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EESTI ELU reedel, 10. jaanuaril 2020 — Friday, January 10, 2020
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A decade after Sergei Magnitsky’s death, his legacy lives on Vladimir Kara-Murza Sergei Magnitsky did not choose to be a hero or seek the public spotlight. A tax lawyer for a Western invest ment firm, he led a comfort able middle-class life in Moscow and sought to live by the rules. So when he dis covered an illegal scheme that defrauded Russian taxpayers of $230 million – still the largest known tax fraud in the country’s history – he did what any law-abiding citizen would do: He reported the crime to the authorities. In a kleptocratic state, behav ing like a law-abiding citizen is a heroic act. In Magnitsky’s case, the criminals he un covered and the authorities to which he reported them were synonymous. In November 2008, he was arrested by the very same police officials he had accused of orchestrating the tax fraud. For nearly a year, he was kept in torturous conditions in one of Moscow’s most no torious detention centers, under constant pressure to withdraw his testimony. One after another, judges rubber-stamped exten sions of his arrest, ignoring his pleas, his lawyers’ petitions, and reports of his deteriorating health. The last such extension was granted on Nov. 12, 2009 by Judge Yelena Stashina of the Tverskoy District Court. Four days later, on Nov. 16 – 10 years ago this week – Sergei Magnitsky died in Matrosskaya Tishina prison. Moscow’s Pub lic Supervisory Commission, an official body mandated with monitoring prison conditions,
The ongoing debate on Russia’s future relations with Europe ERR, December 2019 Daily Postimees recently cover ed the first half of a debate between two of Esto nia’s MEPs, Yana Toom (Centre) and Marina Kalju rand (SDE) on the issue of Russia and whther Europe’s future security should be built in cooperation with that country – with Toom arguing it should, and Kaljurand, a former Estonian ambassador to Russia, saying the opposite. Yana Toom said that Russia, with the fifth largest military in the world and sheer vast scale even in the European portion of the country, is simply too big to ignore, a move which in any case would be a mistake and push it into the camp of an ene my and threaten a return to the fractious days of the cold war. Toom also drew from the example of Germany, whose shunning after World War One led to problems which meant such a mistake was avoided after World War Two, noting
concluded that Magnitsky had been handcuffed and beaten to death with rubber truncheons, a claim found credible by the European Court of Human Rights in its recent decision on Magnitsky’s case. Tragic accidents can occur anywhere, but what happened to Magnitsky was anything but an accident. Immediately, the sys tem closed ranks and made sure to not only protect but reward those responsible. Police offi cers and investigators involved in Magnitsky’s case received awards and promotions. The only (minor) prison official ini tially indicted for negligence was cleared of all charges. The perpetrators of the $230 million tax fraud remained in their posts. (Some of the money would later be traced to a Panama shell company owned by Sergei Roldugin, a close friend and confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.) Indeed, the only person ever convicted in the case was Sergei Magnitsky himself. In unprecedented posthumous pro ceedings – the first trial of a dead man in the history of Russia – he was found guilty of the very crime he had un covered and tried to report: tax fraud. Valery Borschev, former chairman of the Moscow Super visory Commission, referred to the proceedings as “an abomi nation that offends every normal human feeling.” He described the verdict as “an affront to international public opinion.” It was international public opinion that stepped forward to compensate for the lack of justice at home. In 2012, the U.S. Congress made history by
that the world order has changed in any case with the emergence of China, India and various African nations, and a strong Europe with Russia on board will be necessary to counter the first of these countries, as well as the U.S., Toom opined. Arguing against this, Marina Kaljurand said that while Russia should not be excluded per se, and there is always a need to cooperate, this can only happen once things have changed in Russia, given its radically different stances on democracy, security and the rule of law, its unwillingness to respect national sovereignty, contrasting with EU and NATO countries, its unpredictable na ture, and unwillingness to abide by international agreements such as the UN Charter and the Helsinki Accords. It is wrong to talk about pushing Russia away, Kaljurand argues, noting that it is Russia that has done much of the push ing, including that which left to its being expelled from the G8 (now G7), with the 2014 an nexation of Crimea and the ongoing insurgency fighting in eastern Ukraine, as well as the earlier Georgian War.
