Political Quotes

“I have come to the floor on a number of occasions to voice my concern about the deteriorating rule of law and the lack of respect for human rights in Russia, primarily highlighting the cases of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. The fact that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev remain in jail is deplorable. But I rise to speak about another case, in which a man who opposed the government not only went to jail but died there. I choose my words carefully this afternoon, knowing that they will be disturbing to many and that a number of people within the Russian Government will take great offense. But I want everyone within the sound of my voice to know that I am choosing my words carefully. Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer and a partner with an American-owned law firm based in Moscow. He was married, with two children. His clients included the Hermitage Fund, which is the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. Through Sergei Magnitsky's investigative work on behalf of Hermitage, it was discovered that Russian Interior Ministry officers, tax officials, and organized criminals worked together to steal $230 million in public funds, orchestrating the largest tax rebate fraud in Russian history. As Magnitsky would come to find out, this group had fraudulently reregistered three investment companies of the Hermitage Fund and embezzled from the Russian Treasury all of the profits, taxes, that these companies had paid, and did so under the guise of a tax refund.…”