Bill Browder comments on Saakashvili's plight on Formula TV

JAMnews

Tbilisi

Browder on Saakashvili

If Mikheil Saakashvili dies the Georgian government will have hell to pay, Bill Browder, the author of the Magnitsky list, said on the air of Formula TV.

“This is a warning to the Georgian government about torturing Saakashvili in prison,” Browder said.

He discussed measures taken against those on the “Magnitsky list”:

● The ex-president’s legal team is now collecting evidence of violations of Saakashvili’s rights and is trying to find evidence of thisboth in Georgia and abroad.

● When a person is on the “Magnitsky list”, two things happen: their assets are frozen and their visas are cancelled. These people are internationally ostracized, in particular among the banking sector

● This is a catastrophic situation for everyone on this list. However, once in it, it is no longer possible to be excluded. It is a kind of life sentence for violators of human rights.

● After collecting evidence in the Saakashvili case, we will transfer these documents to the departments of different countries: the US Department of State and Treasury, the British Foreign Office, the EU External Relations Service and the Institute for Global Affairs in Canada.

● These bodies will review the documents and determine whether there have been serious human rights violations and whether the evidence presented supports the responsibility of individuals.

● In this case, since the former president is being tortured, I think that when the documents are sub,itted, he will be given priority.

● In the documents, it is important to clearly trace the responsibility of specific individuals, including politicians. If Saakashvili dies in prison, then top officials, including the Prime Minister of Georgia, may be included on a “Saakashvili list”.

● There has never been a case in history when a former leader of a country was tried by a new government for political reasons and killed in prison.

●Everyone in the West is shocked, and I guarantee you that many countries will try to make sure that the names of those responsible for this crime are made public.

Bill Browder, the author of the Magnitsky Act, tweeted on December 24 that former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is a political prisoner who is “dying before our very eyes.” In his view, if Saakashvili is not sent to Europe for treatment, it “can only be called murder.”

After that, Saakashvili addressed an open letter to Browder and asked him to help draw up a new “Magnitsky list”.

Browder responded to Saakashvili’s letter and asked the ex-president to have his team prepare documents on who is obstructing treatment and who might be responsible for his alleged poisoning. Browder also promised Saakashvili that he would do everything to make Western governments pay attention to Magnitsky sanctions.

What is the “Magnitsky law”?

Sergei Magnitsky, 37, was a Ukrainian-born Russian tax consultant and lawyer who exposed the Russian government for corruption and abuse of power. Magnitsky was arrested in 2008 for exposing the biggest financial fraud in Russian history and killed in prison 11 months later.

The Magnitsky Act was passed by the US Congress in 2012. The main purpose of this act was to place responsibility on those representatives of the Russian government who were responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison.

And based on the updated version of 2016, through the Magnitsky Act, the US government can impose sanctions on members of foreign governments around the world for human rights violations – freezing their assets and banning them from entering the United States.