would a UN
institution receiving significant U.S. funding be so blind as
to work with Vladimir Putin's cronies when its mission is to
help Guatemala move beyond the corruption and impunity that
plague its society? In this whole tragic affair, did the
Kremlin exert any undue influence on CICIG?
Yesterday's decision by Guatemala's Constitutional Court in
favor of the Bitkovs is a welcome step, but this family remains
in jail. They should be freed immediately. And yet, unless they
receive asylum in Guatemala or another county, the Bitkovs will
remain in grave jeopardy of being returned to Russia, where
their long nightmare will surely continue.
I would like to note the role of one of our witnesses in
bringing this case to our attention and to the attention of the
American people. In 2009, Mr. Browder brought a similar case to
the Helsinki Commission involving his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
At the time, Sergei was in pretrial detention in Moscow and
being subjected to increasingly torturous conditions. My good
friend Senator Ben Cardin chaired a hearing on Sergei's case,
and we worked to bring attention to his plight.
However, Sergei died suddenly, having been locked in an
isolation cell and beaten by prison guards when he needed
urgent medical care. We must learn from this tragedy and not
allow it to happen to the Bitkovs.
I will be working closely with the White House, National
Security Council, and State Department to ensure the safety of
this family, and I am prepared to use all available policy
options to help resolve this injustice.
The case of the Bitkovs illustrates the Kremlin's pattern
of abuse involving the world's courts and legal institutions.
Russia should be called out for the mafia state it is and the
illegitimate and politically influenced decisions that come out
of Russian courts not given the time of day. We must find a way
to protect our institutions from malign outsider influence and
avoid becoming unwitting participants in Kremlin vendettas.
Prepared Statement of Hon. Marco Rubio
Thank you Co-chair Smith for convening this important and
timely hearing of the Helsinki Commission titled ``The Long Arm
of Injustice: Did a UN Commission Founded to Fight Corruption
Help the Kremlin Destroy a Russian Family?''
As I am unable to attend today's hearing, I would like to
submit a statement for the record on the mistreatment of the
Bitkov family by the Russian Government and the apparent
miscarriage of justice that has so far unfolded in Guatemala.
In 2008, the Bitkovs had their business stolen by a
Kremlin-associated bank--which is currently under U.S.
sanctions--and were forced from their home in Russia after
threats from the Putin regime and its cronies, just like so
many other entrepreneurs over the past two decades.
Having lost their business and their homeland, the Bitkovs
fled to several countries before finally landing in Guatemala
in hopes of a safe and secure future. But, in Putin's Russia,
merely stealing the Bitkovs livelihood wasn't enough. The
Kremlin and those associated with it have perpetrated an
international campaign of aggression against the Bitkovs,
pressuring the Guatemalan government--including troublingly,
the Guatemalan judiciary--to prosecute the entire Bitkov family
on potentially trump-up charges.
Unfortunately for the rule of law in Guatemala, Moscow
seemed to have found a willing partner in the International
Commission on Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), which was set-up
through the auspices of the United Nations to prosecute
official corruption and political intimidation, not participate
in it. I am concerned that CICIG, a commission funded by the
United States, had potentially been manipulated by radical
elements and Russia's campaign against the Bitkovs in
Guatemala. And that this, in turn, may have led to the Bitkovs'
suspiciously long prison sentences for crimes that normally
would be afforded administrative fines, if any penalty at all.
Moreover, the conditions that the Bitkovs have endured
during their incarceration have been deplorable, as they have
suffered malnourishment, disease, and the separation of the
family, including the placement of Igor and Irina's youngest
child in an orphanage against their expressed wishes.
What all of this adds up to is Putin and his cronies
apparently settling scores in the Western Hemisphere and
undermining Guatemala's anti-corruption watchdog.
This miscarriage of justice cannot be tolerated and today's
hearing is a strong first step in bringing this matter to
light. It is important for both Kremlin and Guatemalan
officials to understand that the world sees what is happening
and will not accept Russian malign influence in the Western
Hemisphere or the destruction of Guatemalan judiciary.
I was pleased to learn that on Thursday, April 26th, the
Bitkov family was granted a protection order by the Guatemalan
Constitutional Court.
I am confident that the Guatemalan government under the
leadership of President Morales will ensure this family's
safety as they close this horrific chapter in their lives and
begin a new journey away from the Kremlin's international
campaign of aggression against them.
Prepared Statement of Hon. James Lankford
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Commission, thank you for
accepting my statement for the record as I regrettably could
not attend today's important hearing. I appreciate you and your
staff's hard work to bring these stories and facts to light.
I want to focus on something that has for too long gone
overlooked and without proper oversight from the U.S. Congress:
the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala's
(CICIG) expansion of authorities and prerogative beyond its
mandate, and its level of effectiveness in building the
capacity of Guatemala's own judicial system.
CICIG's mandate clearly states that the entity was
established to support the Government of Guatemala by
investigating and disbanding illegal security forces and
clandestine security structures operating in the country.
According to the mandate, CICIG is also tasked with
strengthening Guatemala's own justice system so that an
international body is no longer needed in the future. It
appears that, after more than a decade of operation in the
country, there is an unknown amount of progress in creating
capacity for Guatemala's own judicial system; if so, CICIG is
faltering in its mission.
Let me make clear that I support the intention and core
mandate of CICIG to walk alongside Guatemala's public
prosecutors to tackle the devastating effects that armed drug
traffickers and gangs have had and continue to have on
Guatemalan society and economy. The influence of illicit
narcotics is the primary catalyst for the region's rampant
crime and corruption, and the U.S. and international community
should be a partner with the Guatemalan government in
eliminating its malign influence. Yet we should be diligent in
exercising oversight over any foreign entity which receives
U.S. taxpayer funding to ensure our nation's own resources are
used to advance national interests.
I applaud the Commission for looking into the issue of the
Bitkov family as well as exercising oversight over the U.S.-
funded CICIG.
Prepared Statement of Hon. Michael S. Lee
I am delighted my colleagues are holding this important
hearing today, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share
some thoughts and a statement on this important topic. It is
truly unfortunate that it takes horrific events for us in
America to stop and examine how our taxpayer dollars are being
expended in support of supranational governance overseas in
ways that wreak havoc and upend principles of sovereignty for
others. My deepest sympathies are with the Bitkov Family today,
and with all of those whose lives have been irreparably altered
by egregious violations of law and order.
The UN's International Commission against Impunity in
Guatemala (CICIG) is an unwieldy beast. All organizations, even
those created with the best of intentions, must have proper
oversight and accountability mechanisms built-in. While
initially created to root-out corruption and uphold rule of
law, CICIG both in principle and application has become an
extrajudicial, partial and unfair arbiter in Guatemala. Since
its inception in 2007, the U.S. has spent more than $44.5
million on CICIG. While our U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has
called on the entity to remain intact, she has also called on
the organization to be less overt and political, saying it
should not be in the paper every day. Unfortunately, the
continued conflicts of personalities between Guatemalan
politicians and leadership of CICIG has kept many in deep
conflict over various charges of corruption and challenges of
leadership. No organization should be beholden to one man in
the way at CICIG is intertwined with Commissioner Ivan
Velasquez. An entity that is truly unbiased should continue its
mission regardless of who is in charge. This is in part why
we--and others who financially support CICIG--must increase
oversight over this body, ensuring our funds are spent
responsibly. CICIG should be operating to root-out real
corruption, rather than building up or tearing down political
winners and losers. It pains me to see sovereignty continually
thrown by the wayside as has been the case in Guatemala. It is
unfair to average citizens. It has been unfair to the Bitkovs.
