#Magnitsky

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

On February 27, 2015, Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov, pictured above with his daughter, Zhanna Nemtsova, was gunned down in Moscow, right front of the Kremlin. Although the Russian government prosecuted Chechens for the killing of Nemtsov, they never identified the person that ordered the murder, nor did they release the full tape of Nemtsov's death during the trial.

Nemtsov was known and admired inside and outside of Russia for fearlessly challenging Putin's dictatorship. He wrote reports on government corruption which, as Russia scholar Dr. Knight wrote in Orders to Kill, caused enormous panic.

He challenged Putin's fraudulent "election" results, exposing how millions of votes were stolen. He encouraged the United States to sign the Magnitsky Sanctions into law in 2012, punishing the murderers of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other corrupt henchmen.

He condemned Putin's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. He exposed how, despite Putin loudly claiming the opposite, Russia was continually sending mercenaries into eastern Ukraine to stir up provocations.

It was this last damning investigation that undoubtedly contributed to Nemtsov's murder. Shortly after he was killed, FSB agents raided his property and removed his computer. His girlfriend was unlawfully detained by FSB agents, as she was the only witness to the murder. The security cameras that are usually always on were switched off for the time it took to accost Nemtsov and shoot him four more times.

As is always the case with the Russian terrorist regime of Vladimir Putin, the authorities further denigrated Nemtsov's dignity by spreading alternative theories for Nemtsov's death. One of these was that Islamic terrorists had murdered Nemtsov in revenge for Nemtsov condemning the Charlie Hebdo massacre of January 2015. The fact that such a claim was obviously implausible didn't matter: all that mattered was convincing the average Russian that nobody could tell the cause.

I won't go into the details about the Chechens who were prosecuted and imprisoned for Nemtsov's death. The Russian legal system is the crucible of criminality in that country. Nothing that Russian lawyers, judges, or government investigators say can be trusted if they are adjudicating a politically sensitive case. Every Russian knows that their legal system waits for "a call from upstairs" to decide the outcome of politically sensitive cases.

As far as I am concerned, the true culprits of Nemtsov's murder are Russia's own security services. This is what Russia scholar David Satter established in his own article. In it, he exposed damning details from the only available tapes of Nemtsov's death, the fact that one of the killers appeared to be speaking to an FSB agent named Gennady Kornienko, the fact that those seen walking ahead of Nemtsov on the Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge quickly jumped onto a platform to avoid being shot, and how the lawyer Zaurbek Sadakhanov requested an interrogation of Putin in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, and one of the responses was a vicious beating by unknown men. Sadakhanov subsequently fled Russia for his own safety.

Most importantly, Satter exposes key evidence that Putin had planned the murder of Nemtsov three years in advance.

All of this information will therefore sound shockingly familiar, following the Kremlin's murder of Nemtsov's political ally, Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny, on the 16th of February 2024. When Nemtsov was murdered, Navalny had been sent to prison on politically motivated charges. He was forbidden from attending Nemtsov's funeral, but later attended a memorial march for the fallen Russian politician.

We now know that Russia's federal security services planned their August 2020 poisoning of Navalny as far back as 2017, when they began following him intensively. The same three year time gap. Like Nemstov, Navalny had discussed the possibility of being murdered by the Kremlin, even after he recovered from what turned out to be a Novichok poisoning. Nemtsov's ally, Vladimir Kara-Murza, was to mysteriously fall ill and almost die on two occasions, in March 2015 and in 2017, with many of the same FSB agents assigned to Navalny also following Kara-Murza.

Following the August 2020 poisoning, the Kremlin again circulated alternative theories. Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyev loudly discussed the lithium tablets that Navalny took, when there is no evidence that such tablets cause this reaction. Even more insultingly, Russian authorities suggested that Navalny might have cooked the Novichok and eaten it himself.

We can reach several conclusions from this information.

First, that Russia has an active state program dedicated to the murder of its own citizens. This includes the FSB, the military intelligence agency (GRU), and is covered up by Russia's Investigative Committee, federal judges, lawyers, and the prison system. This program undoubtedly costs millions, if not billions of roubles.

