“SFRC just passed the Global Magnitsky Act out of committee with a unanimous vote. Next step is a vote before the full Senate,” Cardin, the ranking member on the committee, said on Twitter.
The Global Magnitsky Act would expand Russia-specific sanctions passed in 2012 to apply globally, by denying corrupt officials and human rights abusers from any country entry into the United States and prohibiting the use of US financial institutions.
The Magnitsky Act allowed the US Treasury to apply sanctions on dozens of Russian officials believed to be responsible for the death in pre-trial detention of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who alleged official corruption at the highest levels of government.
Magnitsky, a managing partner of Moscow law company Firestone Duncan, was detained in 2008 and accused of conspiracy and abatement for tax evasion by a group of individuals. Less than a year later, Magnitsky died of heart failure while still in custody.
An official investigation closed the criminal case into the death of the lawyer citing lack of criminal evidence.
The Russian government responded to the Magnitsky Act by issuing its own blacklist, which includes US officials linked to human rights violations at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
