#sergey magnitsky

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Navalny is not the first opponent to fall victim to Putin’s increasingly bloody regime and he won’t be the last. The roll call is long and growing — Sergei Magnitsky, Boris Nemzov, Denis Voronenkov, Stanislav Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Anna Politkovskaya, and those whose end was uncertain, like Boris Berezovsky. The names of all those who have fallen from windows or decided to end their life in mysterious circumstances are much, much longer.

Elena Davlikanova, responding to Putin's murder of Navalny.

[szepkerekkocka]

"It's a public humiliation for any dictator, however the Putin propaganda will try to portray this."

Putin has already been destabilised by failing to seize all of Ukraine and the West must be prepared for the possibility of his regime collapsing, say Vladimir Kara-Murza and Bill Browder speaking to Kate Gerbeau on Frontline at the Magnitsky Human Rights Awards in London.

[odinsblog]

For over two decades, President Vladimir Putin has squeezed dissent in Russia. Critics, journalists, and defectors have faced dire consequences after opposing him. From poisonings to shootings, mysterious falls from windows, and even plane crashes, there is a long trail of silenced voices.

Alexei Navalny, whose death in prison is as yet unexplained, had previously fallen ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow in 2020 after being poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who defected and was a prominent Putin critic, was murdered with polonium-210 in London in 2016.

Other deaths of opposition figures under Putin's rule also appear to follow a pattern. Boris Nemtsov, shot dead near the Kremlin, and Stanislav Markelov, assassinated in Moscow alongside journalist Anastasia Baburova, are just two examples. Natalia Estemirova, abducted and found dead in Chechnya, and Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist murdered in her Moscow apartment building, also paid the ultimate price following their dissent.

Here are 10 prominent Putin critics who have died in assassinations or mysterious circumstances.

Alexei Navalny

Date of death: February 16, 2024

Cause of Death: Alexei Navalny died in prison. The Russian prison service reported that he felt unwell after a walk and lost consciousness.

Biography: Alexei Navalny was a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin. He gained global attention in 2020 when he survived a poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny willingly returned to Russia from Germany in 2021, where he had received treatment for the previous poisoning. Upon his return, he was promptly arrested. Navalny was known for exposing corruption, investigating Putin's inner circle, and leading anti-Kremlin opposition movements. His death is likely to be seen by fellow opposition members as a political assassination attributable to Putin, but is as yet unexplained.

Mikhail Lesin

Age: 57

Date of Death: November 5, 2015

Cause of Death: Mikhail Lesin was a former Russian press minister and media executive. He fell out of favor with Putin and faced scrutiny for his wealth. Lesin was found dead in a Washington, D.C. hotel room. The official cause of death was ruled as accidental blunt force injuries, but questions persist about the circumstances.

Boris Nemtsov

Age: 55

Date of Death: February 27, 2015

Cause of Death: Boris Nemtsov was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin. His murder remains unsolved, but many believe it was politically motivated. Nemtsov was a vocal critic of Putin's government, advocating for democracy, human rights, and transparency. He served as a deputy prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin and later became a prominent opposition figure.

Boris Berezovsky

Age: 67

Date of Death: March 23, 2013

Cause of Death: Boris Berezovsky was a wealthy businessman, oligarch, and former ally of Putin. However, he became a vocal critic and fled to the U.K. Berezovsky was found dead in his home in Berkshire, England. The official cause of death was ruled as suicide, but suspicions remain due to his high-profile opposition activities.

Sergei Magnitsky

Age: 37

Date of Death: November 16, 2009

Cause of Death: Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer and auditor who exposed a massive tax fraud scheme involving Russian officials. He was arrested, imprisoned, and denied medical treatment. Magnitsky died in custody following severe beatings and medical neglect. His death led to the passing of the Magnitsky Act in the United States, which sanctions Russian officials involved in human rights abuses and corruption.

Stanislav Markelov

Age: 34

Date of Death: January 19, 2009

Cause of Death: Stanislav Markelov was a human rights lawyer and journalist. He was assassinated in Moscow by a gunman who also killed journalist Anastasia Baburova. Markelov had represented victims of human rights abuses and criticized the Russian government's actions in Chechnya. His death raised concerns about the safety of those opposing the regime.