It is unfair to all who seek a free and prosperous Guatemala.
Today I wish the CICIG never was established. I wish that
we could have spent all these funds and all this time working
yes on corruption issues, but also on transnational crime. Or
on creating economic opportunity for both Guatemalans and
Americans. Or on strengthen the actual government of Guatemala
established by the people of Guatemala. As long as we keep
using our resources to drive political wedges and undermine
what freethinking human beings made in the image of God want
their country to be, we will fail to seize the true
opportunities for growth before us.
Prepared Statement of Bill Browder
Co-Chairman Smith, Distinguished Members of the Helsinki
Commission,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present the
story of the Russian Government's persecution of the Bitkov
family in Guatemala.
As many of you know, I was the client of Sergei Magnitsky
in Russia. When he was murdered by Russian Government officials
for uncovering state corruption, I started a campaign for
justice, which led to this Commission spearheading the Sergei
Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in 2012, and the
Global Magnitsky Act in 2016.
I wrote about the Magnitsky justice campaign in a book,
entitled ``Red Notice,'' which was published in February 2015.
Following the book's publication, I have received messages from
people all over the world telling me about their reactions to
the Magnitsky case and sharing their own stories.
One of those stories came from a Russian woman named Irina
Bitkov. She described how she and her family had been
persecuted in a similar way to Sergei Magnitsky in Russia and
when they fled, their persecutors from the Russian Government
chased them all the way to Guatemala and ruined their lives.
I am here today to share the Bitkov's story because they
can't be here to do it themselves. They are currently in a
Guatemalan prison where Igor Bitkov (the father) is serving a
nineteen-year prison sentence and Irina and Anastasia Bitkov
(the mother and daughter) are serving fourteen-year prison
sentences, all for ``passport violations'' in Guatemala.
I'd like to point out that I have no business relationships
with the Bitkovs. I am receiving no compensation for the
advocacy I am doing on their behalf. I am entirely motivated by
the shocking injustice of what has happened to them.
This story starts in the 1990's when Igor and Irina Bitkov
became owners of a paper mill in Russia called the North West
Timber Company. Over the course of the 1990's, they built a
highly successful business that reached $80 million in profits
by 2007. It was apparently valued by the Russian state bank,
Sberbank, at roughly US$400 million.
In the course of its business, the company obtained loans
from Russian state banks, including Sberbank, VTB and
Gazprombank in order to upgrade its facilities. Shortly after
the loans were issued, the Bitkov's problems began.
One of the bankers involved in issuing the loan approached
Igor Bitkov and asked Igor to sell 51 percent of the business
to him personally for US$25 million. As the business was worth
many times that, Igor refused.
Following this unwanted take-over attempt, a terrible
trauma befell the Bitkov family. The Bitkov's then 16-year-old
daughter Anastasia was kidnapped in St Petersburg. The
kidnappers demanded a ransom, which took the Bitkovs 3 days to
accumulate. They paid the kidnappers and Anastasia was
released, but when she was safely back home, the family
discovered that Anastasia had been drugged and repeatedly raped
by her kidnappers. The ordeal left Anastasia deeply traumatised
and set off a cascade of psychiatric ailments, which require
medication and treatment to this day.
Following that, and in a further escalation of the attempts
to take over their company, the Russian state banks
simultaneously called in the $158 million loans, forcing the
company into bankruptcy.
During the bankruptcy proceedings, the equipment of their
factories was sold for a fraction of its true value.
The Bitkovs were then told that they would be imminently
arrested. This was the moment the Bitkov family fled Russia.
They first travelled to Latvia, and then to Turkey. In Turkey,
they sought out a country to settle in where they could avoid
the risk of being sent back to Russia where they feared the
worst. They chose Guatemala because it did not have an
extradition treaty with Russia.
They found an advertisement on the Internet from a Latin
American law firm called Cutino Associates that specialised in
immigration law and advertised its expertise in organizing
Guatemalan immigration for US$50,000 per person. The family
engaged Cutino and began the process of becoming immigrants to
Guatemala.
In their initial communications with the Cutino law firm,
they explained that the reason for their immigration was to
avoid persecution from Russia.
Cutino explained to them that they could change their names
in their immigration applications to avoid detection by the
Russians. Cutino then submitted applications for the family and
the Guatemalan migration service issued them new documents in
new names. Anastasia kept her original name hoping that because
she was not targeted with Russian criminal cases she would be
ok to keep it.
The family then began a new life in Guatemala. Igor became
a high school math teacher at the Brillo De Sol School in
Antigua, Guatemala. Irina became a drawing teacher at the same
school, and Anastasia, who was beginning to regain her
confidence after her terrible trauma in Russia, began a career
in fashion.
In January 2012, Irina Bitkov gave birth to a baby boy
named Vladimir.
It appeared that after their terrible ordeal in Russia
where the family had lost nearly everything, they could begin a
new chapter in their lives.
Unfortunately, their dream of a new life came crashing down
in late 2013.
Investigators working for VTB Bank tracked down the Bitkovs
in Guatemala. The head of the VTB Bank, Andrey Kostin,
personally hired Henry Comte, one of the most prestigious
attorneys in Guatemala and an alternate judge on the Guatemalan
Supreme Court, to assist VTB in pursuing the Bitkovs in
Guatemala.
VTB and Comte's first attempt to go after the Bitkovs was
to file a criminal complaint with the Attorney General's Office
of Guatemala claiming VTB had been defrauded by the Bitkovs in
Russia. VTB presented photocopies of forged documents in the
Guatemalan court. These documents had already been rejected as
forgeries in similar proceedings in the Russian courts. When
the Guatemalan court requested the originals, VTB bank withdrew
its application.
VTB and Henry Comte then came up with a `plan B' to go
after the Bitkovs. For several years before 2013, there had
been an ongoing investigation into human trafficking and
Guatemalan officials' complicity with human traffickers in the
country. It was called the Migration Case and was supported by
a U.N. organisation called CICIG whose mandate was to go after
organised crime networks who previously enjoyed impunity in
Guatemala.
VTB and Comte successfully convinced CICIG to focus on the
Bitkovs as part of the Migration Case in spite of the fact the
Bitkovs were clearly not part of any organised network of
traffickers.
Inexplicably, VTB Bank gained the legal status as an
`interested party' in the Migration Case against the Bitkovs
with the support of CICIG. In January 2015, a criminal case
against the Bitkovs was opened at the direction of CICIG.
Immediately after, 70 armed police officers raided the Bitkovs'
home, arrested Irina, Igor and Anastasia and detained them in
cage behind the parking garage in the main court building in
Guatemala City.
While they were being held, Anastasia was deprived of her
anti-depression medications and she had a severe psychiatric
break-down. Anastasia and her mother were moved to a hospital
under armed guard, and Igor was put into pre-trial detention at
the Mariscal Zavala prison while the case awaited trial.
