Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U S Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009 and to grant permanent normal trade relations status to Russia.
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In 2009, Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky Act died in a Moscow prison after investigating a $230 million fraud involving Russian tax officials.
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Magnitsky Act was accused of committing the fraud himself by Russian officials and detained.
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Magnitsky Act's friend Bill Browder, a prominent American-born businessman working extensively in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, publicized the case and lobbied American officials to pass legislation sanctioning Russian individuals involved in corruption.
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The main intention of the law was to punish Russian officials who were thought to be responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky Act by prohibiting their entrance to the United States and their use of its banking system.
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Magnitsky Act set up a meeting with future-president Donald Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr.
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State Duma deputy Yevgeny Fedorov argued that the real purpose of the Magnitsky Act bill was to manipulate key figures in big business and government, with the aim of pro-American policy in the Russian Federation.
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In 2018, the British parliament passed a so-called 'Magnitsky amendment' to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act to give the government the power to impose sanctions on people who commit gross human rights violations.
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Bill Van Auken of World Socialist Web Site condemned the United States for what he described as invoking human rights as a cover for realpolitik in the Magnitsky Act, stating that Washington DC officials had supported "far greater crimes, [such] as when Boris Yeltsin in 1993 ordered bombardment of the Russian White House, the seat of the country's parliament, killing 62 people".
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The Magnitsky Act is regulated by the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Regulations.
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