Political Quotes

“earlier today, Senator Wicker and I participated in a call with our colleagues from Europe in regard to their efforts to pass a Global Magnitsky statute. I mention that because this month represents the 11th year anniversary of the tragic death of Sergei Magnitsky. Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer in Russia, representing a client when he discovered the largest tax fraud in modern Russian history--$230 million. Many of the individuals who were involved in this corruption had ties with Russia's President, Vladimir Putin. Mr. Magnitsky did what any lawyer is required to do, he reported the fraud that he discovered to the local authorities and asked for them to investigate the issue. Instead, Sergei Magnitsky was arrested. He was imprisoned without parole; he was beaten; he was tortured; and he died in jail without medical help in November of 2009. There was no accountability for the perpetrators of this atrocity. In fact, many of the perpetrators actually were promoted. We did something about it. As members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, we recognized, in 1975, the countries that comprise the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, including Russia, committed to basic human rights for their people, that their government would be honest, and that they would protect the rights of their citizens. The Helsinki Final Act gave every member state the right to question what other States were doing in compliance with the Helsinki Final Act ideals.…”