Senate Proceeding 11-08-11 on Nov 8th, 2011 :: 2:38:55 to 2:52:35
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2:38:36 to 2:38:59( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: the fact that chord cough ski remains in jail is deplorable but i rise to speak about another case in which a man who opposed the government not only went to jail but died there. i choose my words carefully this afternoon, madam president, knowing that they will be

2:38:55 to 2:52:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Roger F. Wicker

2:39:00 to 2:39:21( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: disturbing to many and that a number of people within the russian government will take great offense. but i want everyone within the sound of my voice to know that i am choosing my words carefully.

2:39:22 to 2:39:43( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: sergei magnitski was an american with a law firm in moscow. he was married with two children. his clients included the hermitage fund, which is the largest foreign portfolio investor in russia. through sergei magninski's

2:39:44 to 2:40:08( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: invest work -- invest gave work on behalf of hermitage, it was discovered that russian tax officials and organized criminals worked together to steal $230 million in public funds. orchestratingthe largest tax rebate fraud in russian history.

2:40:09 to 2:40:29( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: as magnitsky would come to find out, this group had fraudulently reregistered three investment companies of the hermitage fund and embezzled from the russian treasury all of the profits, taxes that the company -- these companies had paid and did so under the guise

2:40:30 to 2:40:51( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: of a tax refund. in october of 2008, magnitsky voluntarily gave a sworn testimony against officials from the interior ministry against russian tax departments and the private criminals whom he found had perpetrated the fraud.

2:40:52 to 2:41:12( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: a month later, interior ministry officers came to his moscow apartment, arrested him in front of his wife and two children, and threw him in pretrial detention. at the same time the russian federal security service claimed there was evidence that

2:41:13 to 2:41:33( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: magnitski had applied for a u.k. visa and was considered a flight risk. the russian courts used this to prolong the term of his detemtion without a trial -- detention without a trial to 12 months. i should note that the british embassy in moscow has confirmed that mr. magnitsky had not

2:41:34 to 2:41:56( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: applied for a u.k. visa since the year 2002. and so the pretrial detention was based on a fabrication. once in custody, magnitsky was pressured and tortured by officials hoping we withdraw his

2:41:57 to 2:42:17( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: testimony and asking him to falsely incriminate himself and his cliend. they placed mr. magnitsky in an overcrowded cell with no window pane payne panes and kept lights

2:42:18 to 2:42:38( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: on to deprive him of sleep. each time he refused to testify, his conditions worsened as did his health. he lost 40 pounds and developed severe cree atight is and gallstones. one week before a planned operation by detention center

2:42:39 to 2:42:59( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: doctors, he was transferred to a maximum security detention center with no medical facilities. he spent the next four months of his life without any medical care, all of his requests for medical examination and surgery were denied by the russian government officials.

2:43:00 to 2:43:22( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: the interior ministry officials managing magnitsky's detention refused family visits as, quote, an expedient to the investigation, unquote. from the time of his arrest magnitsky saw his wife only once. he never saw his children again after his arrest.

2:43:23 to 2:43:43( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: during his 358 days in detention, mr. magnitsky wrote more than 450 petitions requesting medical attention and challenging his cruel treatment and the denial of legal remedies and protesting his being taken hostage by the very interior

2:43:44 to 2:44:04( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: ministry officials he had testified against. every petition filed was either ignored or rejected by russian authorities. on november 13, 2009, sergei magnitsk's condition worsened dramatically.

2:44:05 to 2:44:27( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: doctors saw him on december 16 when he was transferred to a moscow detention center that had medical facilities. instead of being delivered 0 the detention center hospital and actually treated immediately, he was placed in an isolation cell, reportedly handcuffed,

2:44:28 to 2:44:49( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: beaten, and he died in that cell. on the day following mr. magnitsky's death, detention center officials informed officials he had died from a rupture of his abdominal membrane and toxic shock. that

2:44:50 to 2:45:13( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: that same day, although detention center facilities had said abdominal membrane and toxic shock, the official cause of his death was changed to heart failure. indeed. two requests by his family for an independent autopsy were rejected by russian authorities.

