15 Years On – The Legacy of Sergei Magnitsky
15 Years On – The Legacy of Sergei Magnitsky
14 November @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
On the 14th November 2024, the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign and the Henry Jackson Society are hosting an event in the Houses of Parliament to commemorate 15 years since the murder of Sergei Magnitsky, and reflect on his legacy.
This important panel discussion will discuss how the Magnitsky Act has been utilised all over the world to close the loopholes for corrupt officials and human rights abusers to hide their illegal wealth.
Joining the panel will be:
Sir William Browder KCMG
Sir William (Bill) Browder KCMG was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country and declared “a threat to national security” for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies.
In 2008, Sir. Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud committed by Russian government officials that involved the theft of US $230 million of state taxes. Sergei testified against state officials involved in this fraud and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned without trial and systematically tortured. He spent a year in prison under horrific detention conditions, was repeatedly denied medical treatment, and died in prison on November 16, 2009, leaving behind a wife and two children.
Since then, Sir. Browder has sought justice outside of Russia and started a global campaign for governments around the world to impose targeted visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and highly corrupt officials. The United States was the first to impose these targeted sanctions with the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Act in 2012, followed by the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act in 2016. Since then, Canada, United Kingdom, the Baltic states, the European Union and most recently Australia, have passed their own versions of the Magnitsky Act. Sir. Browder is currently working to have similar legislation passed in other countries worldwide including New Zealand and Japan, to name a few.
Browder published his first book Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice in February 2015. A New York Time bestseller, the book focuses on Browder’s years spent in Russia, the Russian government’s attacks on Hermitage Capital Management and his responses to Russian corruption and his support of the investigation into the death of his attorney Sergei Magnitsky. A TV series, based on the book, is in development.
His second book Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath released in April 2022.
For his exceptional service to the UK abroad and internationally, in recognition of his significant and sustained contribution to human rights and anti-corruption, he was appointed by King Charles in the 2024 Birthday Honours List a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG).
Senator Ben Cardin
Courtesy of U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (senate.gov)
Ben Cardin is a national leader on foreign policy, retirement and tax policy, health care, and the environment. He represents Maryland in the U.S. Senate and previously in the House of Representatives. Before his time in Congress, he served as Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, beginning a lifelong dedication to public service. Senator Cardin has worked across party lines to strengthen U.S. national security and ensure that democracy, anti-corruption, transparency, and human rights are central to American foreign policy.
As Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cardin has advanced U.S. national security and promoted democracy, anti-corruption, transparency, and human rights. He authored the Global Magnitsky Act, empowering the U.S. to sanction individual human rights violators and corrupt leaders globally. He also wrote the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, making atrocity prevention a national security priority.
In addition to his role as Chair, Senator Cardin serves on the Senate Finance, Environment & Public Works, and Small Business & Entrepreneurship committees. His positions allow him to promote policies and programs that grow local and national economies, create jobs, support small businesses and the middle class, protect clean air and water, and advance civil rights.
A staunch defender of the Chesapeake Bay, Senator Cardin has led bipartisan delegations to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, including for the Paris Accords. He also champions the Equal Rights Amendment, universal health care, and infrastructure improvements.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith
Courtesy of Official portrait for Sir Iain Duncan Smith – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament
Sir Iain Duncan Smith was educated at Dunchurch College of Management, the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, the Universita per Stranieri in Perugia and HMS Conway in Anglesey. As part of the Scots Guards, Iain saw active service in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and served in Canada and Germany. Iain later worked for GEC-Marconi, a defence company, and Bellwinch, a property company. He has also been on the board of Jane’s Information Group, a publishing company. Iain married Betsy in 1982 and they have four children – Harry, Edward, Rosie and Alicia.
Iain was elected Member of Parliament for Chingford in 1992, and he was re-elected in 1997 as Member of Parliament for the re-drawn constituency of Chingford and Woodford Green. Iain was promoted to William Hague’s Shadow Cabinet in 1997. As Shadow Secretary of State for Social Security, Iain exposed Labour’s hypocrisy and failure on welfare reform. When he was promoted to Shadow Defence Secretary, he exposed the Government’s failure to give British forces sufficient funding and equipment.
In 2001, Iain was elected Leader of the Conservative Party. After stepping down in 2003, he set up the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), an independent think tank committed to tackling poverty and social breakdown. Iain worked tirelessly as Chairman of the CSJ until the 2010 General Election, when he was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He served in this position until March 2016.
In 2020, Iain co-founded the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), with politicians from eight other leading democracies. IPAC is a cross-party group of around 250 parliamentary legislators from 35 countries working to reform the approach of democracies towards China. In 2021, Iain, alongside other parliamentarians, were sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for calling out the risk China poses to the UK. As well as chairing the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Magnitsky Sanctions, Iain is Chair for the APPG on Gambling Harm.
Iain was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green in July 2024.
Alan Mendoza is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society, Britain’s leading think tank and policy force fighting for the principles and alliances which keep societies free. He directs strategy for the organisation as well as acting as its main public face in mediums as diverse as the BBC, Sky, CNBC, Al-Jazeera, CNN, Fox News, GB News, Bloomberg, LBC and TalkTV. On the print side, Alan has contributed to The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sun and a host of international newspapers and magazines.
Having obtained a B.A. (Hons.) and M.Phil in history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Alan completed a Ph.D. at the same institution. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and is a Councillor for the City of Westminster ward of Abbey Road (St John’s Wood). He is also a Trustee of The President Reagan Memorial Fund Trust.
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