Second, that the Russian government plans in advance who is to be murdered. Such targets may experience scare tactics such as assaults, burglaries, or kidnapping in advance, before Russian agents receive a direct order to kill.

Third, the Russian government knows full well that many will blame Putin for the killings. In order to maintain confusion, it acts even pre-emptively to circulate alternative theories about the killing. Such are directed at Putin's followers and apathetic Russians. But those connected to the murder victim understand that this is a warning.

Fourth, the Russian government conspires to frustrate any independent investigation by fabricating a legal progress to investigate its own murders. This is again designed to cause confusion by suggesting that if Putin had committed the killings, he wouldn't want to be involved in the investigation. In fact, such investigations are not designed for identifying the real culprits, but for fabricating a case against culprits that the government has already shown. More importantly, the investigation helps the government murderers hide their tracks. Hence why, in Satter's article above, one of the Chechens recanted his testimony, saying it had been given under torture.

Fifth, the Russian government uses campaigns of threats and violence against anyone who doesn't accept the official narrative and digs deeper. These include random assaults, burglaries, and stalking.

Sixth, Russian propagandists on RT, Channel One, and NTB are fully aware that the Russian government is responsible for these murders. Their job is to confuse the public with alternative theories. In return, they receive high salaries, luxury houses, and extended airtime.

It should be clear by now that Russia under Vladimir Putin is a terrorist state. Each and every one of these murders is an act of domestic terrorism, to silence dissent, punish "traitors", and demoralise and fragment the remaining opposition.

It should also be clear by now that Putin has no political legitimacy whatsoever. To call him "president", when he acts to systematically eliminate his opposition, is to render the word meaningless. Putin has never won any democratic challenge without criminality, and his rise to power was entirely predicated on frustrating investigation into his predecessor's corruption.

Many outside Russia do not realise that Boris Nemtsov was on the rise under Yeltsin's administration. He was incredibly popular with his constituency, and known for being courteous under pressure. In a debate with the Russian demagogue and bigot, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Nemtsov remained calm, while Zhirinovsky got so worked up that he threw a glass of liquid over Nemtsov.

By all rights, Nemtsov deserved to become Russia's Prime Minister and maybe even president; in his book, he recalled his secretary telling him that she had spoken with a Vladimir Putin. Like many Russians in the late 1990's, the woman had no idea who Putin was.

Nemtsov would be relegated to the opposition, working as the head of the Yabloko Party. His collaboration with Alexei Navalny seems to have begun in the 2010s.

Nemtsov outlived several Russians who died in violent and mysterious ways. In November 1998, he was profoundly shocked when Russian liberal politician, Galina Starovoitova, was assassinated in St Petersburg outside her apartment. She had been followed home by an FSB agent on the night of her murder. The sole witness was visited repeatedly by Vladimir Putin while in hospital. Nemtsov called Starovoitova one of the most intelligent politicians in the Russian politics.

When renowned Novaya Gazeta journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, was murdered in October 2006, Nemtsov later called for a memorial to be erected in her honour.

It was clear to Nemtsov that he lived a dangerous life. David Satter notes that Nemtsov was warned about the possibility of assassination while in Oslo in 2012. His mother also warned him, and Nemtsov discussed his own and his mother's respective during a magazine interview. The late American Senator John McCain, again warned Nemtsov when the Russian was in the USA to campaign for sanctions against the murderers of Sergei Magnitsky and those upholding Putin's dictatorship. Nemtsov refused to stay away from Russia, saying he was fighting for his country.

Nemtsov's immense bravery and firm belief in personal freedom and the rule of law cost him his life. Putin simply could not stand to have such a threat to the terrorist state he had built since 1999. For a while, he tolerated Nemtsov as opposition, until Nemtsov became more and more emboldened, especially by lobbying for Magnitsky Sanctions with the American-British financier, Bill Browder, in 2012. These represented a direct threat to Putin's finances, without which he could not consolidate his dictatorship. It's no coincidence in my view that Satter traces plans to murder Nemtsov back to that same 2012.