The Bitkovs arranged for their family lawyer, Rolando
Alvarado, to be a guardian for their 3-year-old child,
Vladimir, while they were incarcerated. In spite of Mr.
Alvarado's valid guardianship papers, the Prosecutor of
Guatemala filed a motion with the court calling for Vladimir
Bitkov to be placed in a state orphanage instead.
At this point, the Russian Government also got involved.
Pavel Astakhov, the Russian government's ombudsman for
children's rights, publicly called for Vladimir Bitkov to be
returned to Russia to be put into a Russian orphanage.
The Russian foray failed because Vladimir is only a
Guatemalan citizen, not Russian, and could not be returned to
Russia. However, the Guatemalan prosecutor's motion succeeded
and Vladimir was placed in a state orphanage.
The family desperately applied to reverse the decision and
get Vladimir out of the orphanage. It took 42 days for that
application to be heard. When Vladimir finally emerged, he was
examined by medical experts who found he had an upper
respiratory infection; severe inflammation of the middle ear;
conjunctivitis in both eyes; scars along the left eyebrow; and
chipped front teeth. They concluded that he suffered from
physical and psychological abuses in the orphanage.
In the meantime, the case against the Bitkovs for passport
violations moved through the courts, they were formally
indicted as part of the CICIG Migration Case in April 2015.
The Bitkov family appealed the indictment in the Appeals
Court arguing that they were migrants and could not be subject
to criminal prosecution applicable to traffickers. In December
2017, the Guatemalan Appeals Court ruled in favour of the
Bitkovs declaring that any passport irregularities were
administrative offences punishable by a fine and as migrants
they should not be under criminal penalty.
However, CICIG and VTB were not happy with this decision
and both immediately filed appeals against that court decision
that would have freed the Bitkovs. While their appeal was
pending, the decision was not in force.
A few days later on January 5, 2018, the Guatemalan
District Court found Igor, Irina and Anastasia Bitkov guilty as
users of the criminal network in the Migration Case. The court
sentenced Igor to 19 years in prison, and Irina and Anastasia
to 14 years. CICIG trumpeted their court victory on their
website pointing out that they prosecuted 39 people from the
criminal network, including the Bitkovs.
I understand that the 19-year sentence that Igor Bitkov was
given was greater than sentences for manslaughter, rape,
burglary and fraud in Guatemala. The sentences that all three
of them were given appears to exceed the sentences of many of
the government officials in Guatemala and traffickers who were
part of the human trafficking network.
There was no evidence that the Bitkovs bribed any
government official, or were involved in any corruption.
The Bitkovs, who did not speak Spanish and did not know
anyone in Guatemala on arrival, relied on the law firm, Cutino
Associates who presented themselves as legitimate immigration
lawyers.
It also appears that nobody from Cutino Associates who
organised their passports and settlement documents has ever
been prosecuted.
No other customers of Cutino appear to have been tried,
convicted and sentenced like the Bitkovs. In the list presented
by CICIG, which includes 39 people in the Migration Case, 36
were low and middle level officials from different Guatemalan
governmental bodies and a few `coyotes' who physically moved
people through Guatemala.
So, what's going on here?
There are two big Russian themes in this case, neither of
which are unusual.
First, in Russia people who run successful businesses are
routinely victimised through a process called `Raiderstvo'. I
was a victim of Raiderstvo and so were the Bitkovs. It is a
standard practice in Russia where organized criminals work
together with corrupt government officials to extract property
and money from their victims. There are literally hundreds of
thousands of businessmen in jail in Russia who are victims of
this as well.
The second theme is the abuse of international
institutions. The Russian Government routinely abuses
international institutions in order to persecute its enemies
who are outside of Russia.
In my case, the Russian Government tried six times to have
Interpol arrest me after the Magnitsky Act was passed. The
Russian Government also successfully recruited a senior
official inside the Swiss Federal Police to stymie a Swiss
criminal investigation into money laundering by Russian
officials in the Magnitsky case. The Russian Government also
succeeded in getting a Deputy Attorney General of Cyprus in
charge of mutual legal assistance and extradition affecting the
Magnitsky case, and many other politically sensitive cases, to
inappropriately assist Russia in pursuing their enemies in
Cyprus.
In my opinion, the Russian Government succeeded in
compromising CICIG and the Guatemalan Prosecutor for their own
purposes in the Bitkov case.
CICIG and the prosecutor's office have jointly taken up the
Russian government's vendetta against the Bitkovs with no good
explanation.
CICIG did not distance itself from this Russian
persecution. They've touted it on their website and they've
actively tried to overturn the Bitkovs' vindication by the
Appeals Court.
Nor has VTB tried to hide its role in this case. In spite
of the fact that VTB obtained no financial recovery for their
alleged financial dispute with the Bitkovs, they became an
interested party in a case involving something that had nothing
to do with them in order to vindictively punish Igor Bitkov and
his entire family.
In the Wall Street Journal on April 4, 2018, Igor Kostin,
the Chairman of VTB, says: ``VTB's action relating to the
Bitkov family is an example of standard procedure in resolving
financial business disputes through the available legal
channels.''
This is an appalling case in which the Bitkov family
deserves justice and the United States has an opportunity to
deliver them justice.
CICIG is a U.N. organisation in which approximately 50
percent of its budget comes from the US government.
I do not believe that anyone in the US Congress or the US
government ever envisaged that US tax dollars would be spent to
support a Russian persecution of a family fleeing persecution
in Guatemala. I would recommend that CICIG's funding be
suspended until this situation is resolved.
When I began the process of advocating for the Bitkov
family, I discovered that CICIG is a highly contentious issue
in DC and around the world. There are some people who are pro-
CICIG, there are others who are anti-CICIG.
Up until 2 months ago, I had never heard of CICIG. I come
into this case with no prejudices one way or another. I've gone
where the evidence leads. So far, the evidence leads toward the
conclusion about the involvement of this organisation in the
Bitkov's persecution.
As journalists from the Wall Street Journal and other news
organization have started to investigate, CICIG has avoided
answering a number of direct questions about their role in the
Bitkov case and their support of VTB.
When CICIG was invited to give evidence to Congress, they
declined claiming as a U.N. organization, it is not accountable
to any institution in the United States.
They can't have it both ways. They can either be the heroic
anti-impunity organisation that their mandate sets for them and
not take on other country's vendettas, or the situation at
CICIG needs to be cleaned up.
Bill Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital
Management, which was the investment adviser to the largest
foreign investment fund in Russia until 2005, when Bill was
denied entry to the country and declared a ``threat to national
security'' as a result of his battle against corporate
corruption. Following his expulsion, the Russian authorities
raided his offices, seized Hermitage Fund's investment
companies and used them to steal $230 million of taxes that the
companies had previously paid. When Browder's lawyer, Sergei
Magnitsky, investigated the crime, he was arrested by the same
officers he implicated, tortured for 358 days, and killed in
custody at the age of 37 in November 2009. Since then, Browder
has spent the last 5 years fighting for justice for Mr.
Magnitsky. The Russian government exonerated and even promoted
some of the officials involved so Browder took the case to
America, where his campaigning led to the U.S. Congress
adopting the `Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act'
in 2012, which imposed visa sanctions and asset freezes on
those involved in the detention, ill-treatment and death of
Sergei Magnitsky (as well as in other human rights abuses).
