In July 2014, Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko — who had taken
leave from the army to fight for a volunteer battalion — mysteriously
appeared in Russian custody. Moscow accused her of calling in an
artillery strike that killed two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine.
But Savchenko’s lawyers say she is innocent and is being used as a
political pawn in the Kremlin’s wider standoff with Ukraine and the
West.
Since then, a high-profile
court battle has
unfolded in western Russia over Savchenko’s fate. A decision is
expected at the end of March, and a guilty verdict is almost universally
expected. But her legal team is preparing to hit back: They are pushing
Washington to sanction Russian officials whom they accuse of abducting
Savchenko, as well as officials in Moscow for allegedly fabricating the
case against her.
“We need to keep the pressure on the Russian government,” Ilya Novikov,
one of the head lawyers representing Savchenko in Russia, told
Foreign Policy in a recent interview. “A strong message needs to be sent to the Kremlin: Either release Nadiya or face sanctions.”
Novikov is calling for Russian officials involved in Savchenko’s case to
be sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act, an American law passed in 2012
requiring the U.S. government to freeze assets and deny visas to Russian
citizens guilty of gross human rights violations. Novikov told
FP he
met with State Department officials in Washington last week and called
for at least 30 people who were involved in the alleged kidnapping and
prosecution to be included on his so-called “Savchenko list.” He said
the list could contain up to 100 names if it included Russian officials
who have called for the Ukrainian pilot to be sent to jail or even
executed.
The
Magnitsky Act was
named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in custody in
2009 after he accused Russian officials of a massive tax fraud scheme.
The law not only requires the State Department to identify and sanction
Russian individuals it judges specifically responsible for Magnitsky’s
death, but
also other
Russian citizens “responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or
other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” in
other cases.
“Savchenko’s lawyers need to show that she is unfairly detained and make
it pretty clear that there are a number of Russian officials
responsible for her detention,” Bill Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital
Management and an
architect of the Magnitsky Act, told
FP.
Browder was Magnitsky’s employer. He called the law a powerful piece of
legislation — not only because it names human rights violators publicly
and blocks them from coming to the United States, but also because it
serves as a U.S. Treasury blacklist for banks worldwide.
“The moment they are on a Treasury list, there is no bank in the world
that will do business with them,” said Browder. “Every bank is worried
about being under pressure from the U.S. Treasury.”
A State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity declined to comment on potential future sanctions but told
FP that the United States “remains deeply disturbed by the Russian Federation’s decision to move forward with this baseless case.”
BY MARCH 2, 2016