Sergei Magnitsky

This paper aims to critically examine whether it is timely and actionable for the European Union (EU) to adopt a global sanctions regime against corruption and how such a regime can be designed to maximise its efficiency. We argue that developing such a dedicated framework is necessary, feasible and supportive of the international fight against corruption and the efforts to enhance the recovery of corruption proceeds.

Sanctions are one of the tools utilised to address human rights violations. They are also an increasingly prominent tool in the European Union’s foreign policy. International sanctions policy is part of a global trend towards individualisation: rather than affecting the state as a whole, bans nowadays are targeted at individuals identified as responsible for the abuses. The present study analyses the evolution of targeted sanctions regimes imposed by the EU, as well as by the UN, against individuals on grounds of gross human rights violations. It focuses on the most recent developments in international sanctions practice. It provides recommendations on how this tool could be further developed at EU level, making reference to the option of adopting a Global Magnitsky-type legislation allowing for the designation of human rights abusers worldwide.

Browder, inspiration for the 2012 Magnitsky Act, targeting corrupt Russian officials, writes in his memoirs that he decided to go to Moscow as a fitting conclusion to his family saga: “My grandfather had been the biggest communist in America, and i decided that I wanted to become the biggest capitalist in eastern Europe.”

In November 2009, 37-year-old Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was jailed and brutally killed after exposing a massive tax fraud scheme committed against his employer, the British investment company Hermitage Capital Management, by Russian authorities and the Russian mob. Susanne Berger and Björn Tunbäck interview businessman Bill Browder about his tireless campaign to bring Magnitsky's murderers to justice and his hope that a global expansion of the so-called Magnitsky Act will provide human rights advocates with important new tools in their fight to hold human right violators accountable.

Este trabajo expone la incidencia que ha tenido la Ley Magnitsky en la Unión Europea, tras su aprobación en Estados Unidos, Canadá, Reino Unido y otros países. Sin embargo, se plantean una serie de retos, como la omisión de la corrupción en el contenido material de la ley europea, la unanimidad para aprobar las sanciones, la falta de mecanismos para concretar las mismas y la ausencia de participación de la sociedad civil.

This paper exposes the impact that the Magnitsky Act has had in the
European Union, after its approval by the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries. However, there are a number of challenges, such as the omission of corruption in the European "Magnistky" law, the unanimity to approve the sanctions, the lack of mechanisms to specify sanctions and the absence of civil society's
participation.

The Magnitsky Acts of the US and UK are now being considered by the Council of the European Union. A tool in fighting human rights abuses and corruption , they also need to be accompanied by sustained work against the flow of criminal money between Britain and the Indian Sub-continent.