This law was the first time the US sanctioned Russia in 35
years and became the model for all subsequent US sanctions
against Russia. Browder is currently working to have similar
legislation passed in Magnitsky's name across the European
Union.
Prepared Statement of Victoria Sandoval
Good morning Co-Chairman Smith, Distinguished Members of
the Helsinki Commission and to all the public present in this
room, for me it is an honor to have been invited to this
hearing as a witness to the Bitkov Case.
My name is Victoria Sandoval, I am a lawyer and public
notary and have worked on human rights and criminal law issues
since 2006. In January 2015 I started supporting the Bitkov
family in their judicial case, both personally and
professionally.
Start of the relationship with the Bitkovs:
I personally know the Bitkovs since they first came to live
in the same condominium where I live, and because they have a
son of the same age as my child. Irina Bitkov and I both took
our babies to the same early stimulation course and it was
there that we strengthened our friendship. I could see how
Vladimir was growing.
His parents were concerned to ensure that he would grow up
knowing and loving his Russian culture, in fact, he spoke the
Russian language better than Spanish, which he spoke with a
noticeable Russian accent.
They gave Vladimir a life full of care and love. Every day
at 5 o'clock in the afternoon the three of them, Igor, Irina
and Vladimir would be seen together with their two dogs walking
through the condominium.
The raid:
On Thursday, January 15th, 2015 in the early morning I
could see a lot of police movement in the condominium and when
I asked an employee why there was so much movement, he told me
that CICIG was raiding the house of some Russians.
The first thing I thought was that in the condominium there
was another family of Russians because the ones I knew were
very good people. However, when the guard told me the address
of the house, I was surprised and went to see what it was all
about.
The blocks in the condominium are about 150 meters long,
and the Bitkov house is at the far end of the block, and on
both sides of the street I could see that it was full of
official vehicles (General Prosecution Office, CICIG and
National Civil Police). It was a very intimidating situation.
It seemed to me as if they were pursuing them like dangerous
criminals but I knew as their friend and an experienced
criminal lawyer that they did not fit that profile.
Closing of the house:
On Friday the 16th January 2015 I was finally able to see
the Bitkov's house which had been locked up and was guarded by
two police officers.
Carceletas:
I learned from the news that the Bitkovs had been taken
into custody and transferred to the carceletas at the Court
House, to the Juzgado de Turno de Guatemala.
The carceletas are open cages located in the basement of
the Court House building where by Constitutional order, people
should not stay in the carceletas for more than 24 hours. The
Bitkovs were kept in the carceletas for 5 days, Irina and
Anastasia and 9 days Igor! The carceletas are very filthy
places where the bathrooms are only cleaned very occasionally.
The state does not provide those who are inside the carceletas
with food or water. I was shocked that neither the Russian
ambassador nor any of his representatives were concerned about
the welfare of his fellow citizens. He never went to the
carceletas to see if the Bitkovs needed food, water or anything
else. He was not even the least bit concerned about Anastasia's
health.
When the Bitkovs were taken into custody, the officials
didn't let Anastasia take her medication with her. She was very
scared because her life depends on the regular intake of
medication. Not having her medication with her caused Anastasia
to have a severe breakdown.
A Judge ordered that Anastasia and Irina be transferred to
a private psychiatric hospital because Anastasia was suffering
a psychiatric breakdown that put her life at risk, as was
established by a forensic psychiatrist from the National
Institute of Forensic Sciences of Guatemala. However, the
Penitentiary System refused to transfer them, which led to the
imposition of a habeas corpus in favor of Anastasia and Irina.
After the inquiries of the judge who handled the habeas
corpus, two guards of the Penitentiary System sent a report
saying that the General Director and the sub director of
operations told them that they, Anastasia and Irina, could not
be transferred to the hospital. The two guards asking the
General Director if they have permission or not to fulfill a
Judge's order is something very weird and unusual.
According to a press statement the refusal was due to the
fact that the Penitentiary System had no budget to pay for
gasoline.
Anastasia's breakdown was getting worse and following the
Judge's decision to start a legal process for disobedience
against the General Director and Subdirector of the
Penitentiary System, the Penitentiary System accepted to
transfer Anastasia and Irina, along with 50 Sistema
Penitenciario Agents to the 10-room private mental health
hospital Mederi. The hospital declined to accept Anastasia and
Irina because so many guards could intimidate their other
patients. Anastasia and Irina were returned to the court house.
They were then transferred to an annex to the men's part of
a prison where Igor was being held. Anastasia and Irina were
put into a fenced off area of the men's prison. This area was
only separated by a fence, which meant that Anastasia and Irina
were not properly segregated from the male inmates who could
clearly see them. Even more degrading for them was the fact
that Anastasia and Irina were deprived of even the most basic
right of privacy when using the bathroom which was also exposed
to the male inmates. Anastasia and Irina would suffer daily
humiliation of using the bathroom in full sight of the men
inmates--many of whom were gang members. This was torture for
them.
On January 20th 2015, after remaining in the prison for
five days, Anastasia and Irina were transferred to the
Concepcion Hospital, where they had to stay for a year under
armed guard.
In Igor's case, after the raid he was transferred to the
prison where he was sharing the 2 6 meters cell with
30 to 40 other detainees, most of them being gang members who
were extremely aggressive and high-conflict people. There was
not enough space for all the detainees to sit down and even
less space to sleep. Consequently, Igor was deprived of sleep
for 9 days and was then taken in front of the Judge to give his
first testimony.
Igor's First Testimony
At his first hearing, Igor was completely dumbfounded, he
had not been provided with a translator and it was obvious that
his Spanish was not good at that time.
CICIG's attorney, Claudia Gonzalez Orellana clearly
supported the participation of VTB by stating that the crimes
committed in Russia should be investigated because they were
related to those committed in Guatemala, despite the fact that
later, she said that CICIG had no interest in whatever had
happened in Russia.
Likewise, CICIG's Attorney said that Igor had illegally
entered Guatemala arguing that he had no migrating record. This
was completely misleading she asked for Igor Vladimirovich
Bitcov record instead of Igor Vladimirovich Bitkov record.
CICIG's attorney also failed to mention that the Bitkovs
entered Guatemala using their valid Russian passports so there
can be no question that their entry was nothing other than
legal.
Judge Miguel Angel Galvez allowed VTB to be a provisional
adhesive plaintiff arguing that it was important to know what
had happened in Russia. This is despite the fact that the
Russian Bank never presented any proof that the Bitkovs had
committed any crime in Russia. Instead they presented
photocopies of personal guarantees supposedly signed by the
Bitkovs instead of originals, refusing to provide the originals
for examination.
House Stripping
One of the Bitkov's neighbors told us that he had seen a
patrol car of the National Civil Police outside the Bitkovs'
house and that he had seen policemen carrying children's toys,
carts, tricycles from the house. So, the Bitkovs filed a
complaint to investigate the theft, it was ratified and
Veronica, Vladimir's nanny also went to testify since she knew
what the Bitkovs used to have and what had been stolen.
No investigation was conducted by the Public Prosecutor's
Office.
In January 2016 the Judge in charge ordered the opening of
the sealed house. The house had been completely looted.