Are we to stand by and continue to watch this terrorist, Vladimir Putin, murder his opposition again and again? It's time for Russia to face unprecedented pressure in response to the murder of Alexei Navalny this month. Russia must face interrogation at international criminal courts. The international arrest warrant on Putin must be expanded, and be kept permanent.

There must be no welcome back for Russia after the war in Ukraine ends if Putin and his terrorist state are still in power. Foreign countries must publicise all of the political murders Putin has committed, backed with damning evidence the Kremlin cannot deny. All Russians involved in these murders must face sanctions, including asset confiscation. They must never be allowed to set foot in Western nations.

Widespread acknowledgement that Putin is a terrorist will isolate the Kremlin and make the dictator lose face internationally. This will make it harder for Putin to command any respect in Russia.

Nemtsov said that it took a long time for change to come to Russia, and wanted that change to come peacefully. Foreign nations cannot force regime change in Russia, nor should they attempt this. But foreign nations should not provide any legitimacy for Russia's terrorist regime, nor harbour agents of that terrorist regime in their own countries. This is why Nemtsov fought for the United States to apply financial sanctions on Russian criminals.

We have a duty to continue Nemtsov's work and hold this government of terrorists accountable.

Вечная память Борису Ефимовичу!

#boris nemtsov #Вечная память #nemtsov #justice for nemtsov #putin is a terrorist #putin is a war criminal #make putin pay #stop russian terrorism #alexei navalny #justice for navalny #magnitsky #russia #stop the war #free ukraine #free crimea #ukraine #russia ukraine war #america #politics #commentary #in memoriam #galina starovoitova #anna politkovskaya

[andrasthehun]

The Book "Red Notice" by Bill Browder, Brought up Memories

January 28, 2024 Published in 2015, Red Notice is a memoir spanning the period of Russia’s privatization of state assets during President Yeltsin’s time (1991 to 1999) and the rise of the oligarchs during President Putin’s time (from 2000). Browder noticed business opportunities spawned by privatization and took advantage of them but then ran afoul of the Russian political system, and the…

View On WordPress

#Bill Browder #hungary #Magnitsky #politics #privatization #Putin #Red Notice #russia #Senator Durbin #Senator McCain #Yeltsin

[lejournaldupeintre]

12 years ago : The Magnitsky Case

Magnitsky was a Moscow lawyer who uncovered the largest tax fraud in Russian history. He was detained without trial, tortured and consequently died in a Moscow prison on November 16, 2009; No thorough, independent and objective investigation has been conducted by Russian authorities into the detention, torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky, nor have the individuals responsible been brought to…

View On WordPress

#act #corruption #Magnitsky #Putin #Russia

[immaculatasknight]

Empire of lies

#Magnitsky #hoax #fraud #Bill Browder #propaganda #deceit #hidden agenda #Great Game #imperialism #economic warfare #resource plundering #destabilization #enslavement

[famousharmonyluminary]

Czerwony alert

Czerwony alert to tytuł książki Billa Browdera. W Polsce wydana siedem lat temu. okładka audiobooka, wydawca Sonia Draga, wydanie drugie 2021 Autentyczna historia. Listopad 2009. Wyniszczony torturami młody prawnik, Siergiej Magnitski, przebywa w moskiewskim więzieniu. W połowie listopada Magnitskiego przeniesiono do celi odosobnienia, przykuto do łóżka, a ośmiu strażników więziennych…

View On WordPress

#Bill Bowder #Czerwony alert #Kreml #Rosja #Siergiej Magnitski

[catbeckster]

A Break from TV to Review Some Books!

A Break from TV to Review Some Books!

