In the context of a controversial discussion on the so called Magnitsky Case on 27 April in the European Parliament , two individuals sanctioned for their involvement in the case by the USA – a step supported by a resolution of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee - took the floor.
Please see below a statement signed by nine Members of the European Parliament in protest of this incident:
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We, members of the European Parliament, strongly protest against the fact that two individuals named on a European Parliament's sanctions list received access to and participated in an event in the EP held on 27 April this year.
Pavel Karpov and Andrei Pavlov, former Russian officials, are both on the European Parliament Magnitsky sanctions list for their responsibility in the Sergei Magnitsky case and in its subsequent judicial cover-up.
As the Russian Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights operating under the authority of the then President Medvedev confirmed in July 2011, Sergei Magnitsky died in custody, subjected to inhumane conditions, deliberate neglect and documented signs of torture. He was detained after he exposed a tax fraud of $230 million. As the Presidential Council also confirmed, several of the officials investigating him – with Pavel Karpov among them – were under conflict of interest as those whom Magnitsky accused of involvement in the mentioned tax fraud.
Strong majorities in the European Parliament, the United States Congress, the Canadian Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe assessed the Magnitsky case as one of many documented systematic violations of fundamental human rights and the rule of law principles in Russia. The US President signed the Magnitsky sanctions into law.
We deplore that these two people who are on the European Parliament's list and are banned from entering the United States received EU visa and were given the floor in our premises to speak at an event which appears to be used as part of a broader campaign to discredit critics of the Russian leadership, both inside and outside the country, and to denigrate Sergey Magnitsky's personality and his tragic death in a Russian prison cell.
The European Parliament asked the High Representative/Vice President already twice to propose to the Council the adoption of an EU-wide Magnitsky visa ban list preventing people who carry responsibility in the Magnitsky case from travelling into the EU.
The presence in the European Parliament of two of these individuals, targeted by international sanctions, shows clearly the need for concerted EU action, and that HRVP Mogherini must finally bring the Magnitsky sanctions to the Council for adoption.
Petras Auštrevičius, MEP / ALDE
Elmar Brok, MEP / EPP
Anna Fotyga, MEP / ECR
Ana Gomes, MEP / S&D
Rebecca Harms, MEP / Greens/EFA
Eva Joly, MEP / Greens/EFA
Tunne Kelam, MEP / EPP
Jaromír Štětina, MEP / EPP
Guy Verhofstadt, MEP / ALDE
