WASHINGTON—Following yesterday’s addition of five Russian individuals to the Magnitsky List by the Trump Administration, Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) issued the following statement:
“I applaud yesterday’s announcement that the Administration has added five additional names to the visa ban and asset freeze lists mandated under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act. Three of these figures—Andrey Pavlov, Yulia Mayorova, and Alexei Sheshenya—have been identified as key players in the $230 million tax fraud uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, which ultimately resulted in his tragic death at the hands of Russian authorities. The remaining individuals, Ramzan Kadyrov and Ayub Kataev, have been implicated in the gross human rights violations currently taking place in Chechnya,” Chairman Wicker said.
“Although I am encouraged by these latest designations, as I was reminded at last week’s Helsinki Commission hearing, there are hundreds of other names that have been submitted for investigation for their role in Sergei Magnitsky’s death. Sanctions should also be imposed on these individuals for committing serious human rights violations against Sergei Magnitsky and against thousands of others,” he said.
The Magnitsky Act enables the U.S Government to deny individuals involved in Magnitsky’s death—as well as all individuals who commit extrajudicial killings, torture, or otherwise egregiously violate the human rights of activists or whistleblowers in Russia—entry to the United States and to freeze their American assets. It has served as a model to hold individual perpetrators accountable for human rights violations, and to combat kleptocracy and corruption worldwide.
