LONDON – British lawmakers are debating legislation similar to the Magnitsky Act in the United States, which allows courts to impose visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials allegedly involved in the 2009 death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The U.S. Act has since been widened to include anyone accused of human rights abuses. Pressure is now growing for other European countries to follow suit.
Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in a Moscow jail in 2009 after spending almost a year behind bars without facing trial. He had been charged with conspiracy, but his supporters say he was targeted by the Russian state after uncovering a $230 million fraud by senior officials, using subsidiaries of the investment fund Hermitage Capital.
