Billionaire-turned-activist behind push for Australian Magnitsky act


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Well before Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in the basement of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, and before Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found dosed with a nerve agent in a park in Salisbury, England, Sergei Magnitsky died from torture and denial of medical care in the Russian prison where he had been held without charge for almost a year.


Magnitsky is far from the only critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has died in violent and mysterious circumstances over the years, but his death has had a profound effect on parts of the world, which reached as far the Australian parliament this week.


Sergei Magnitsky was tortured and killed in a Moscow prison after he uncovered a web of corruption allegedly involving senior Russian officials.

Sergei Magnitsky was tortured and killed in a Moscow prison after he uncovered a web of corruption allegedly involving senior Russian officials. Credit:AP


In one of his final parliamentary acts, Michael Danby, the Victorian Labor MP set to retire at the end of this term, has introduced to the house the Australian version of what have become known globally as Magnitsky acts: laws designed to allow governments to sanction murderers and torturers acting on behalf of states.


Explaining his bill in a comment piece for the Herald and The Age this week, Danby argued that since the murder of 38 Australians aboard a civilian airliner shot down by a Russian missile, Australia has a significant and immediate interest in seeing an Australian Magnitsky act passed.


Article source: http://smh.com.au/nsw/young-teen-received-more-than-600-emails-from-34yearold-posing-as-15yearold-20171013-gz0kx0.html

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