Anastasia Baburova

Age: 25

Date of Death: January 19, 2009

Cause of Death: Anastasia Baburova, a journalist and activist, was shot dead alongside human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov in Moscow. She had reported on neo-Nazi groups and political violence. Her murder remains unsolved, but it is believed to be connected to her activism.

Natalia Estemirova

Age: 50

Date of Death: July 15, 2009

Cause of Death: Natalia Estemirova, a human rights activist and journalist, was abducted in Grozny, Chechnya, and found dead later that day. She had documented human rights violations in Chechnya and criticized the government. Her murder remains unsolved, but it is widely believed to be connected to her activism and criticism of the Chechen authorities.

Anna Politkovskaya

Age: 48

Date of Death: October 7, 2006

Cause of Death: Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist, was shot dead in her apartment building in Moscow. She had reported extensively on human rights abuses, corruption, and the war in Chechnya. Her work was critical of Putin's government, and her murder sparked international outrage. Despite investigations, the masterminds behind her killing have not been brought to justice.

Yuri Shchekochikhin

Age: 53

Date of Death: July 3, 2003

Cause of Death: Yuri Shchekochikhin was a journalist, writer, and member of the Russian State Duma. He investigated corruption, organized crime, and human rights abuses. Shchekochikhin suddenly fell ill and died from an unknown cause. Some suspect poisoning, but the circumstances remain unclear.

(continue reading)

List of journalists killed in Russia

The dangers to journalists in Russia have been known since the early 1990s but concern over the number of unsolved killings soared after Anna Politkovskaya's murder in Moscow on 7 October 2006. While international monitors mentioned a dozen deaths, some sources within Russia talked of over two hundred fatalities.

2009 reports on deaths of journalists in Russia: In June 2009, a wide-ranging investigation by the International Federation of Journalists into the deaths of journalists in Russia was published. At the same time, the IFJ launched an online database which documents over three hundred deaths and disappearances since 1993.

(continue reading)

[herukapadmajungiansworld]

Switzerland has for years been the destination of choice for Russian oligarchs and corrupt officials to hide their stolen money. Swiss banks are estimated to hold over $200 billion in stashed Russian cash.

The United States recently opened an investigation into Swiss banks helping #Russia to evade sanctions, subpoenaing the two largest Swiss banks at the time. Switzerland is also key to Russian #evasion of export controls meant to ensure Russia cannot resupply its military and continue its war.

Russian-induced corruption within the Swiss law enforcement system led to the resignation of the former top prosecutor of Switzerland and the conviction of a senior Swiss law enforcement official on bribery charges. Switzerland is now primed to send millions in frozen Russian dirty money related to the revelations of Sergei Magnitsky to the Russians who stole it.

This hearing will examine Switzerland’s key role in laundering Russian money. Witnesses will discuss how Switzerland came to be a favorite destination for Russian dirty money, how Russian corruption in Switzerland endangers U.S. national security and the ability of Ukraine to defend itself, and possible policy responses. This hearing builds on years of work by the #Commission to hold Switzerland to account for its role in Russian money laundering and corruption.

The following witnesses are scheduled to testify:

1Bill Browder, Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign

2Drew Sullivan, Co-Founder, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

3Olena Tregub, Secretary General, Independent Defense Anti-Corruption Committee (NAKO)

HEARING

Russia’s Alpine Assets: Money Laundering and Sanctions Evasion in Switzerland

July 18, 2023

1:00 p.m.

Senate Dirksen Building G50

Live stream:

youtube.com/watch?v=dxX98X…

[winterswake]

Artyom Borovik, Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Magnitsky, Alexander Litvinenko, Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny

[occrpnewsagency]

Azerbaijani Laundromat includes two Malta firms

Over €440,000 passed through Malta firms for UK shell company employed in Azerbaijani slush fund

Malta-registered companies have been featured in the extensive global network through which money from an Azerbaijan slush fund passed.

The data features in revelations published by the OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) into the so called ‘Azerbaijani Laundromat’, a complex money-laundering operation that handled €2.5 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies registered in the UK.

From 2012 to 2014, the money was used by the country’s ruling elite to pay off European politicians, buy luxury goods, launder money, and otherwise benefit themselves.

