[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 196 (Wednesday, November 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7064-S7065]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             MAGNITSKY ACT

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, earlier today, Senator Wicker and I 
participated in a call with our colleagues from Europe in regard to 
their efforts to pass a Global Magnitsky statute. I mention that 
because this month represents the 11th year anniversary of the tragic 
death of Sergei Magnitsky.
  Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer in Russia, representing a client when 
he discovered the largest tax fraud in modern Russian history--$230 
million. Many of the individuals who were involved in this corruption 
had ties with Russia's President, Vladimir Putin.
  Mr. Magnitsky did what any lawyer is required to do, he reported the 
fraud that he discovered to the local authorities and asked for them to 
investigate the issue. Instead, Sergei Magnitsky was arrested. He was 
imprisoned without parole; he was beaten; he was tortured; and he died 
in jail without medical help in November of 2009.
  There was no accountability for the perpetrators of this atrocity. In 
fact,

[[Page S7065]]

many of the perpetrators actually were promoted. We did something about 
it. As members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, we recognized, in 1975, 
the countries that comprise the Organization for Security and 
Cooperation in Europe, including Russia, committed to basic human 
rights for their people, that their government would be honest, and 
that they would protect the rights of their citizens. The Helsinki 
Final Act gave every member state the right to question what other 
States were doing in compliance with the Helsinki Final Act ideals.
  It is legitimate for us to question what Russia is doing in carrying 
out its commitment, so we did something about it. I introduced 
legislation known as the Magnitsky Act. I want you to know this was a 
bipartisan effort. My partner in the passage of the Magnitsky Act was 
the late Senator John McCain. My partner in passing the Global 
Magnitsky Act and the Magnitsky Act is my good friend Roger Wicker, who 
is the chair of the Senate U.S. Helsinki Commission. We worked together 
to make sure that we passed these Magnitsky Acts.
  What does it do? What it does is the country does not hold 
accountable those who violate basic global human rights of its 
citizens; we impose sanctions. Those sanctions prevent that individual 
who perpetrated these acts from visiting the United States through the 
issuance of a visa or participating in our banking system.
  Why do we do this? Today, we heard from Mr. Kara-Murza, who is one of 
the activists on human rights in Russia who has been poisoned twice by 
the Russian Government. What he said about the mantra of the Kremlin 
is: They steal at home and spend abroad. They don't want their money in 
rubles; they want their money in dollars. So if we can prevent them 
from using our banking system, we can really make it hurt.
  Let me tell you how important this is. It is not limited to Russia. 
We passed the Global Magnitsky law so it applies to all of the 
countries where they have violations of human rights.
  If you want to know how important this statute is, it has been 
reported that when Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump met in their first summit, 
the first order of business that Mr. Putin raised with President Trump 
was: Can't we get rid of these Magnitsky sanctions? Believe me, they 
work. They deter bad actors around the world. It is a legislative 
initiative.
  We talked today about the fact that there is one common ingredient in 
every country that has considered the Global Magnitsky laws; that is, 
the initiative that comes from the legislators. There is a natural 
reluctancy among the bureaucrats not to burden themselves with 
additional problems in their bilateral relations with other countries, 
but we recognize that it is important for America, the leader of the 
democratic world, to speak up for democratic principles. We passed the 
legislation. We didn't have the enthusiastic support of the 
administration, but we did it. We did it. And we wanted it to be a 
global standard that was clear to human rights violators, but we needed 
other countries to act.
  I am pleased that other countries have followed the U.S. leadership. 
The UK, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania all have enacted similar 
Global Magnitsky bills. Currently, Japan and Australia are considering 
similar bills and legislation.
  Today, we had a very positive conversation with the European Union, 
and they are considering the passage of a Global Magnitsky bill. This 
would add 27 countries to be covered under the Sergei Magnitsky law.
  This is one of the, I think, leading moments for the U.S. Senate and 
Congress, where we showed leadership on behalf of speaking out for 
those otherwise who would not be heard. As a result of our action, I am 
convinced we saved many lives, and we made it clear that in our foreign 
policy, we will embed that in the principles that have made this Nation 
the great democratic Nation it is, the respect for universal human 
rights
  With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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