BALTIMORE – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (Public Law 112-208), issued the following statement ahead of the sixth anniversary of Sergei Magnitsky’s murder.
“November 16th marks the sixth anniversary of the brutal death of Sergei Magnitsky, the courageous voice against Russian corruption who was imprisoned and tortured in a Russian prison for 358 days before his death. On this anniversary, we must remember the principles of truth, justice, and the rule of law that drove Sergei, a 37-year-old tax lawyer, husband and father working for an American firm in Moscow, to expose the largest known tax fraud in Russian history. As we honor Sergei’s life, we must recommit ourselves to supporting human rights and the rule of law globally despite an ever more dangerous space for independent voices and civil society in far too many nations.”
Senator Cardin is the author of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, a bill that would ensure human rights abusers and corrupt officials worldwide are denied entry into the United States and barred from using our financial institutions. The bill was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July. The legislation would expand the Russia-specific sanctions in the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (Public Law 112-208) and apply it globally.
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