During the same time period, the Malta company Vostok Media Exchange Ltd was used to process a total of €438,000 in nine separate payments to an English company, Metastar Invest LLP; while Metastar paid another Maltese company, Wise Holding Ltd, €9,510.

Vostok Media Exchange was set up in Malta in 2009, and its ownership is vested in PGM Group SA, which is registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. Its directorship is held by the Swiss fiduciary services firm Comatrans.

On its part, Wise Holding’s ownership is vested in a Polish firm while its directorship is held by Polish residents in Malta with similar other directorships in Malta-registered firms.

There is so far no information as to what the payments were for.

OCCRP understands that a company in Malta called Wise holding limited was incorporated with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in May 2014, suggesting that in 2013 no monies could have been paid to this company. After a protest by its owner Artur Lukasiewicz, this newspaper could find no indiciation that any money was received from Metastar Invest.

According to the investigation by the OCCRP and newspapers such as The Guardian, the money laundering network used four UK shell companies, one of which was Metastar Invest. Its HQ was registered at a service address in Birmingham but ultimately controlled by a company in a tax haven.

Records show that the now dissolved Metastar was run by two “members”: Advance Developments Ltd and Corporate Solutions Ltd, also dissolved and based in Belize.

In turn Metastar controlled other companies, such as Armut, which is alleged to have siphoned €192 million of funds paid by the hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management to the Russian treasury. This particular scandal involved an organised Russian criminal syndicate, the Klyuev Group, which, it is claimed, has stolen at least $800m from the Russian people with the aid of the Russian government.

Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working for Hermitage, blew the whistle on the scandal – only to be imprisoned in Russia, and allegedly tortured in a bid to withdraw his testimony. While in prison he developed gallstones, pancreatitis and a blocked gall bladder. A human rights council set up by the Kremlin found that he was physically assaulted shortly before his death, which was the direct result of being denied urgent medical care needed to treat his conditions.

The scandal has only reinforced the perception of corruption at the heart of gas-rich Baku, where the Aliyev dynasty has held sway since the fall of communism.

In a more recent case, an Italian MP was found to have taken bribes to issue favourable reports on Azerbaijan at the Council of Europe. Italian prosecutors accused Luca Volontè, the former chair of the centre-right group in the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, of accepting millions of euros in cash from Azerbaijan in exchange for supporting its government, which has been heavily criticised for subverting elections and jailing journalists and opponents. 

Azerbaijan is often accused of “caviar diplomacy”, using cash and gifts to buy influence – charges first detailed by the European Stability Initiative think-tank in 2012. The council notably voted down a critical report on Azerbaijan’s political prisoners in 2013.

Former Labour MP Joe Debono Grech, a member of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly who was a rapporteur on various reports on Azerbaijan, had denied ever receiving gifts from Baku.

He also had told this newspaper that a speech at a 2015 CoE assembly was misinterpreted. “I do not condone dictatorships,” Debono Grech had told OCCRP, adding that Azerbaijan is “not a democracy”.

But he was adamant that Azerbaijan could not be turned into another Libya.

While admitting that “nobody approves of unwarranted arrests,” Debono Grech described the situation as “complex” and echoed Azerbaijan’s arguments that there is no clear definition of what constitutes a political prisoner.

Way back in 2012, a report by the South East Europe think-tank, European Stability Initiative (ESI), had already included Debono Grech among the list of Azerbaijani apologists, for failing to flag irregularities in the 2010 and 2013 elections in which Ilham Aliyev consolidated his grip on power.

Debono Grech, who served as co-rapporteur for six years, during which he visited Azerbaijan some 30 times, denied ever receiving gifts from the Caucasian dictatorship.

“I can only vouch for myself, but I never received any gifts,” Debono Grech said, who even as consultant to the Gozo minister had refused any remuneration for his role.