The Toronto Estonian Mens Choir had to postpone their annual Christmas concert for the residents of Ehatare as a precaution to minimize any health concerns. But recently in the New Year they were able to repeat their traditional visit with a full repertoire. The choir’s quintet of Madis Kreem, Juhani Eistrat, Derek Ewen, choir conductor Avo Kittask, and Enno Õunapuu added some variety to the program. Photo: Kati Kiilaspea
passing a law – named for Magnitsky – that imposed targeted sanctions on Russian officials complicit in human rights abuse by revoking their visas, freezing their assets, and blacklisting them from the American banking system. Then-Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov – who played a key role in convincing Congress to support this law despite resistance from the Obama administration, which was bent on a “reset” with Putin – called the Magnitsky Act “the most pro-Russian law in the history of any foreign parliament,” because it targeted those who abused the rights of Russian citizens and plundered the resources of Russian tax payers. (In 2019, the United States would use the Magnitsky Act to sanction one of the orga nizers of Nemtsov’s assassina tion, an officer in the Russian
IKEA store in Kurna to be completed by 2023 at earliest ERR, January 2020 Last year, Swedish furniture giant IKEA bought a 20- hectare property in the Rae Municipality village of Kurna, outside of Tallinn, where it plans to build its first full-sized store in Estonia. The company hopes to secure a building permit from the municipality sometime this year. After half a year of talks, Rae Municipality and IKEA ultimately chose as the location for the future store a property in the village of Kurna, on the border of Rae and Kiili Municipalities. Rae Municipal Council decided in mid-October to sell the property to the furni ture company, despite the fact that the council’s budget and economic committee had re commended placing the proper ty up for public auction instead. IKEA Baltic Retail Manager Johannes Johannesson told ERR on Monday that the property transaction has since been com
Interior Ministry and close aide to Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.) Five other countries have followed the United States in passing their own Magnitsky laws; more are considering similar measures. The principle behind this law was as revolutionary when it first passed as it sounds obvious now: level sanctions at those who deserve them. Where pre vious legal regimes targeted whole countries for the wrongs of their unelected rulers, the Magnitsky Act brought personal accountability. Perhaps nowhere is this more relevant than in Putin’s Russia, whose officials and oligarchs have grown accustomed to en joying the privileges of demo cracy in the West (where they keep their money, buy their homes, and park their families) while denying basic democratic rights to their own people.
There is a long way yet to fully end this hypocrisy – and still no shortage of Western enablers willing to look the other way. But the Magnitsky Act has set a standard that is here to stay.
pleted and the drawing up of detailed plans begun. The company plans on open ing Estonia’s first full-sized IKEA store at this location, lo cated adjacent to Tallinn Ring Road. According to Johan nes son, Inter IKEA Systems is cur rently working on the future building’s basic design. “After that, the project will be handed over to local Estonian compa nies,” he added. Mart Võrklaev, who was mayor of Rae Municipality at the time, said prior to the sign ing of the purchase agreement in October that the developer, i.e. IKEA, intended to reach the building permit stage as soon as possible. Johannesson noted that the hope is to secure the building permit sometime this year. “Our goal is to secure the building permit before the end of 2020,” he said. “The current plan foresees the completion of the IKEA store within three or four years.” Rae Deputy Municipal Mayor Priit Põldmae said in October that IKEA representa tives had promised to build a new exit off of Tallinna ringtee, roundabouts on the property, as
well as collector roads. IKEA offered the municipality €10 plus VAT per square meter for the property, bringing the total price for the property to €2 million.
Magnitsky sanctions are a poor substitute for justice. Those complicit in torture, mur der, wrongful imprisonment, and other gross violations of human rights should face some thing more than a visa ban or an asset freeze. But where im punity reigned before, there is now a way to bring abusers to account, a universal and perma nent mechanism of personal accountability for those who violate the norms of civilized society. And this is the best possible tribute to the memory of Sergei Magnitsky – a man who did not want to be a hero or seek public spotlight, but merely chose to live honestly and follow the law.
IKEA also agreed with the municipality’s condition to pay the majority of the cost by con cluding a contract under the law of obligations, and one third after planning took place. Approximately 20 hectares in size, the Põlluvälja property, adjacent to Tallinn Ring Road, is located some 10 kilometers outside of Tallinn, and a few ki lometers away each from Jüri and Kiili. IKEA first entered the Esto nian market in August 2019, launching an online store to gether with a brick-and-mortar pickup point on Peterburi Road in Tallinn’s Lasnamäe District.
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