It has been a really long time since I reviewed any books so here are a few that I have read in the last year including a couple that were only released in the last two or three weeks. All of these books are good and worth reading. Many are worthy Book Club additions. Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath by Bill Browder ****1/2 This…

View On WordPress

#All the Light We Cannot See #Amor Towles #Anthony Doerr #Bill Browder #Chris Bohjalian #Cloud Cuckoo Land #Dianna Gabaldon #Educated #Freezing Order #Gentleman in Moscow #Go Tell the Bees I&039;m Gone #Hamlet #Hamnet #Maggie O&039;Farrell #Magnitsky Act #Matt Haig #Mormons #Outlander #Red Notice #Shakespeare #Tara Westover #The Lincoln Highway #The Lioness #The Midnight LIbrary

[arcticdementor]

Over the past week Justin Trudeau and his liberal cabinent have evoked Emergency powers so as to crush the peaceful Freedom Convoy demonstrators and confiscate their bank accounts without any court orders.

These are demonstrators who after agreeing to Leave their ambassador bridge protest hugged the Police officers who saw them off and had broken up the remainder of the border protests without incident before the emergencies act even took effect, and even after this weekend which saw Officers trample a elderly disabled indigenous woman under horse, and after police had beaten protestors, and seemingly purposefully fired teargas canisters into the legs of attending reporters, The protestors still joined in chants of “We love you” directed at the cops in an attempt to deescalate and appeal to their better nature.

An attempt met repeatedly with flash-bangs and rubber bullets.

.

Many Canadians and Americans have wondered what they can do to resist the seeming death of protest rights in Canada. What can you do when the banks themselves are confiscating perfectly legal donations to peaceful protests and legal defence funds? What can you do when voicing your opinion or merely having made a legal donation can be declared retroactively illegal and you can have your bank account frozen as a result, without even a court order?

The Magnitsky Act was designed to allow the US government more options in dealing with human rights abuses and the silencing of opposition by abusive regimes, by allowing the US government to sanction individual government figures and politically connected individuals directly. Freezing their bank accounts, locking them out of international finance, barring their entry to the US and preventing US firms from doing business with them.

The Magnitsky act was criticized at the time: Why these human rights abuses? Why target Russia? Saudi Arabia keeps 51% percent of its population in a state of apartheid, unable to work, leave the country, or even show their face with out a husband’s permission... why focus on a country which has been considered for admission to NATO, and as recently as the early 2000s the US recognized as democratic?

…

The Magnitsky act is not made for the worst human rights abusers, it is made for democracies that are sliding. The status of Democracy is not an award where you win it , and then like so many Oscar winning actors, you get to coast and make bad comedies for decades on end. Democracy is a standard of liberty and open debate that a country has to maintain every single day. The US was right to recognize that when someone is commiting criminal acts or abusing political connections to deprive people of their democratic rights, the democracies of the world should call that individual out and use what economic power they have to stop it.

…

Maybe to staid Canadian courts will act but observers can conclude what is obvious: this was an illegal power grab by Trudeau meant to retroactively declare legal donations and legal peaceful protests illegal, and to punish both Canadians, and Americans with canadian bank-accounts, by seizing their money without a court order, using information illegally hacked from an American company and distributed by state run media at the CBC, so as to punish dissidents for mere political disagreement. shutting them out of the financial system, unable to buy food or pay rent, in the depths of the Canadian winter.

And not a single Executive or Board member from a Canadian big 5 bank has spoken out about this or raised a legal challenge to this illegal violation of their customer’s liberty and property, which they themselves, the banks, are being asked to enforce. The positions of banker is a sacred trusts. Millions have trusted these people with their money on the basis of their presumed character and their strong institutional ethics, a banker should be happily willing to go to jail for years rather than betray his customers to an illegal order, and when he is being asked to do this without even a court order, we’d expect him to be screaming from the rooftops. Canadian bankers instead are gladly accepting the horrifying power Trudeau has given them, and see no problem with betraying decades long customers for the crime of donating to a charity or legal defence fund.

For this reason I believe the US government should Sanction the executives and board members of the big 5 Canadian banks: TD (Toronto Dominion), CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce), Scotiabank, RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), and BMO (Bank of Montreal).