[occupyhades]

God’s Whistleblower

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3 (ESV)

A person who plans evil will get a reputation as a troublemaker. Proverbs 24:8 (NLT) 

Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues. Psalm 10:7 (NLT) 

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. James 3:9 (NIV) 

There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide. Job 34:22 (BSB)

We know that anyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning. 1 John 5:18 (ESV)

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Apocalypse 3:2 (NIV)

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Apocalypse 3:3 (NIV)

[usnewsper-politics]

Russia's Troubling Murders: Putin's Leadership and the Fight for Democracy and Human Rights #AlexeiNavalny #AnnaPolitkovskaya #BorisNemtsov #democracyinRussia #humanrightsinRussia #politicalassassinations #Putinleadership #Putinsregime #repressioninRussia #Russiamurders #SergeiMagnitsky

[onlytruthnolie]

Azerbaijani Laundromat includes two Malta firms

Over €440,000 passed through Malta firms for UK shell company employed in Azerbaijani slush fund

Azerbaijani ruler Ilham Aliyev and his wife Merhiban: the family dynasty has held power since the fall of Communism. The Azeri slush fund uses UK shell companies to then pay off bribes to European politicians, like Italian MP Luca Volonte (left)

Malta-registered companies have been featured in the extensive global network through which money from an Azerbaijan slush fund passed.

The data features in revelations published by the OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) into the so called ‘Azerbaijani Laundromat’, a complex money-laundering operation that handled €2.5 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies registered in the UK.

From 2012 to 2014, the money was used by the country’s ruling elite to pay off European politicians, buy luxury goods, launder money, and otherwise benefit themselves.

During the same time period, the Malta company Vostok Media Exchange Ltd was used to process a total of €438,000 in nine separate payments to an English company, Metastar Invest LLP; while Metastar paid another Maltese company, Wise Holding Ltd, €9,510.

Vostok Media Exchange was set up in Malta in 2009, and its ownership is vested in PGM Group SA, which is registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. Its directorship is held by the Swiss fiduciary services firm Comatrans.

On its part, Wise Holding’s ownership is vested in a Polish firm while its directorship is held by Polish residents in Malta with similar other directorships in Malta-registered firms.

There is so far no information as to what the payments were for.USDPAYER BENEFICIARY DATE 113,447VOSTOK MEDIA EXCHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2014-05-27105,720VOSTOK MEDIA ECHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2014-02-0672,848VOSTOK MEDIA EXCHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2013-09-1069,457VOSTOK MEDIA EXCHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2013-11-1457,726VOSTOK MEDIA EXCHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2013-07-0531,613VOSTOK MEDIA ECHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2013-01-2527,540VOSTOK MEDIA ECHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2013-01-2325,846VOSTOK MEDIA EXCHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2013-05-3121,233VOSTOK MEDIA ECHANGE LTDMTMETASTAR INVEST LLPGB2012-10-1511,391METASTAR INVEST LLPGBWISE HOLDING LIMITEDMT2013-08-23

MaltaToday understands that a company in Malta called Wise holding limited was incorporated with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in May 2014, suggesting that in 2013 no monies could have been paid to this company. After a protest by its owner Artur Lukasiewicz, this newspaper could find no indiciation that any money was received from Metastar Invest.

According to the investigation by the OCCRP and newspapers such as The Guardian, the money laundering network used four UK shell companies, one of which was Metastar Invest. Its HQ was registered at a service address in Birmingham but ultimately controlled by a company in a tax haven.

Records show that the now dissolved Metastar was run by two “members”: Advance Developments Ltd and Corporate Solutions Ltd, also dissolved and based in Belize.

In turn Metastar controlled other companies, such as Armut, which is alleged to have siphoned €192 million of funds paid by the hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management to the Russian treasury. This particular scandal involved an organised Russian criminal syndicate, the Klyuev Group, which, it is claimed, has stolen at least $800m from the Russian people with the aid of the Russian government.

Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working for Hermitage, blew the whistle on the scandal – only to be imprisoned in Russia, and allegedly tortured in a bid to withdraw his testimony. While in prison he developed gallstones, pancreatitis and a blocked gall bladder. A human rights council set up by the Kremlin found that he was physically assaulted shortly before his death, which was the direct result of being denied urgent medical care needed to treat his conditions.

The scandal has only reinforced the perception of corruption at the heart of gas-rich Baku, where the Aliyev dynasty has held sway since the fall of communism.

In a more recent case, an Italian MP was found to have taken bribes to issue favourable reports on Azerbaijan at the Council of Europe. Italian prosecutors accused Luca Volontè, the former chair of the centre-right group in the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, of accepting millions of euros in cash from Azerbaijan in exchange for supporting its government, which has been heavily criticised for subverting elections and jailing journalists and opponents. 