Acta de Haroldo Flores:
In June of 2017 the Child Prosecutor of the Attorney
General's Office (Procuraduria General de la Nacion--PGN),
Harold Augusto Flores Valenzuela, was arrested in the case of
Hogar Seguro, Virgen de la Asuncion. According to Igor, before
Mr. Flores Valenzuela arrived at Mariscal Zavala, his lawyers
went to talk with him to see what his attitude was with respect
to Harold Flores after he had sent Igor's 3-year-old son,
Vladimir, to the ``Love the Child'' orphanage where Vladimir
was abused.
Igor said that all he wanted was for Harold Flores to tell
him why he had tortured Vladimir in the terrible way that he
did.
When Harold Flores was taken to Mariscal Zavala prison the
first thing he did was to visit Igor and told him that he had
been called by a CICIG official that told him that he had to do
everything he could, so that the ``son of the Russians'' would
be sent to an orphanage. After that he was visited by a woman
who ratified that order. He would not tell Igor this woman's
name because he feared for his life. So even though he saw that
the reports on Vladimir's guardians were just fine he ignored
them and asked Judge Maria Belen Reyna Salazar to send Vladimir
to that infamous orphanage. Flores also told Igor that Judge
Reyna Salazar received the same orders from CICIG. As a proof
of what he said, he wrote down his name and phone number.
Power of Attorney to Henry Phillipe Comte Velasquez
VTB Bank was represented in Guatemala by its agent Henry
Phillip Comte Velasquez who is a founding partner of the Law
Firm Comte & Font--Legalsa.
Henry P Comte is an alternative Judge of the Constitutional
Court. This is the same court where is pending the ruling at
the Bitkovs ``amparo'' appeal (Constitutional appeal) against
the indictment stating that any passport irregularities are
administrative offences punishable by a fine. VTB/CICIG
appealed that decision in the Constitutional Court.
Curiously, the Power of Attorney given by VTB to Henry
Phillip Comte Velasquez to act for VTB was signed by the
President of the Board of Directors of VTB Bank, Andrey Kostin,
himself, and not by the head of the legal department, as is
normally happens with any Bank.
This mandate was granted to Henry Phillip Comte Velasquez
with ``Reserve of exercise'' that is to say that he can
delegate it to another lawyer of the Law Firm Comte & Font--
Legalsa and his law firm still continues to exercise the powers
granted under it.
Anastasia's illness
Anastasia has been diagnosed with Bipolar Affective
Disorder, Borderline Syndrome according to the psychiatric
reports of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences of
Guatemala. Her psychiatric disorders were triggered by her
kidnapping in Russia in which she was repeatedly raped and
drugged.
As a result of her illness, Anastasia has attempted suicide
five times.
While at the Hospital Concepcion she suffered several
crises due to the harassment of the National Civil Police
agents who were guarding them. She was also greatly affected by
the fact that Judge Maria Belen Reyna Salazar had sent her
little brother to an orphanage and also that Judge Carol
Patricia Flores Polanco sent several forensic psychiatrists to
determine whether she had to stay at the hospital or whether
she could be sent to the jail of Santa Teresa.
The National Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled that
Anastasia should not be sent to a prison because it could cause
her to make further attempts to commit suicide.
Ignoring this, the President for the Tribunal de Sentencia,
Judge Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar ordered to send her to the
Mariscal Zavala prison for 14 years.
Currently she is under a lot of emotional pressure because
she has been threatened by Judge Iris Yasmin Barrios Aguilar
and by the warden of the Women's section of Mariscal Zavala to
be transferred to the Federico Mora Psychiatric Hospital if she
shows any sign of her illness (that triggers her anxiety).
A few days after Anastasia was sent to prison, the
President of the Tribunal de Sentencia ordered that Anastasia
be evaluated by the National Institute of Forensic Sciences of
Guatemala to determine whether it was necessary or not to send
her to the Federico Mora National Mental Health Hospital, named
as the worst in the world by the BBC. \1\
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\1\ https://www.bing.com/ videos/
search?q=hospital+psiquiatrico+federico+mora+bbc&&view=
detail&mid=C8314C4E3EFF3B347152C8314C4E3EFF3B347152&&FORM=VRDGAR;
https://www.bing.com/videos/
search?q=hospitalde+salud+mental+federico+mora+bbc&&view=
detail&mid=F15517CDCB9A2C709187F15517CDCB9A2C709 187&&FORM=VRDGAR
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Similar Cases:
In Guatemala, the Palermo Convention is in force, as well
as the Guatemalan Migration Law. Both laws establish that
migrants cannot be criminalized for the possession or use of
travel documents or ID documents. Even so, the State of
Guatemala has decided to prosecute, illegally, these cases and
has issued suspended sentences in other similar cases. I list
below the most relevant:
A verdict was issued by the same court that sentenced the
Bitkovs to penalties of 19 and 14 years in prison and expulsion
from the country. The same 3 judges, in February 2018, that is,
one month after they imposed custodial sentences on the
Bitkovs, sentenced 2 members of the dangerous and notorious
Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang to conmutable prison sentences of
5 years. Mr. Israel Antonio Cabrera Luna, whose alias is ``el
demonio'' (the demon) and Mauricio Antonio Rivas Hernandez,
whose alias is ``goat'' or ``patoja,'' were of Salvadorian
nationality. These MS-13 gang members were not expelled from
the country, unlike the Bitkovs. These MS-13 gang members did
not cooperate at the investigation.
(* judgment Mara Salvatrucha process
C-01031-2017-00005).
CICIG, in its statement number 042--2013 indicates that 2
Colombians were convicted, for similar acts as the Bitkovs, but
they only got 3 years suspended prison sentences and expulsion
to their country of origin.
The case of Marcela Ortega Bejarano. She was a witness proposed
by the General Prosecution Office who described the way the
mafia operated within the General Directorate of Migration and
within the National Registry of Persons (Civil Registry). In
her testimony she recounts the way in which the documents were
delivered, which is the same process by which the Bitkovs
received their documents. She was also only given a 5 year
suspended prison sentence and was expelled to her country of
origin.
Refugee Status:
It is important to clarify that the Bitkov Family had not
requested asylum upon entry into Guatemala. They hired Cutino
Associates International assuming that the Law Firm that would
take care of all the legal procedures required to obtain
Guatemalan citizenship. Cutino Associates International also
advised them to change their names in order to avoid any
persecution by the Russian Federation in Guatemala. The advice
provided by Cutino Associates International made the Bitkov
family think that their documents were absolutely legal so they
did not need to request asylum or refugee status. They found
Cutino Associates International via the internet. \2\
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\2\ https://web.archive.org/web/20090831041337/http://
www.cutinointernational.com:80/
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In February 2015, the Bitkovs filed the asylum application
with the General Directorate of Immigration. The lawyer who
made the filing told the Bitkovs that they had to appear
personally to sign the initial request in front of the
migration officer.
Authorization was requested to Judge Carol Patricia Flores
Polanco, to give them permission to go to sign the request for
asylum, however, the Judge denied their request.
This caused a delay in the filing of the asylum
application. The Directorate General of Migration had offered
to go to the Hospital and to Mariscal Zavala to obtain these
signatures, however, they later retracted their offer.
