The U.S. government has
publicly added 12 Russian officials to a list of human right violators but he
head of the Russian Investigative Committee may be on a still secret part of
that list.
The State and Treasury
Departments Tuesday sanctioned a dozen Russian officials under the Magnitsky
Act, adding them to a public list of human rights violators subject to asset
freezes and visa bans in the United States. But Alexander Bastrykin, the
powerful head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, was not on the list, at
least the version released to the public.
The twelve names publicly
announced for sanctions Tuesday include Dmitry Klyuev, the alleged kingpin of a
Russian organized crime group. 10 of the 12 Russians on the list were
associated with the death of Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian anti-corruption
lawyer who died in prison after being severely tortured. Magnitsky was then
posthumously convicted for tax fraud. The judge who convicted Magnitsky after
he died, Igor Alisov, was also sanctioned Tuesday.
Bastrykin’s name was
conspicuously not on the public list, but administration sources said one name
was added to the classified version of the Magnitsky list. Administration
officials declined to comment on whether or not that person was Bastrykin. If
so, he would be the highest ranking Russian sanctioned thus far under the law.
In January, four senior
senators used a provision of the law to force the administration to consider
sanctions on Klyuev and Bastrykin. Both had been vetted and prepared for
sanctions inside the administration last year but the White House ultimately
decided not to add any names to the Magnitsky list at the time.
Using what’s called the
“congressional trigger,” Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Bob Corker (R-TN), John
McCain (R-AZ), and Ben Cardin (D-MD), compelled the administration to make a
final decision on whether to sanction for Klyuev and Bastrykin. Cardin said
Tuesday he was not sure yet if Bastrykin was sanctioned secretly by the
administration.
William Browder, a former
associate of Magnitsky, who has been a staunch advocated of adding names to the
list, told The Daily Beast Tuesday that the Obama administration’s additions to
the list were a step in the right direction.
"This is highly
significant because it shows that the Magnitsky act will be an ongoing tool of
the US government to take away impunity of Russian human rights abusers when
the repressions there are increasing so dramatically,” he said. "This came
as a result of four senators using a provision in the Magnitsky Act called the
congressional trigger. This allows Congress to suggest names of human rights
violators to the State department. I'm not sure if this list would ever been
published without the intervention of Congress."
One senior GOP Senate aide said
Tuesday that the administration’s actions were a day late and a dollar short.
“This list once again
demonstrates the administration’s lack of seriousness about Russian human
rights violations,” the aide said. “With events in Russia and Ukraine, it is
troubling that the administration is so opposed to using this tool and that it
required the Senate to force them into action.”
Cardin and McCain now support
legislation that would expand the Magnitsky list to cover human rights
violators in every country in the world. The adminstration opposed this idea
when it was first floated last year.