Azerbaijan is often accused of “caviar diplomacy”, using cash and gifts to buy influence – charges first detailed by the European Stability Initiative think-tank in 2012. The council notably voted down a critical report on Azerbaijan’s political prisoners in 2013.

Former Labour MP Joe Debono Grech, a member of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly who was a rapporteur on various reports on Azerbaijan, had denied ever receiving gifts from Baku.

He also had told this newspaper that a speech at a 2015 CoE assembly was misinterpreted. “I do not condone dictatorships,” Debono Grech had told MaltaToday, adding that Azerbaijan is “not a democracy”.

But he was adamant that Azerbaijan could not be turned into another Libya.

While admitting that “nobody approves of unwarranted arrests,” Debono Grech described the situation as “complex” and echoed Azerbaijan’s arguments that there is no clear definition of what constitutes a political prisoner.

Way back in 2012, a report by the South East Europe think-tank, European Stability Initiative (ESI), had already included Debono Grech among the list of Azerbaijani apologists, for failing to flag irregularities in the 2010 and 2013 elections in which Ilham Aliyev consolidated his grip on power.

Debono Grech, who served as co-rapporteur for six years, during which he visited Azerbaijan some 30 times, denied ever receiving gifts from the Caucasian dictatorship.

“I can only vouch for myself, but I never received any gifts,” Debono Grech said, who even as consultant to the Gozo minister had refused any remuneration for his role.

[libertas-news]

Azerbaijani Laundromat includes two Malta firms

Over €440,000 passed through Malta firms for UK shell company employed in Azerbaijani slush fund

Malta-registered companies have been featured in the extensive global network through which money from an Azerbaijan slush fund passed.

The data features in revelations published by the OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) into the so called ‘Azerbaijani Laundromat’, a complex money-laundering operation that handled €2.5 billion over a two-year period through four shell companies registered in the UK.

From 2012 to 2014, the money was used by the country’s ruling elite to pay off European politicians, buy luxury goods, launder money, and otherwise benefit themselves.

During the same time period, the Malta company Vostok Media Exchange Ltd was used to process a total of €438,000 in nine separate payments to an English company, Metastar Invest LLP; while Metastar paid another Maltese company, Wise Holding Ltd, €9,510.

Vostok Media Exchange was set up in Malta in 2009, and its ownership is vested in PGM Group SA, which is registered in the tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. Its directorship is held by the Swiss fiduciary services firm Comatrans.

On its part, Wise Holding’s ownership is vested in a Polish firm while its directorship is held by Polish residents in Malta with similar other directorships in Malta-registered firms.

There is so far no information as to what the payments were for.

MaltaToday understands that a company in Malta called Wise holding limited was incorporated with the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in May 2014, suggesting that in 2013 no monies could have been paid to this company. After a protest by its owner Artur Lukasiewicz, this newspaper could find no indiciation that any money was received from Metastar Invest.

According to the investigation by the OCCRP and newspapers such as The Guardian, the money laundering network used four UK shell companies, one of which was Metastar Invest. Its HQ was registered at a service address in Birmingham but ultimately controlled by a company in a tax haven.

Records show that the now dissolved Metastar was run by two “members”: Advance Developments Ltd and Corporate Solutions Ltd, also dissolved and based in Belize.

In turn Metastar controlled other companies, such as Armut, which is alleged to have siphoned €192 million of funds paid by the hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management to the Russian treasury. This particular scandal involved an organised Russian criminal syndicate, the Klyuev Group, which, it is claimed, has stolen at least $800m from the Russian people with the aid of the Russian government.

Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer working for Hermitage, blew the whistle on the scandal – only to be imprisoned in Russia, and allegedly tortured in a bid to withdraw his testimony. While in prison he developed gallstones, pancreatitis and a blocked gall bladder. A human rights council set up by the Kremlin found that he was physically assaulted shortly before his death, which was the direct result of being denied urgent medical care needed to treat his conditions.

The scandal has only reinforced the perception of corruption at the heart of gas-rich Baku, where the Aliyev dynasty has held sway since the fall of communism.