2:45:14 to 2:45:35( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: a week after mr. magnitsky's death, senior russian interior officials publicly craimed that magnitsky was not -- claimed that magnitsky was not sick at all in detention. seven months after his death, interior ministry officials claimed that they were not aware of magnitsky's complaints and

2:45:36 to 2:45:57( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: requests for medical assistance. ten months after his death, the russian state investigative committee claimed that magnitsky was not pressured and tortured but died naturally of heart disease. his death, the committee claimed, was -- quote -- "nobody's fault." unquote.

2:45:58 to 2:46:19( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: nearly two years after magnitsky's death, not a single person has been prosecuted for his false arrest, for his torture, for his murder in custody or for the $230 million theft he exposed. now, some may question the facts that i have outlined today. are they in dispute? i would point out that on

2:46:20 to 2:46:40( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: november 23, 2009, one week after mr. magnitsky's death, the chair of president medvedev's human rights council publicly raised magnitsky's death with president medvedev.

2:46:41 to 2:47:03( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: the next day, the general prosecutor and the justice minister of russia were ordered to investigate the death. the investigation was limited and did not result in any criminal prosecutions. however, on december 28, 2009, the moscow public oversight commission, an independent watchdog, mandated under russian

2:47:04 to 2:47:27( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: law to monitor human rights abuses in moscow prisons and detention centers issued its conclusions on the magnitsky case. the report stated that in detention, magnitsky had been subjected to torturous conditions, physical and psychological pressure and was

2:47:28 to 2:47:48( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: denied medical care. moreover, the members of this courageous commission concluded that his right to life had been violated by the russian state, by the russian state. these conclusions were sent to the russian general prosecutor's office, the russian state investigative committee, the

2:47:49 to 2:48:10( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: russian ministry of justice, the presidential administration and the federal penitentiary service. none of the government agencies responded to any of the report's conclusions. then on july 5, 2011, this year, mr. president, the russian president's human rights council

2:48:11 to 2:48:31( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: issued its independent expert findings on the magnitsky case. the report found the following -- that mr. magnitsky was arrested on trumped up charges, in breach of russian law and the european human rights convention.

2:48:32 to 2:48:55( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: that his prosecution was unlawful, that he was systematically denied medical care, that he was beaten in custody, which was the proximate cause of his death, that his medical records were falsified and that there is an ongoing cover-up and resistance by all

2:48:56 to 2:49:21( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: government bodies to investigate thank heaven for the intrepid members of the russian president's human rights council. while little has been done inside russia regarding this case, action has been taken here in the united states. in may, 2011, i joined senator ben cardin in introducing the

2:49:22 to 2:49:44( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: sur gay -- the sergei magnitsky rule of law accountability act. it extends sanctions to the officials in the magnitsky case and in other cases of gross human rights abuses. the legislation currently has 23 sponsors, and i urge all of my colleagues to consider joining us on this bill. join us on this bill today.

2:49:45 to 2:50:07( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: on september 16, 2011, 15 leading human rights activists and representatives of the russian civil society issued an open letter urgently calling on this congress to pass this legislation. the letter states -- quote -- "sergei magnitsky has become a

2:50:08 to 2:50:28( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: victim of the inhumane russian justice system. many russian citizens are unlawfully deprived of liberty due to the travesties of this system. the impunity of those who have fabricated the case against magnitsky and persecuted him opens the door for other

2:50:29 to 2:50:51( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: officials who have enriched themselves with stolen property and targeted political opponents of the regime." the letter goes on to say the consistent application of international pressure on corrupt members of the ruling establishment would significantly support our civil society and those honest individuals inside the russian

2:50:52 to 2:51:12( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: power structure who are trying to revamp and reform the existing government institutions. the letter con cliewdz, we urge you -- they urge us, the members of congress -- we urge you to adopt the sergei magnitsky rule of law accountability act of 2011 without any delay.

2:51:13 to 2:51:35( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: mr. president, we in the senate should be standing in support of the printed, -- principled, fearless russian citizens who have the courage to expose these corrupt abuses, to expose the

2:51:36 to 2:51:58( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: brutality and thuggery of their own russian government. i urge president obama, i urge secretary clinton to make human rights and rule of law in russia a central part of our efforts to reset bilateral relations. without commitment to these basic principles, our efforts to find common ground on other

2:51:59 to 2:52:16( Edit History Discussion )

Roger F. Wicker: issues of mutual concern will continue to be undermined. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the