Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Celebrities, dissidents pay tribute to Magnitsky

Henry Jackson Society

On Tuesday night, playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, activist Bianca Jagger and legendary dissident Vladimir Bukowski joined Hermitage Capital CEO William Browder in paying tribute to Sergei Magnitsky, the anti-corruption attorney killed in prison three years ago.

The panel gathered to attend a performance of the play “One Hour Eighteen Minutes,” which recounts the final moments of Sergei’s life, after being beaten and left to die in a cell in Moscow’s Butyrka prison. The title of the play refers to the time that prison guards prevented civilian medics from entering his cell to register his death. Written by Russian playwright Elena Gremina, this new production is directed by Noah Birksted-Breen, winner of the Channel 4 Theatre Director’s Award in 2006.

The performance was scheduled to commemorate the three-year anniversary of Sergei’s death on the 16th of November. The anniversary itself saw the passage of the historic Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in the US House of Representatives. The bill, which would impose sanctions on the individuals implicated in Magnitsky’s imprisonment and death, as well as other Russian individuals credibly suspected of human rights abuses, is expected to pass in the Senate and be signed into law by President Obama before the end of the year.