Commission on Security and Cooperation I

The Magnitsky Act at Five Years Commission on Security and Cooperation I

The Magnitsky Act was authored to hold accountable the Russians who were responsible for the torture and murder of tax attorney Sergei Magnitsky in 2012. Why was the Helsinki Commission concerned about this particular crime? The mandate of the Helsinki Commission requires [it] to monitor the acts of the signatories which reflect compliance with or violation of the articles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Final Act. Those articles deal with commitments in three major areas, or baskets: security, economics, and the human dimension. The case that ended with Sergei Magnitsky's tragic death concerned major violations in two of these three baskets: massive corruption in Russia, which the OSCE attempts to deal with through economic measures, and the egregious human rights violations involved in the unspeakable treatment of Sergei Magnitsky. The five years that have elapsed since the passage of the Magnitsky Act and the eight years that have elapsed since Mr. Magnitsky's murder have certainly shown that our concern with Russia's unchecked corruption and wanton disregard for human rights was well founded. In that time corruption has continued to eat away at the fabric of Russian society, enabling further misbehavior both within and beyond Russia's borders. The state at this point can truly be described as a kleptocracy, where Putin rules with the help of a group of cronies whose loyalty is guaranteed by transfers of wealth stolen from the Russian people.