In a more recent case, an Italian MP was found to have taken bribes to issue favourable reports on Azerbaijan at the Council of Europe. Italian prosecutors accused Luca Volontè, the former chair of the centre-right group in the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, of accepting millions of euros in cash from Azerbaijan in exchange for supporting its government, which has been heavily criticised for subverting elections and jailing journalists and opponents.

Azerbaijan is often accused of “caviar diplomacy”, using cash and gifts to buy influence – charges first detailed by the European Stability Initiative think-tank in 2012. The council notably voted down a critical report on Azerbaijan’s political prisoners in 2013.

Former Labour MP Joe Debono Grech, a member of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly who was a rapporteur on various reports on Azerbaijan, had denied ever receiving gifts from Baku.

He also had told this newspaper that a speech at a 2015 CoE assembly was misinterpreted. “I do not condone dictatorships,” Debono Grech had told MaltaToday, adding that Azerbaijan is “not a democracy”.

But he was adamant that Azerbaijan could not be turned into another Libya.

While admitting that “nobody approves of unwarranted arrests,” Debono Grech described the situation as “complex” and echoed Azerbaijan’s arguments that there is no clear definition of what constitutes a political prisoner.

Way back in 2012, a report by the South East Europe think-tank, European Stability Initiative (ESI), had already included Debono Grech among the list of Azerbaijani apologists, for failing to flag irregularities in the 2010 and 2013 elections in which Ilham Aliyev consolidated his grip on power.

Debono Grech, who served as co-rapporteur for six years, during which he visited Azerbaijan some 30 times, denied ever receiving gifts from the Caucasian dictatorship.

“I can only vouch for myself, but I never received any gifts,” Debono Grech said, who even as consultant to the Gozo minister had refused any remuneration for his role.

[t-jfh]

Aleksei Navalny [4 June 1976 – 16 February 2024] pictured in 2013 while contesting the election for Mayor of Moscow. Navalny honed his political ideas and activism as an anticorruption campaigner, and steadily rose to become Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and critic of President Vladimir Putin.

(Photo: Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times)

A portrait of Aleksei Navalny on Friday at a monument honoring victims of political repression in St. Petersburg, Russia.

(Photo: Reuters)

The IK-3 "Polar Wolf" Arctic penal colony, where Aleksei Navalny served his prison term, in the settlement of Kharp, in Russia’s Yamal-Nenets region. (Photo: Reuters)

Navalny was one of scores imprisoned for their political beliefs, rights group says.

Aleksei A. Navalny may have been Russia’s best-known opposition figure, but hundreds of people are imprisoned for their political beliefs in Russia, according to Memorial, the Nobel-winning human rights organization, which is banned in Russia. A number of them are politicians and activists.

By Valerie Hopkins and Gaya Gupta

The New York Times - February 16, 2024

Russian opposition politician, Vladimir Kara-Murza, pictured while visiting America in 2016.

(Photo: Al Drago/The New York Times)

Vladimir Kara-Murza, 42, is a longtime opposition politician, independent journalist and historian who comes from a well-known family of Soviet dissidents. He has long campaigned for a democratic Russia, running for election to the Russian Parliament and serving as a deputy leader of the People’s Freedom Party. He was arrested in Moscow in April 2022 and accused of treason for condemning Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the news media and to American lawmakers.

Mr. Kara-Murza obtained British citizenship as a teenager and played an important role in lobbying Washington more than a decade ago for the Magnitsky Act, which punished officials deemed responsible for the death of a tax lawyer in a Russian jail. Mr. Kara-Murza is believed to have been poisoned twice, in 2015 and 2017.

Still, like Mr. Navalny, he returned to Russia in 2022, saying he believed it was important to protest the invasion of Ukraine.

He was arrested that April on charges of disobeying police orders and was later charged with “spreading false information about the Russian military.”

In April 2023, he was sentenced to 25 years in a penal colony on that charge and for being affiliated with an “undesirable” organization. It was the longest sentence given to any opposition politician in modern Russia.

•

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Russian politician Vladimir Kara-Murza has lost his appeal against his 25-year prison sentence for exposing Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Since 2022, Putin's regime has applied prison sentences of at least 15 years for publicly condemning the war in Ukraine. In a fraudulent criminal category called 'disseminating fakes about the armed forces', Russians can face charges of treason for stating that Russian soldiers are committing war crimes such as torture.

