Posts Tagged ‘senator’

02
April 2012

Kerry Backs Pairing Magnitsky Bill With Jackson-Vanik Repeal

Radio Free Europe

U.S. Senator John Kerry, the influential head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he supports a measure to sanction Russian officials for human rights violations as a complement to granting Russia normalized trade status.

According to “Foreign Policy” magazine, which quotes the transcript of a March 27 business meeting of the committee, Kerry (D-Massachusetts) said that pursuing the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law and Accountability Act in conjunction with repealing the Jackson-Vanik Amendment is “the way to move forward.”

The Magnitsky bill would financially sanction and deny U.S. visas to Russian officials connected to the 2009 prison death of anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

While the Obama administration has concern that passing the bill would harm relations with Moscow, many senators favor it as a trade-off for repealing the Cold War-era Jackson-Vanik Amendment, a move the administration advocates.

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30
March 2012

Lugar’s endorsement pushes Magnitsky Act forward

Foreign Policy

Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Republican Richard Lugar (R-IN) came out strongly this week for a bill to sanction Russian human rights violators and urged his committee counterpart John Kerry (D-MA) to stop stalling action on the bill.

At the March 27 SFRC business meeting, Lugar read aloud a long statement in support of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011 — legislation meant to promote human rights in Russia that is named for the anti-corruption lawyer who died in a Russian prison, after allegedly being tortured, two years ago. Several senators, now including Lugar, have said publicly that unless the Magnitsky bill can become law, they will oppose the repeal of the 1974 Jackson-Vanik law that currently stands as the only U.S. law specifically aimed at holding the Russian government accountable for its human rights record.

Without repeal of Jackson-Vanik, the United States can’t grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status and U.S. businesses can’t take full advantage of Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization. But the senators believe that the Magnitsky bill is needed to ensure the Russian government is not let off the hook for its deteriorating record on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.

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28
March 2012

U.S. Senate May Discuss Magnitsky Sanctions in April

RIA Novosti

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations may discuss in April a 2011 bill to impose sanctions on Russian officials implicated in the detention death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the committee’s chairman John Kerry said.

“I’d like to try to put it on a business meeting for when we return [from the April 2 – April 13 recess], and we should aim to do it,” Kerry said.

Senator Benjamin Cardin introduced the “Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011” last May, but no legislative action has been taken on it so far. U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said it was redundant as the U.S. already compiled a blacklist of Russian officials linked to Magnitsky’s death, who are subject to a travel ban and asset freeze.

Cardin said his bill should be passed simultaneously with discussions on the abolishment of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, an American piece of legislation from 1974 that introduced economic sanctions against the Soviet Union.

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16
March 2012

KYL STATEMENT AT FINANCE COMMITTEE HEARING EXAMINING RUSSIA’S ACCESSION TO THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

Senate Committee on Finance

U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, delivered the following opening statement today at a committee hearing examining the accession of Russia to the World Trade Organization (WTO):

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that I understand the message this hearing is meant to convey: “American businesses want access to Russian markets. We should repeal JacksonVanik and grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations without delay and without conditions. It’s a slam dunk.”

But it isn’t a slam dunk.

Let’s stipulate that American businesses, farmers, and ranchers should be able to sell products to Russia, and that free trade is important and beneficial to the United States.

We still need to determine whether America is getting a good deal through Russia’s WTO accession, and whether more should be done to protect our interests. For example, Russia has never ratified the bilateral investment treaty that the Senate ratified years ago. That treaty would prevent Russia from expropriating businesses, an admittedly big problem in Russia. This is a very basic economic right that isn’t being protected.

In addition, one of our witnesses will discuss Russia’s failure to remit royalties, which is also not
directly covered by the WTO agreements.

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15
March 2012

Sen. Kyl takes strong stand against top Obama administration trade priority

The Hill

The number two Republican in the Senate on Thursday threw a wrench into White House plans for quick passage of a Russia trade bill.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) flagged his opposition to granting Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR). The Russia bill is the top trade priority of the Obama administration this year.

Russia is slated to join the World Trade Organization this summer. If Congress does not repeal the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment, a Cold War-era law which makes trade relations conditional on Russia allowing free emigration, Russia will be allowed to retaliate against U.S. exporters.

“I think that I understand the message this hearing is meant to convey: ‘American businesses want access to Russian markets. We should repeal Jackson-Vanik and grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations without delay and without conditions. It’s a slam dunk.’ But it isn’t a slam dunk,” Kyl told a Finance Committee hearing.

