The U.S. Sanctions Five Russian Individuals for Human Rights Violations

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it has added five Russian individuals to its sanctions list due to human rights violations. Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, is among those included in this list. The official website of the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated on Wednesday, December 20, that with the addition of these five individuals under the Magnitsky Act, the total number of sanctioned Russians has reached 49. The Magnitsky Act was passed by Congress in 2012, and the Treasury Department is responsible for its implementation. John E. Smith, head of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, stated in this announcement that "the Treasury Department responsibly pursues matters related to this law, including those involved in cover-ups, fraud, and illegal acts." He added: "We are diligently pursuing all human rights violators, including those who consider themselves above the judiciary and engage in arrests, torture, and killings." Alexey Shchena, Yulia Mayorova, Andrey Pavlov, Ayub Katayev, and Ramzan Kadyrov are the individuals who have been added to the new U.S. sanctions list. Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of Chechnya, has been sanctioned for being responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, and other widespread human rights violations against those revealing corruption and financial scandals in the Russian Federation. Kadyrov is also accused of being involved in the killing of one of his political rivals. Ayub Katayev, an official in the judicial authorities of Chechnya, has been added to the sanctions list for involvement in extrajudicial killings, torture, and widespread human rights violations. The Magnitsky Act targets all individuals connected to, involved in, or legally responsible for this case, or those who have financially benefited from it, or have been involved in the torture and abuse of Sergei Magnitsky. Furthermore, all actions related to human rights violations, suppression of any efforts to expose financial scandals, illegal activities, and organized actions to violate human rights in Russia are subject to sanctions under this law. Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer and auditor working on a major tax fraud case and was investigating the accounts of the Hermitage Fund. He was arrested by government officials in November 2008 after testifying in court. Magnitsky testified in court that officials from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs were involved in the tax fraud case. The amount involved in this fraud was 5.4 billion rubles, equivalent to 230 million dollars. Three companies, "Reiland," "Parfinyon," and "Makoun," which are subsidiaries of the Hermitage Fund, were involved in this case. These companies registered illegally under the same name but owned by different individuals, then filed fraudulent cases against themselves in which a lawyer represented both the defendant and the plaintiff. The result of these sham trials was the financial conviction of these three companies, which then reported the costs on their tax returns and were exempted from taxes accordingly. Sergei Magnitsky died on November 16, 2009, after enduring organized psychological and physical pressures while temporarily detained in Moscow.