[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1862-E1863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR RUSSIAN WHISTLEBLOWER SERGEI MAGNITSKY AND REFORM 
                        OF RUSSIAN PRISON SYSTEM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2010

  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, today I introduced the ``Justice for 
Sergei Magnitsky Act of 2010'' in the House. This bill is the result of 
a recent hearing I chaired as Co-Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human 
Rights Commission on the human rights situation in the Russian 
Federation. During this important hearing, the Commission heard 
extraordinary testimony regarding an extraordinary senior Russian 
lawyer and tax advisor, Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky, who vigorously 
represented his client, the Hermitage Capital Ltd/HSBC, before the 
relevant Russian authorities regarding the fraudulent take-over of 
Hermitage subsidiaries and an elaborate tax fraud scheme which was 
designed to defraud the Russian Treasury of an estimated of 5.4 billion 
rubles (USD $230 million).
  Mr. Magnitsky testified before the Investigative Committee of the 
Russian Prosecutor Office on June 5, 2008 and October 7, 2008, and 
specifically implicated Lt. Colonel Artem Kuznetsov and Major Pavel 
Karpov of the Interior Ministry in the fraud scheme, among other 
officials. In a Kafkaesque turn of events, instead of investigating 
those officials, the Ministry of Interior charged Mr. Magnitsky with 
tax fraud and arrested him on November 24, 2008 and placed him in 
Moscow's pre-trial detention facility of the Moscow Branch of the 
Interior Ministry on the orders of Major Oleg Silchenko. Despite the 
fact that Lt. Colonel Kuznetsov's was implicated in the fraud scheme, 
he served as a senior member of the investigation team responsible for 
Mr. Magnitsky during the nearly one year pre-trial detention.
  While Mr. Magnitsky was in good health before he was arrested, only 
five months into his detention, his health deteriorated significantly. 
On July 1, 2009, Mr. Magnitsky was given an ultrasound to identify the 
cause of his medical symptoms and a surgeon diagnosed him with 
``calculous cholecystitis'' and ordered another ultrasound, which was 
to be followed by surgery within a month. One week before his scheduled 
treatment, on July 25, 2009, and fully aware of Mr. Magnitsky's medical 
condition, Ivan Pavlovich Prokopenko, head of the pre-trial detention 
facility Matrosskaya Tishina, approved the transfer of Mr. Magnitsky to 
Butyrka Prison (Detention Center 77/2). Detention Center 77/2 did not 
have the appropriate medical facilities to allow Mr. Magnitsky the 
prescribed medical treatment and necessary surgery. Despite his medical 
condition, Mr. Magnitsky was not examined by a doctor upon his arrival 
at the Detention Center 77/2. He was subsequently transferred to eight 
different cells, with each transfer a marked health deterioration as a 
result. Undeterred, Mr. Magnitsky testified again on October 13, 2009 
concerning the complicity of Interior Ministry officials in the theft 
of 5.4 billion rubles from the Treasury and accused them of 
investigating him in retaliation for his testimonies. On November 11, 
2009, Mr. Magnitsky filed a petition with the interior Ministry and the 
court

[[Page E1863]]

stating his determination to bring to trial officials who falsified the 
case against him. On November 13, 2009, he wrote petitions in which he 
stated that he had been transferred again to a new cell during the 
night, and that he was intentionally deprived of sleep and hot food. As 
a result he developed acute pain and vomiting and insisted on seeing a 
doctor and an ultrasound examination that was prescribed to him in July 
2009. This examination was never carried out. After having been denied 
medical treatment for four months, Mr. Magnitsky's condition became 
critical and he died on November 16, 2009.
  Madam Speaker, this injustice cannot stand. And while no words will 
comfort the painful loss of the Magnitsky family--Sergei is survived by 
his wife and two children--his case at least got international exposure 
because of the wherewithal and connections of his employer, Hermitage 
Capital Management of London. In that aspect, Sergei's case is similar 
to that of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the Yukos case. But how many 
unknown Sergei Magnitskys and Mikhail Khodorkovskys languish unjustly 
in Russian prisons because of corruption? How many voices critical of 
the Russian government have been silenced this way?
  Madam Speaker, the Russian Federation remains a crucial world power 
of critical importance to the United States in vital policy areas, 
including, but not limited to, nuclear proliferation issues such as in 
Iran and North Korea, disarmament agreements, global warming, the war 
on terror, and the international economic crisis. I therefore applaud 
our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for working hard to strengthen 
and deepen our ties with Russia and the Russian people, which reflect 
the important role Russia continues to play today.
  I believe that my bill directly contributes to those deepening ties 
by establishing human rights accountability. Under my bill, the 
individuals who have--in the determination of our Secretary of State--
directly contributed to the death of Sergei Magnitsky will be put on a 
visa ban list until they have been thoroughly investigated. It further 
requires the Russian government to undertake significant reform steps 
to bring the Russian prison system into compliance with international 
standards. We must ensure that these perpetrators do not get rewarded 
with shopping trips on New York's Fifth Avenue or elsewhere in the 
U.S.--that is the least we can do for Sergei. Furthermore, my bill will 
ensure that no U.S. bank accounts can be used to transfer the ill-
gotten spoils of this fraud, and any such assets are frozen, so they 
can be returned to their rightful owner, the Russian people.

                          ____________________