{"id":1580,"date":"2018-03-28T23:27:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T05:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/supportthebitkovs.com\/?p=1580"},"modified":"2020-02-01T00:46:15","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T06:46:15","slug":"utilice-la-ley-magnitsky-para-combatir-la-mafia-rusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/supportthebitkovs.com\/en\/2018\/03\/28\/utilice-la-ley-magnitsky-para-combatir-la-mafia-rusa\/","title":{"rendered":"Use Magnitsky Act to Fight Russian Thuggery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ESPA\u00d1OL DISPONIBLE AQU\u00cd:<\/span><\/a>\n

The Global Magnitsky Act broadens America\u2019s response to human-rights offenders around the world.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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A Guatemalan flag flies between the Bank of Guatemala building and the Justice Tower in Guatemala City, November 2011. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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In \u201cKremlin Revenge in Guatemala<\/a>\u201d (Americas, March 26) Mary Anastasia O\u2019Grady rightly draws attention to the determination of Vladimir Putin\u2019s cronies to hurt those who defy their corruption. The yearslong ordeal of the Bitkov family\u2014their harassment, persecution and ultimate imprisonment in a Guatemalan jail after fleeing Russia\u2014is astonishing because of its cruelty. However, the story also reveals a much larger truth about the global web of complicity that the Kremlin will weave to suppress the rule of law and human rights outside its own borders.<\/p>\n

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As chairman and former chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, which works to advance international human rights, we are encouraged by the release of the first-ever sanctions list under the Global Magnitsky Act late last year. We ask that the administration put those responsible for the harm done to the Bitkovs on this list. These individuals should be held accountable for the flagrant torture and oppression they have inflicted upon this family, once at the helm of a thriving paper-mill company and now unjustly sentenced to years in a Guatemalan jail.<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Russia\u2019s message of intimidation to the Bitkovs is a familiar one. We\u2019ve seen before what the kleptocracy will do to those who challenge its crimes. We know the stories of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Sergei Magnitsky. In 2012, we championed the Magnitsky Act for the wrongful punishment and death of Magnitsky, who uncovered massive fraud at the hands of Russian authorities. Under the law, those who were complicit in his death would have their U.S. assets frozen and any travel to the U.S. denied. The Global Magnitsky Act, passed four years later, broadens America\u2019s response to human-rights offenders around the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0We have refused to respond to these stories with silence, and we cannot tolerate impunity now.<\/div>\n
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Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Washington<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

External Link:\u00a0https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/use-magnitsky-act-to-fight-russian-thuggery-1522269839<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

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