The phrase "Magnitsky List" has been heard from all TV screens and radios over the past few months, the press does not lag behind - the number of articles related to the list exceeds a thousand. Meanwhile, a bill on this list of names is in the process of being passed in the United States.
The "Magnitsky List" or "Cardin's List" is a list of the names of Russian officials associated with the death of Sergei Magnitsky. He died in November 2009 in the premises of the Matrosskaya Tishina remand prison hospital, and many questions are connected with this fact. In connection with the death of the thirty-seven-year-old auditor and accountant, a criminal case was initiated under two articles at once - "Failure to provide assistance to the patient" and "Non-fulfillment or improper performance by an official of his duties due to dishonest or negligent attitude to the service." The case got publicity and caused a resonance not only in Russia, but also abroad.
On April 26, 2010, United States Senator Ben Cardin and co-chairman of the US Congressional Human Rights Commission James McGovern appealed to Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, with a statement banning the entry into their country of sixty people, one way or another involved in the Magnitsky case. Extended descriptions of illegal actions are attached to the list of names. The "Magnitsky List" includes the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, investigators, judges, prosecutors, heads of pre-trial detention centers and tax authorities, and many other state officials of Russia.
In September 2010, the US Congress voted for the list, and a little later - in December - the European Parliament also joined. The latter voted in favor of a resolution that attributed the ban on the entry of officials associated with the Magnitsky case into the countries of the European Union. The resolution is advisory in nature, while in the US it is binding.
On July 26, 2011, the United States introduced visa restrictions on persons from the Magnitsky List, now 60 officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Federal Tax Service, the Arbitration Court, the General Prosecutor's Office and the GUIN are unable to enter the United States and Great Britain.
Today the bill has an unclear fate. It must go through the Senate and be signed by President Barack Obama. Most experts doubt the latter, because this fact could undermine Russian-American relations.
The reaction of Russia to the formation of the bill followed quite quickly. President Vladimir Putin said that if adopted, Russia will do the same - create a list of names of persons whose entry into the territory of the Russian Federation will be prohibited.