Finally, the authorization was given to the Bitkov's
lawyers to obtain the signatures directly from the Bitkovs and
the application for asylum was filed on July 23, 2015. The
application for asylum was refused on 23 November 2016. The
decision was notified to the Bitkovs on February 2017 so they
appealed it before the General Secretariat of the Presidency on
February 16, 2017 and is currently pending.
Russian Embassy:
Irina and Anastasia were first approached by the Russian
Embassy in Guatemala when they were in hospital. The officials
from the embassy asked Irina to allow Vladimir to be given
Russian citizenship. She refused. The only reason that the
Russian Embassy sought Russian citizenship for Vladimir was to
enable them to take Vladimir back to Russia and put him in an
orphanage.
Call to justice:
The evil with which this case has been handled is shocking.
The Kremlin, through VTB bank has conspired with the Guatemalan
justice system to (i) separate a 3-year-old boy from his family
and send him to an orphanage where he was tortured (ii) to lock
up in a prison a young woman with psychiatric disorders and
finally (iii) condemn with ridiculous punishments a family who
went to Guatemala in order to flee Russian persecution that was
threatening to destroy their lives in contravention of Palermo
Convention, Guatemalan Migration Law and an Order from the
Constitutional Court.
Anastasia told me once: I have suffered a lot, my life has
never been even close to normal. I want to fight so my little
brother can have a normal life, he still has time.
Victoria Sandoval is a criminal and human rights attorney
representing the Bitkov family. She is a lawyer and notary from
the Francisco Marroqu!n University, with 15 years of experience
in different areas of the Law, among them Corporative,
Notarial, Labor, Criminal, and Human Rights. Ms. Sandoval has
worked providing technical advice to the Supreme Court of
Justice of Guatemala regarding the Juzgados Penales de Turno.
She is the founder of the Asociaci"n Guatemalteca de Espina
B!fida and former board member of the International Federation
for Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida.
Prepared Statement of Rolando Alvarado
Good morning Co-Chairman Smith, Distinguished Members of
the Helsinki Commission and to all the public present in this
room, for me it is an honor to have been invited to this
hearing as a witness to the Bitkov Case.
I'm a lawyer who specialises in banking matters as well as
cyber and economic crimes. I first came across the Bitkov
family 2 years before their arrests when I initially met Irina
and Anastasia Bitkov. They set up a small film company in
Guatemala and I registered the copyrights of the material they
produced. Since then, I have become a close friend to the
family and I am in fact the legal guardian of Vladimir Bitkov,
Igor and Irina's son, who is now 6 years old.
First, I would like to address the actions for which the
Bitkov family have been accused of. The Bitkovs were criminally
charged for using identity documents and passports issued by
the State of Guatemala. The International Commission against
Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the General Prosecution
Office argued that these documents were issued illegally.
As a consequence, CICIG and the General Prosecution Office
initiated a criminal prosecution, notoriously disproportionate
and even more aggressive and shocking than high-impact crimes
such as drug trafficking, murder or even terrorism. They
channelled their criminal prosecution before special courts
that know of crimes of greater risk. All this for what in
reality constitutes a lack of migratory rights.
CICIG has no right to participate as a complainant against
the Bitkovs, since the mandate granted by the United Nations
and the Government of Guatemala, establishes that the
Commission has jurisdiction only to investigate crimes
committed by members of the illegal security forces and the
clandestine security apparatuses. The Bitkov family was not
accused of being part of these illegal security forces and
therefore does not fit into the functions entrusted to CICIG.
This implies that CICIG exceeded its legal powers and abused
its authority.
In addition to violating its agreement, CICIG also violated
the Palermo Convention. The Bitkovs were accused of using false
identity documents and passports, however in accordance with
the Palermo Convention--of which the State of Guatemala has
signed and ratified--as migrants the Bitkovs are clearly exempt
of criminal responsibility as well as exempt from criminal
liability under the Migration Law of Guatemala.
The actions for which the Bitkovs have been accused of do
not even constitute a crime.
Now allow me to set out a timeline:
On January 15th 2015, CICIG and the General Prosecution
Office with the support of the National Civil Police, conducted
three raids. One in the family home, another in the Bitkov's
office located 10km from their home and the third in the house
of Anastasia's boyfriend, Mr. Andres Avelar.
On January 15th 2015, I witnessed the search being carried
out at the Bitkov's family home. This raid was documented in
the minutes of January 15th 2015.
The search began at 6 o'clock am. The prosecutors did not
allow the Bitkovs to call their lawyer until 9 o'clock am, 3
hours after the search began. For that reason, I showed up at
the house at around 10 o'clock am. Upon my arrival, the Bitkov
family felt extremely tormented, annoyed and helpless. They
told me that the police entered the home whilst they were
sleeping and did not leave the bedrooms for them to get dressed
freely. Igor was forced to cover up his wife Irina and his
daughter Anastasia so that they could get dressed.
The search lasted a total of 20 hours, as it ended at 1:40
am the next day. All this is confirmed in the document that
contains the tally sheet. During the 20 hour raid, the entire
family was placed in the living room.
There was an excessive amount of public force as the house
was invaded by dozens of police officers. The operation was
carried out jointly with CICIG personnel and the General
Prosecution Office. This excessive use of public force cannot
be justified in any way. The crime investigated--the use of
supposedly false documents--is not high risk nor does it
constitute a crime. Whilst the raid was carried out I asked the
prosecutor Stuart Ernesto Campo Aguilar the reason as to why
there were so many policemen. He told me that it originated
from the million dollar fraud case committed by the Bitkovs
against a Russian bank. This bank was in fact managing the
criminal process against the Bitkov family.
During the raid, Anastasia panicked and fainted. Vladimir
was also very scared to see so many heavily armed policemen
inside of their house.
The prosecutors and police seized: the family's vehicles,
their jewellery and electronic devices, although they had no
connection with the crime that was being investigated.
Prosecutors indicated that any request for the return of these
personal belongings had to be made before a judge. Concerning
the jewellery, half was taken during the raid and the other
half was left at the house.
At the same time, two more raids were carried out, at their
office and at Anastasia's boyfriend's house. A large number of
police officers were also present. These raids were also not
justified since the crime the Bitkovs were accused of was the
use of identity documents.
Once the raids had come to an end, 20 hours later the
prosecutors and the police proceeded to execute the arrest
warrants against the family in the early hours of the following
day. Igor, Irina and Anastasia were handcuffed. Vladimir who
was only 3 years old at the time was woken up by the police. I
asked the prosecutors and the police officers not to wake the
child because he would be frightened but they ignored my
request and continued.
After the Bitkov family was arrested, prosecutors indicated
that the child would be transferred to an orphanage, however he
first had to be transferred to court so that a judge could
define his legal situation. They put him in a grey car
belonging to the Attorney General's Office. They wanted to
bring him alone but I requested that his nanny Mrs. Veronica
Gonzales accompany him. She quickly prepared a suitcase with
clothes and they both got in the car. I myself followed the car
in my vehicle. Igor and Irina--anguished by their son's
situation--begged me not to leave Vladimir seeing as they did
not know anyone trustworthy which could take care of their son.
They asked me to make sure that he would not go to an
orphanage.
