A U.S. senator accused more than 60 senior Russian officials of being responsible for the death of Hermitage Capital attorney Sergei Magnitsky in pretrial detention and demanded that they be denied American visas.
Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday, his commission's web site reported.
The letter lists top brass of the Russian Interior Ministry, Federal Security Service, Federal Tax Service, Arbitration Courts, Prosecutor General’s Office and Federal Prison Service, including heads of Moscow's pretrial prisons Butyrka and Matrosskaya Tishina. The senator provides detailed descriptions of their alleged involvement in the case.
“The visa sanctions will send an important message to corrupt officials in Russia and elsewhere that the U.S. is serious about combating foreign corruption and the harm it does. It will also help to protect U.S. companies operating in Russia who risk falling prey to similar schemes in the future,” Cardin said.
“I urge you to immediately cancel and permanently withdraw the U.S. visa privileges of all those involved in this crime, along with their dependents and family members,” Cardin wrote.
A presidential human rights council will begin an investigation into Magnitsky's death May 3, Interfax reported Monday.
Working on the case will be Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group; Yelena Panfilova, head of Russian branch of Transparency International; Pavel Kabanov, head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee, a nongovernmental group; journalists Irina Yasina and Svetlana Sorokina; and human rights campaigner Mara Polyakova, Interfax reported.
The council also plans to campaign for the transfer of responsibility for distributing medicine to inmates to the Health and Social Development Ministry, Alexeyeva told Interfax. The prison service currently holds this responsibility.
Sergei Magnitsky died Nov. 16 in a detention center in Moscow. Officials had repeatedly denied him medical treatment for the illnesses he developed after 11 months of waiting for his tax trial to begin.
The Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal investigation following Magnitsky’s death, but it only accused unidentified officials of negligence and failure to provide medical aid.
Evidence suggested that Interior Ministry officials previously accused by Magnitsky of embezzling $230 million of government funds had a hand in withholding the medical treatment he needed to stay alive, Alexeyeva said.