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17
February 2012

Senators Cardin, Wicker, Shaheen: Spoke on human rights violations in Russia and the case of Sergei Magnitsky

Republican Senate Gov

Morning Business
Feb 16 2012
10:46 AM

Colloquy: (Senators Cardin, Wicker, Shaheen)
Spoke on human rights violations in Russia and the case of Sergei Magnitsky.

Senator Cardin: (10:08 AM)
“Just last week as part of a bilateral Presidential commission, Attorney General Holder met with Russian Minister of Justice to discuss the rule of law issues. That same week, Russian officials moved in their criminal prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky. I remind you that Mr. Magnitsky has been dead for more than two years. Last may, I joined with Senator McCain and Senator Wicker and 11 other of our senators from both parties to introduce the Sergei Magnitsky rule of law accountability act. We now have nearly 30 cosponsors, and I urge more to join us and look at ways to move forward on helping halt abuses like this in the future. After exposing the largest known tax fraud in Russian history, Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer, working for an American firm in Moscow, was falsely arrested for crimes he did not commit and tortured in prison. Six months later, he became seriously ill and was consistently denied medical attention despite 20 former requests and then on the night of November 16, 2009, he went into critical condition, but instead of being treated in a hospital, he was put in an isolation cell, chained to a bed, beaten by eight prison guards with rubber batons for one hour and 18 minutes until he was dead. Sergei Magnitsky was 37 years old, left behind a wife, two children and a dependent mother. While the facts around his arrest, detention and death has been independently verified and accepted at the highest levels of Russian government, those implicated in his death and the corruption he exposed remain unpunished, in positions of authority, and some have even been decorated and promoted. Following Magnitsky ‘s death, they have continued to target others, including American business interests in Moscow. These officials have been credibly linked to similar crimes and have ties to Russian mafia, international arms trafficking and even drug cartels. The money they stole from the Russian budget was bartered through a network of banks including two in the united states. Calls for investigation have fallen on deaf ears, and in a turn of events, law enforcement officers accused by Magnitsky and those most involved in his murder are – and those that are accused by Magnitsky and those most complicit in his murder are moving to try him for the very tax crimes they committed. think of the irony here. He exposed corruption in Russia. As a result, he was arrested, imprisoned, tortured and killed. Now, those who perpetrated the crime on him are charging him after his death with the crimes they committed. We cannot be silent.”

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13
February 2012

Our Friends the Russians: The State Department and John Kerry still believe in the ‘reset’

Wall Street Journal

In its latest display of political retribution, the Kremlin is putting a human-rights lawyer and corruption whistleblower on trial for tax evasion. The notable news here is that Sergei Magnitsky died in police custody two years ago. His prosecution is a poke in the eye of the man’s family, the U.S. and the rule of law in Russia.

Magnitsky worked for an American law firm in Moscow whose clients included a Jewish rights group and the investment house Hermitage Capital. In 2008 he uncovered evidence of police corruption and embezzlement. The police promptly put him in prison, claiming he had helped Hermitage evade taxes. Eleven months later, he died.

A Russian government committee found that Magnitsky was beaten and denied treatment for pancreatitis and recommended that his prison doctors and interrogators be investigated. This didn’t happen. Instead, with the Kremlin’s blessing, the police last summer reopened the case against a dead man and have now announced plans for a trial.

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15
December 2011

Senator Cardin: State of Human Rights and Rule of Law in Russia

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee

State of Human Rights and Rule of Law in Russia

Senator Cardin takes part in a hearing on human rights and the rule of law in Russia. He questions the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Dr. Phil Gordon.

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15
December 2011

U.S. Officials Push Jackson-Vanik Repeal, Tiptoe Around Magnitsky Legislation

Radio Free Europe

U.S. State Department officials have urged Congress to repeal the Cold War-era Jackson-Vanik Amendment, trade legislation that has long been used to pressure Russia on human rights issues, arguing that the law is hurting the U.S. economy and that Washington can make its views known in other ways.

In doing so, the officials tiptoed around a proposal that has gained favor in the Senate to punish Russian officials directly for rights abuses and as such, serve as a trade for Congressional repeal of Jackson-Vanik.

The bill, however, which would target officials connected to the death of Russian anticorruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, has been met with hesitation by the administration, as it threatens to damage relations between Washington and Moscow if it becomes law.

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