Having arrived at the court located 25 km from the Bitkov's
home at around 3 o'clock am in the morning, we hoped that the
judge on duty would attend to us. We waited 2 hours as other
cases were being processed. Before the hearing at around 5.30
am, I asked the psychologist and social worker at the court to
interview Vladimir and to determine whether he had a close bond
with his nanny Veronica Gonzalez. Vladimir did not want to be
separated from her and the court staff easily determined that
the child had a close and affectionate bond with his nanny.
The judge on duty, Attorney Marjorie Rene Azpuru Villela
agreed with the court staff regarding the child's emotional
bond with Veronica. Before handing over Vladimir, the judge
asked me if as a lawyer I was committed to providing financial
support--such as clothing, food, education expenses etc.--for
Vladimir while his parents' situation was being resolved. I
replied saying yes. Veronica and I were given joint custody of
Vladimir. In order not to victimize him even more, we arranged
for Veronica to move into my house seeing as the Bitkov's
property was seized and closed off. Vladimir was basically left
homeless and without his family, only in the company of
Veronica and myself. The official date that Vladimir was given
to us (his guardians) was January 16th 2015.
Following Vladimir and Veronica moving into my home, we
received a phone call from the Attorney General's Office, which
deals with cases related to children in Guatemala. We were
summoned so that psychological evaluations could be done on
Vladimir and financial checks could be conducted on me and
Veronica. The psychological evaluations were very positive.
Vladimir clearly told the psychologist, Sheila Ninette Santiago
Lopez, that it was his desire to be with Veronica. He said:
``She takes care of me and gives me my feeding bottle''. This
is stated in the judgment of March 18th 2015 of the Court of
Appeals for Children.
Although the psychological evaluations showed an
affectionate bond between Vladimir and his nanny, we were
summoned by another judge, Maria Belen Reyna Salazar. She told
us that we had to attend court with Vladimir on February 10th
2015 (almost a month after Vladimir had been living with us).
On February 10th we presented ourselves with the child. We had
a detailed report which showed that the child was well taken
care of in terms of housing, education and food. We attached
photographs, details of his diet and other important aspects.
Although the psychological evaluations--which were conducted by
the Attorney General's Office--were very positive, Judge Maria
Belen Reyna Salazar, without asking the child's opinion (which
is a serious abuse as the law obliges the child to be heard),
arranged to separate him from us, arguing that we were not his
relatives and there was doubt on who his parents were due to
their passports and identity documents being the subject of a
criminal investigation. The doubt surrounding the identity of
Vladimir arose from a report that was sent by the Special
Prosecutor's Office against Impunity (FECI) indicating that his
identity was flawed. FECI is part of the General Prosecutions
Office that investigates all cases which CICIG participates in.
During the hearing on February 10 2015, the judge ordered
the child, Vladimir Bitkov to be moved to a special room for
abandoned children. Vladimir cried out loud but the judge
insisted on moving him away from us.
The judge decided to immediately separate Vladimir from me
and his nanny despite being his legal guardians. Veronica tried
to leave his feeding bottle but they did not take it stating
that they already had the essentials for the child. They did
not let us say goodbye to Vladimir, they only told us that
after crying he had fallen asleep deeply. So when Vladimir woke
up he was already with total strangers in an orphanage called
``Love of the Child'' that is located in the interior of the
country. The judge forbade us, his guardians and anyone else to
visit Vladimir at the orphanage, arguing that it was for ``his
safety.'' The day in which this separation took place was
extremely shocking for us, and I do not want to imagine how
shocking it was for Vladimir to wake up in an orphanage with
strangers. From that day a very strong legal battle began, we
fought to recover Vladimir. Following 42 days in the orphanage,
a Child Appeals Chamber declared that the act of Judge Mar!a
Belen Reyna Salazar had been illegal and ordered the child to
return with his guardians.
The day he left the orphanage, he was delivered to us in
court. Vladimir looked very scared and did not speak with us.
We travelled 20 kilometers he only spoke once to ask to go to
the bathroom. We made our way to the hospital where his mother
and sister were being kept. When Vladimir saw his mother you
could tell he was extremely upset. He did not speak to her
either. When he asked for food we bought him pizza. We found it
very disturbing that Vladimir put a number of pieces of pizza
inside his shirt, as if he was saving food. This made us think
that he had gone hungry in the orphanage and was not fed
properly. We then discovered he had a chipped tooth and an
infection in both his eyes. We asked the doctor to give him a
medical examination in which he later on stated that Vladimir
had a scar on his eyebrow, chipped front teeth, conjunctivitis,
an upper respiratory infection, severe inflammation of his ear
and had clearly suffered from physical and psychological abuse.
After returning from the orphanage Vladimir was another child,
he no longer used his feeding bottle, he did not speak to
anyone and he wanted to be alone. Prior to this, he was an
outgoing, happy and social child and when he returned he was
remote and introverted. He was clearly still afraid. Support
was sought from a psychologist to give him therapy for several
months. Many nights Vladimir woke up crying, with a face of
fear, and anguish.
Because of the way Vladimir left the orphanage, we filed a
complaint with the Human Rights Ombudsman. It is clear that
Judge Maria Belen Reyna Salazar committed an illegal verdict as
there was no legal and moral justification for Vladimir being
sent to an orphanage. The Human Rights Ombudsman of Guatemala
issued a resolution on February 8, 2016 where he stated that
Vladimir's rights were clearly violated by the judge and the
director of the orphanage, ``Love of the Child''.
When leaving the orphanage Vladimir and Veronica were in my
residence for almost a year. On the 15th January 2016 Irina and
Anastasia were granted house arrest and were able to leave the
hospital where they were held for 1 year. Vladimir returned
home with his mother, his sister and his nanny.
I would now like to testify about the illegalities that
arose in the criminal process.
I will start with the action of VTB Bank:
From the beginning of the process, VTB bank justified its
participation in the process by claiming that the Bitkovs had
committed fraud against the bank. The participation of VTB bank
was always supported and defended by CICIG through its
representative Claudia Gonzalez Orellana, who declared before
the judge that the events that occurred in Russia were related
to the events that occurred in Guatemala and that VTB bank
should be allowed to defend its interests in Guatemala. An
audio recording of the hearing which took place on January 22d
2015 is available.
Prior to presenting the accusations, that is, the pre-
hearing procedure where the sentence is handed down, the main
judge was informed of two fundamental points: (i) That the
Bitkov family are migrants and that the actions for which they
are accused of does not constitute a crime under the Palermo
Convention (signed by Guatemala). Furthermore, (ii) under
Guatemala's own Migration Law, it states that no migrant may be
prosecuted criminally for obtaining false identity documents.
These rules state that the criminal subject is not the migrant
since the only responsible criminal is the trafficker, which in
the case of the Bitkovs was Cutino Associates International.
Cutino Associates International is a large immigration law firm
in Guatemala and Latin America which has never been
investigated by CICIG even though the Bitkov family filed a
number of criminal complaints against them. CICIG and the
General Prosecution Office have a clear knowledge of these
complaints.
In addition, Igor Bitkov filed a complaint in May 2016
against Cutino Associates International addressed directly to
the Attorney General of the Republic of Guatemala, Mrs. Thelma
Aldana.
