Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Browder May Win EU Version Of Magnitsky Law

FIN Alternatives

Hermitage Capital Management founder Bill Browder seems to have convinced the EU to join the U.S. in making life difficult for Russians linked to the death in prison of Browder’s colleague, Serge Magnitsky.

Magnitsky, a 37-year-old lawyer who represented Browder’s hedge fund in a tax fraud case and who accused Russian Interior Ministry officials of defrauding Hermitage, was charged with tax fraud in 2009 and spent almost a year in Moscow’s most notorious prisons where Russian human rights activists allege he was tortured to death.

Only two people were ever charged in Magnitsky’s death, both doctors. The doctor who treated Magnitsky during his last weeks, Larisa Litvinova, had charges against her dropped last year; officials said that statute of limitations had run out. Other officials linked to Magnitsky’s death have been cleared, and some have been promoted.

But Browder, not satisfied with these outcomes, successfully lobbied the U.S. government to pass the Magnitsky law, barring Russian officials tied to his death from entering the country and freezing their assets.

In October, the European Parliament adopted a recommendation to the European Council to establish common visa restrictions for Russian officials involved in the Magnitsky case and freezing their assets in Europe.