Brussels, 20/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 September, the foreign affairs committee at the European Parliament called on the European Union to impose and apply sanctions on the civil servants responsible for the death of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky - sanctions such as a visa ban and a freeze on assets. In a recommendation to the Council, adopted by a large majority (62 votes for, two against and one abstention), the committee proposes that the Council establish a common list, for all the EU, of the civil servants responsible for the death of Magnitsky, of the concealment of the facts on the legal level, and of the constant harassment suffered by his mother and his widow. The committee also calls for the Council to commit Russia to leading a “credible and independent” inquiry into this case and to bring all the people involved to justice.
Maja Kocijancic, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, told EUROPE that the EU “calls on Russia immediately to guarantee regular legal proceedings” and that an in-depth inquiry be “brought to an end quickly”, as called for by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy in a letter to Dmitry Medvedev on 18 April, when he was still the president of Russia. The EU also calls for the posthumous case of Magnitsky to be closed. “The recent statements by President Putin on the need for an in-depth inquiry (“professional inquiry”) into the death of Mr Magnitsky are encouraging”, the spokesperson added, hoping that this will finish “soon with concrete results”. Kocijancic did not say if the Council was going to discuss sanctions.
On Tuesday a petition of over 575,000 signatures was sent to the chair of the foreign affairs committee, Elmar Brok, by the world organisation of petition campaigns, Avaaz, asking him to take sanctions against those responsible for the crimes and to help bring an end to their impunity, and to free the members of the punk group, Pussy Riot.
Several European parliamentary assemblies - in Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Poland - have already adopted resolutions asking their governments to take out sanctions on the Magnitsky case, while in France, Spain, Portugal and Latvia discussions are under way.
The Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was arrested in 2008 for tax fraud after he had just denounced large scale corruption and theft. He died in a pre-trial detention centre on 16 November 2009, at 37 years old, due to lack of medical care. (CG/transl.fl)