As Canada's Magnitsky bill nears final vote, Russia threatens retaliation

Russia said it will retaliatetit-for-tat over a new Canadian law that would impose sanctionson officials from Russia and other nations considered guilty ofhuman rights violations.

The bill, approved by the House of Commons Wednesday, was inspired by the case of Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer who died in 2009 after ayear in a Russian jail.

"Should Bill S-226 be passed by the Senate and receive royal assent, it will enable Canada to sanction, impose travel bans on and hold accountable those responsible for gross human rights violations and significant corruption," Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement after the vote.

"This will ensure that Canada's foreign policy tool box is effective and fit for purpose in today's international environment. It will also provide a valuable complement to our existing human rights and anti-corruption tools."

Russian foreign ministry spokespersonMaria Zakharova wasquoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on Wednesday that "any anti-Russian actions by the Canadian authorities will not be left without an adequate response."

Canada already has cool ties with Russia. It has repeatedly condemned Moscow over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and has imposed sanctions against Russia along with other Western nations.

Its been a hard, long struggle to get it done

7 years ago

Duration 6:03

Bill Browder, who has led an international push for Magnitsky laws, joins Terry Milewski to discuss Canadas push to pass the Magnitsky act

"We warn again that in case the pressure of the sanctionsput on us increases we will widen likewise the list of
Canadian officials banned from entering Russia," Zakharova said, according to Interfax.

"To a large extent, it [the bill]simply copies the odious American 'Magnitsky Act' and is set to further undermineRussian-Canadian relations."

U.S. law passed in 2012

The United States adopted a law in 2012 freezing any U.S. assets of Russian investigators and prosecutors said to have been involved in the detention of Magnitsky.

In retaliation, Moscow barred Americans from adopting Russian children. (Canadians are already barred from adopting Russian children due to Canada's same-sex marriage law.)

The bill, which originated in the Senate in 2016 and was sponsored by Conservative Sen. Raynell Andreychuk, is backed by the Liberal government and will come into force once it issigned by the Governor General.

But the legislation, titled Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law), was amended at committee in the House and must now go back to the Senate for a final vote in the upper chamber.

The Russian embassy in Canada, in a statement posted on its Twitter page, blamed the Magnitsky bill on "failed policies,pressed by Russophobic elements."

House of Commons voted unanimously in favour of the Magnitsky act

7 years ago

Duration 5:39

Former Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler, who introduced the original legislation, discusses this latest development