Russian Opposition Leader Urges Western Sanctions
A prominent Russian opposition leader urged the West on Monday to refuse entry to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his top lieutenants in reaction to what he described as repression of dissent.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov spoke after spending 15 days in jail over what he called fabricated charges following an anti-government rally. His Dec. 31 arrest drew outrage in the West and prompted Amnesty International to call him a prisoner of conscience.
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Nemtsov called on the EU to impose sanctions against Vladimir Putin
Leaders of Russian “non-systemic” opposition vowed to pursue the introduction of sanctions by Western countries against the concrete of the ruling circles, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Head of Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov.
The European Parliament is discussing possible sanctions against Russian officials implicated in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and “the Khodorkovsky case, but while it was Putin and Surkov lists, according to unofficial data, there is, and the prospects of introducing sanctions themselves fairly vague.
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Report Says Decline In Freedom Continues Across Former Soviet Union
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
There is only one region in the world where political rights and civil liberties have been in continuous decline since 2001 — the wide swath of territory made up of countries of the former Soviet Union, with the exception of the Baltic states.
That’s according to Arch Puddington and Christopher Walker, the principal authors of the latest “Freedom in The World” report compiled annually by the U.S.-based rights watchdog Freedom House. The authors say there is no general explanation for the region’s downward trend. But Puddington, Freedom House’s director of research, lists a handful of possible factors.
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Russia’s Vacation from Justice
Russian officials have a selective approach to holidays. When it came to arresting opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on New Year’s Eve and sentencing him on January 2 (a Sunday), no effort was spared. Yet when it came to hearing his appeal, Tverskoy Court remembered that January 1 to 10 is a period of vacation. By law, an appeal against administrative arrest must be heard within 24 hours. The former deputy prime minister has been in detention since December 31, but his appeal has still not been reviewed due to “holidays.” The latest attempt to submit it to court, on January 8, ended with Mr. Nemtsov’s lawyer, Timur Onikov, being escorted out by bailiffs. On January 11, the appeal was admitted as a priority case — by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
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Russia’s repression – Putin’s Kremlin is reversing democratic progress
The new Congress was sworn in just last week, but events far away – in Russia – already are causing members to vent their ire. For one, Russian police detained Boris Nemtsov, one of the leaders of the Russian opposition, during a rally in defense of the freedom of assembly, on Triumfalnaya Square in Moscow on the last day of 2010.
Demonstrators called on Russian authorities to respect the constitution and demanded the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. More than 150 people were arrested in Moscow and at a similar rally in St. Petersburg. So much for freedom of assembly.
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Russian commentary calls for Western sanctions over Yukos trial
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
“Rescuing the drowning: Weakness of our civil society makes the state of rights and freedoms in Russia highly dependent on West’s influence”
One of the important factors in the second Yukos case was the reaction of Western countries to the trial in the Khamovnicheskiy court. Russian human rights activists who followed the case closely were hoping that the influence of the G7 leaders would be a limiter on judicial tyranny.
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It is Insane to Invest in Russia
Bill Browder, Hermitage Capital Management CEO, on with investing in Russia, his experiences with high level government corruption and the death of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in a Russian jail.
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White House Cowardice: Not a Word Spoken in Defense of Boris Nemtsov
The Russian opposition journalist — whom Obama has personally met — did not receive a word of support after his recent jailing for speaking against Putin. A remarkable statement appeared in the New York Times recently. It read: “The White House issued a statement condemning Mr. Nemtsov’s arrest.”
The statement was remarkable because it compressed so much dishonesty and inaccuracy into less than a dozen words. The link the paper posted was not to any page of the White House website but — of all things — a page from state-controlled Russian wire service ITAR-TASS.
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Russian “Justice”
The new, Republican-majority Congress is starting its work with a jaundiced eye on what’s going on in Russia. Just a week ago Moscow convicted Mikhail Khodorkovsky for crimes most legal experts believe he did not commit. Former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov is in jail, albeit only for two weeks, for demonstrating in support of freedom of assembly. But it is the fourteen-year sentence meted out against Khodorkovsky which is particularly telling. It reflects not guilt on the part of the ex-chairman of Russia’s Yukos oil company, but the animus against the man by Russia’s rulers. Even if American companies want to do business in Russia, the verdict and the arrests don’t help.
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To learn more about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky please read below
- Sergei Magnitsky
- Why was Sergei Magnitsky arrested?
- Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison
- President’s investigation sabotaged and going nowhere
- The corrupt officers attempt to arrest 8 lawyers
- Past crimes committed by the same corrupt officers
- Petitions requesting a real investigation into Magnitsky's death
- Worldwide reaction, calls to punish those responsible for corruption and murder
- Complaints against Lt.Col. Kuznetsov
- Complaints against Major Karpov
- Cover up
- Press about Magnitsky
- Bloggers about Magnitsky
- Corrupt officers:
- Sign petition
- Citizen investigator
- Join Justice for Magnitsky group on Facebook
- Contact us
- Sergei Magnitsky
