Minister ducks questions on Russian human rights abusers

THE fight against Russian human rights abusers will spread to South Africa this year despite apparent efforts by the Department of Home Affairs to dodge the issue.

DA MP Dean Macpherson has vowed to make South Africa the next country to act against individuals alleged to have committed human rights abuses in the service of the Russian state.

The campaign was started by Americanborn British venture capitalist Bill Browder following the death of his Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, after months of interrogation and alleged torture in a Russian prison, having exposed major corruption in Russian empowerment deals.

The events, chronicled in Browder’s best-selling exposé, Red Notice, has led to laws targeting the freedom to travel, bank or own property of Russians who commit human rights abuses under the Putin regime. Such laws have already been passed by the US (the Magnitsky Act) and Estonia, with Britain and Canada expected to follow suit soon, and the regular release of an international sanctions list of Russian human rights abusers.

Macpherson started his South African campaign by asking Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba parliamentary questions as to whether a list of Russians on the international sanctions list had entered South Africa in the past five years.

Gigaba said the information provided was not enough – he wanted passport numbers – for him to answer definitively, leaving Macpherson unimpressed.

“I believe Minister Gigaba is trying to give me the run-around on whether those individuals cited in the Magintsky Act have entered South Africa.

“If he is not, he is displaying the complete shambles our border entry system is in if he is unable to ascertain if a named individual has or has not entered the country,” Macpherson said.

He said he had become involved in the matter after reading Red Notice.

“I couldn’t believe the lengths to which Browder had to go to, to obtain justice for Sergei Magnitsky, who was murdered by the Russian state.

“It was shocking how far the state went to cover up the corruption that Browder had exposed,” he said.

Macpherson said he had considered asking for Gigaba to be called in to answer the questions directly.

He also spoke of drafting a private member’s bill like the Magnitsky Act in the US “to have those individuals banned from South Africa”.

Browder said: “These people will not be brought to justice in Russia because the Putin regime is covering for them.

“Legislation like the Magnitsky Act creates fear among Russian human rights abusers because it turns them into global financial lepers.”