Several days later, on the 18th May 2016, Irina Bitkov
filed another complaint with the Attorney General. The
accusations against Cutino Associates International have never
been investigated, although Irina Bitkova specifically stated
them in her complaint. She provided the telephone numbers that
appear on Cutino Associates International's website and asked
that the IP addresses, the entry logs to the site and the name
of the person who acquired the domain on the internet be
investigated as well as setting out other useful means of
investigation for that case. In spite of this, no meaningful
investigation was conducted.
Igor Bitkov also specifically stated that he made a wire
transfer to Cutino Associates International and later on
requested CICIG to investigate and trace this bank transfer,
which they failed to do. Instead of investigating the real
perpetrators, CICIG accused the true victims of this crime.
In addition to the two complaints filed with the Attorney
General against the company that processed the identity
documents for the Bitkovs--that is, Cutino Associates
International--Irina Bitkov reported these facts directly to
the Commissioner Ivan Velasquez Gomez on the 18th May 2017. In
addition, we have a video where it was clearly recorded that
Irina Bitkov personally spoke with Mr. Ivan Velasquez. She gave
him documents which demonstrated the political persecution by
the Russian Government which they were victims of, and which
had to be investigated. The Bitkovs also denounced that the
CICIG representative repeated word for word the infringed
complaint of VTB bank without having any proof. Commissioner
Velasquez said he would review the case but did nothing about
it. CICIG never investigated Cutino Associates International
nor ceased to support it.
Additionally, Igor Bitkov gave power of attorney to a
lawyer from Cutino Associates International--named Mr. Edwin
Orlando Xitumul Hernandez--to conduct all necessary action in
order for the Bitkovs to receive passports. This power of
attorney constitutes further evidence that Cutino Associates
International was given authority to do whatever was required
by law to obtain passports. CICIG should have investigated the
criminal structure that is Cutino Associates International,
however an investigation was never opened.
The defense's other argument during the trial was that VTB
bank should be excluded from the criminal proceedings since the
claim for payment of a supposed debt is not a criminal matter.
In addition, there was no proof of the existence of such debt
to begin with.
The Bitkovs asked a Civil Court to require VTB Bank to
present the original bail document that constituted the main
document of its complaint. VTB Bank refused to provide to the
Court any documents to support their complaints, arguing that
the Guatemalan Courts did not have jurisdiction to see the
claim. However, Judge Ericka Aifan, at the request of CICIG and
the General Prosecution Office, rejected the defense's
arguments and proceeded with hearings against the Bitkovs. The
other defendants in the case were effectively officials and
state employees who formed the criminal structure. The Bitkovs
were the only migrants in this case.
During the hearing, the senior official of the passport
office declared that thousands of passports were issued with
irregularities. In addition, the witness Carlos Rene Gomez
Diaz, stated that the General Directorate of Immigration issued
between 1 and 3 passports with irregularities per week in favor
of foreigners. However, only the Bitkovs were sentenced to
prison. Other foreigners were sentenced to suspended sentences
meaning that instead of going to jail they had to pay a fine
and return freely to their country of origin.
Another illegality that arose during the criminal process
was that prior to the sentencing of the Bitkov family--during
the hearing--a higher constitutional court granted an order in
favor of the Bitkovs, whose ruling stated that the migrants
could not be prosecuted criminally in accordance with the
provisions of the Palermo Convention and the Migration Law of
Guatemala. However, the Court chaired by Judge Yassmin Barrios
did not comply with that court order and continued the hearing
which later sentenced the Bitkov family with extraordinary and
illegal penalties.
The court that sentenced the Bitkovs, in addition to
applying the maximum prison sentences, ordered the deportation
of the Bitkov family from the country, even though we indicated
that their lives are in danger if they are expelled back to
Russia. In addition, on the day of the conviction, that is, on
January 5, 2018, the Court revoked the house arrest of Irina
and Anastasia, and they were at once again sent to prison that
same night. In addition, I told Judge Yassmin Barrios that
Anastasia Bitkova suffered from a psychiatric illness and had
five documented suicide attempts, and that there are reports
from forensic psychiatrists in Guatemala that she cannot be
imprisoned because there is a risk of death. This did not
matter to the Court and she was sent to prison together with
her mother. In addition, the Court did not take into
consideration the best interests of the child Vladimir Bitkov
and ordered a second separation from his family.
On the day of the conviction Irina and Anastasia were
remitted to the court jail. That day, January 5, 2018 was one
of the coldest days in Guatemala. Together with Attorney
Victoria Sandoval and myself, they did not let us bring them
clothes despite the intense cold. We had to enter and leave our
own clothes so that they had a little heat, since they were
shivering from the cold. We filed an immediate complaint
against the police for their inhuman actions which was only
taken into consideration days later and eventually ignored.
The above is what I have to say in this brief, in relation
to the case of the Bitkov family. The family at this moment is
suffering because they are facing illegal sentences that were
imposed by CICIG and the General Prosecution Office.
Rolando Alvarado is the founding partner of the law firm
Corpolegal. He is currently the director of the judicial area,
which includes civil, criminal, administrative, and labor
litigation. He is a lawyer of Banco Internacional, Sociedad
Anonima y Financiera MVA, Sociedad Anonima, where he knows all
the matters of judicial claim in civil and criminal matters.
He is an expert in Cybernetic matters, such as cyber-
attacks, electronic signature, electronic evidence, IT laws. He
has participated as a member of the Drafting Commission of the
Guatemalan Computer Crimes Act and the Law to prevent and
punish the theft of cell phones and extortion, among other
regulatory Acts. In the field of Cybercrime and large scale
Internet crime investigation, he has been trained by the
Department of Justice of the United States of America in
collaboration with the Organization of American States (OAS).
Due to his experience as a member of the Drafting
Commission of the Computer Crimes Act, he has been invited as a
lecturer at the following institutions: (a) The National
Council of Science and Technology (CONCYT); (b) The Legislation
and Constitutional Points Commission of the Congress of
Republic of Guatemala; (c) The Ministry of Defense of the
Republic of Guatemala; (d) Computer Security Response Committee
for Guatemala; (e) Guatemalan Association of Exporters
(AGEXPORT); (f) The Registry School, among other institutions.
He is co-author, together with the General Coordinator of
the Computer Security Response Committee for Guatemala,
Lieutenant Colonel and Bachelor of Computer Science, Ronald
Morales, of the book called ``CIBERCRIMEN,'' which includes the
legal and computer aspects related to cybernetic attacks,
computer crimes, electronic evidence and research aids,
national and international legislation on cybercrime.
As a university professor, at bachelor and post-graduate
level, he has taught the courses of: (a) Civil Law; (b) Civil
and Commercial Procedural Law; (c) Intellectual Property; and,
(d) Corporate law. He has advised theses at the University of
San Carlos de Guatemala, Mariano Galvez University and
Francisco Marroquin University. Also, he has been a member of
the examination boards of the professional technical and thesis
exam at the Mariano Galvez University in Guatemala and at the
University of San Carlos in Guatemala.
As a legal professional, he has held the following
positions: (a) Director of the Judicial Area of the law firm
``Aguilar & Zarceno''; (b) Advisor in the Legislation and
Constitutional Points Committee of the Congress of the
Republic; (c) Alternate Chief of the Legal Department of Banco
de Exportacion, S.A. (BANEX); among others.
M A T E R I A L F O R
T H E R E C O R D
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