In other words, the truth is illegal in Russia.

As Kara-Murza is also a British citizen, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has expressed his outrage, along with the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. But at least the British government has gone further and sanctioned Russians involved in Kara-Murza's trial and imprisonment.

Remember that in February 2015, Kara-Murza's political ally and friend Boris Nemtsov was assassinated in Moscow at the very time that he planned to expose Russian mercenaries invading the east of Ukraine. Shortly afterwards, Kara-Murza was poisoned for the first time by FSB agents who would later be exposed after they tried murdering Alexei Navalny using the chemical nerve agent Novichok in August 2020.

Kara-Murza survived two poisoning attempts, each time being given a 5% chance of survival. In spite of this, he returned to Russia to continue his opposition to Putin's regime and demand an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Telling the truth and standing up for justice has cost him his freedom.

The international community must not assume that Putin's only crimes are occurring in Ukraine. Putin's crimes in Russia have yet to be punished, and sanctions against Russian oligarchs should have been applied long before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Furthermore, the international community must not give Putin the impression that sanctions will end if he leaves Ukraine.

We know from the attempt to murder Navalny three years ago that Russia has a state program dedicated to assassinating political critics. This is a crime against humanity and deserves international arrest warrants for Putin and core members of Russia's FSB, GRU, Investigative Committee, and other internal organs.

We know that the Russian authorities have long been suspected of orchestrating terrorist attacks on Russian soil, beginning with the apartment bombings of September 1999, for which the FSB has never fully been investigated. If proven, these too are crimes against humanity.

The international community must continue to put maximum pressure on the Kremlin by keeping the names of Kara-Murza, Navalny, Chanysheva, and more in the news. These people have been wrongly accused of crimes, prevented from defending their innocence, denied the right to examine the evidence against them, and given unjust prison sentences.

Russian prisons are famous for squalor, violence, and death. In November 2009, Russian accountant and lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was beaten to death in a Russian prison after months of torture by Russian guards because he refused to retract his accusations of tax fraud against Interior Ministry officials.

These are all plain violations of international law and Russia, namely Putin and his terrorist government, must be held to account.

[lejournaldupeintre]

12 years ago : The Magnitsky Case

Magnitsky was a Moscow lawyer who uncovered the largest tax fraud in Russian history. He was detained without trial, tortured and consequently died in a Moscow prison on November 16, 2009; No thorough, independent and objective investigation has been conducted by Russian authorities into the detention, torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky, nor have the individuals responsible been brought to…

[boostcmg]

Have you ever been imagined that Sergey Magnitsky and Mikhail Khodorkovsky participated in series of aggravated crimes, and that their imprisonment was not the worst option comparing to the real opportunity of lethal injection in the USA or life inprisonment? What if this penalty for them was very real? At the moment society can's assess the real state of things, to judge either about Russia, or its' justice.

#fakehares #shitomordniki #whoframedblackrabbit #boost #meggi #raevskayarepnina #cardinlist #sergeymagnitsky #meggifromhouseofskjold #hatefuleight #heritage #nürembergring #yukos #khodorkovsky

[i-merani]

Let's remind westerners how exactly Putin was building his "mafia state" with "spectacular violence"

the dismissal of Russia's powerful prosecutor-general Yuri Skuratov in 1999

the indictment of Russia's richest oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky in 2003 and again in 2010

the unexplained murder of investigative journalist Anna Plitkovdkaya in 2006

the death in prison of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009

the imprisonment of the three Pussy Riot members in 2012

the expulsion from Duma of opposition deputy Genmady Gudkov in 2012

the conviction of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 2013 (yes the one who's in jail again)

the assassination of leader of the opposition Bosris Nemtsov in 2015 (a breaking point for russians' belief for any change in their country)

many more assassinations of political opponents and businessmen who did not play according to Putin's rules

Watching westerners finally realize that Russia is indeed an imperialist state that operates with the logic of an organized crime gang is like watching a child finally grasp the concept of sharp edges

[tealin]

The first time I listened, I liked the music but the narrative bits didn’t really stick the landing.  Now I’ve listened to it nine times in three days, so evidently I got over that in a big way.  If you’d pitched me ‘indie folk John Grisham-esque current events musical’ I would have rolled my eyes, but please give it a try (or two).