Similarly Trudeau and His cabinet should be sanctioned. Just as they have frozen Canadians assets for peaceful protests, the US should use the Magnitsky act to Freeze their assets for their abuses and bar them from US travel just as they had barred truckers from returning to their own country. Sparing of course back bencher Liberal MPs such as Joel Lighbound who have been horrified and vocal in opposition to their own party’s abuses, even before the emergencies act was declared.

…

The free spread of ideas and donations for non-partisan, non-election related, advocacy and support across international borders is the backbone of any free and open society, whether it be Amnesty international or the Jesuits, philosophical and political advocacy of all kinds has been international since the 18th century. Crystia Freeland herself was a Canadian doing journalism and political advocacy for a US media company in Ukraine and spent decades in US politics, Trudeau himself consistently criticized President Trump and used Canadian tax dollars to fund media that was equally critical and presumably had some influence on US politics.

But now that ordinary Americans are expressing equal interest in Canadian politics Trudeau and perhaps the most internationally affiliated cabinet of any country in the world, that have spent collective centuries outside Canada and advocating politics in other countries, they want to retreat into nationalist chauvinism and issolationism... No.

Trudeau wants to freeze bank accounts for donating to a cause he merely accuses of supporting the previous elected American president, without a court order, he wants to freeze bank accounts quite possibly held by American Citizens or dual nationals, at Banks such as TD or Scotiabank, banks many ordinary Americans use, as his justice minister confirms that “Trump Supporters” quote “Should be worried”.

Trudeau doesn’t get to pretend this is something where Americans should mind their own business, this concerns Americans greatly.

Biden is has been prominently siding with Trudeau in this, but Americans should be calling on their Republican Governors, Senators, and congressmen, people like Ron Desantis, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and others who have been deeply critical of Trudeau to Openly demand the use of the Magnitsky Act.

#kulakrevolt #reddit #the motte #canada #magnitsky act

[herukapadmajungiansworld]

Switzerland has for years been the destination of choice for Russian oligarchs and corrupt officials to hide their stolen money. Swiss banks are estimated to hold over $200 billion in stashed Russian cash.

The United States recently opened an investigation into Swiss banks helping #Russia to evade sanctions, subpoenaing the two largest Swiss banks at the time. Switzerland is also key to Russian #evasion of export controls meant to ensure Russia cannot resupply its military and continue its war.

Russian-induced corruption within the Swiss law enforcement system led to the resignation of the former top prosecutor of Switzerland and the conviction of a senior Swiss law enforcement official on bribery charges. Switzerland is now primed to send millions in frozen Russian dirty money related to the revelations of Sergei Magnitsky to the Russians who stole it.

This hearing will examine Switzerland’s key role in laundering Russian money. Witnesses will discuss how Switzerland came to be a favorite destination for Russian dirty money, how Russian corruption in Switzerland endangers U.S. national security and the ability of Ukraine to defend itself, and possible policy responses. This hearing builds on years of work by the #Commission to hold Switzerland to account for its role in Russian money laundering and corruption.

The following witnesses are scheduled to testify:

1Bill Browder, Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign

2Drew Sullivan, Co-Founder, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

3Olena Tregub, Secretary General, Independent Defense Anti-Corruption Committee (NAKO)

HEARING

Russia’s Alpine Assets: Money Laundering and Sanctions Evasion in Switzerland

July 18, 2023

1:00 p.m.

Senate Dirksen Building G50

Live stream:

youtube.com/watch?v=dxX98X…

#switerland #russian oligarchs #swiss banks #russian induced corruption #bribery charges against senior swiss law enforcement official #us national security #ukraine resistance #stop russian invasion #stop russian money laundering #give russian money in switerland to ukraine #ukraine war #help ukraine #give weapons to ukraine #i stand with ukraine #slava ukraini

[onesettleronebullet]

The United States Treasury has confirmed the removal of sanction imposed in 2003 through the publication of the final rule to remove the Zimbabwe Sanctions Regulations. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) issued the final rule to remove the Zimbabwe Sanctions Regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations yesterday. Last month, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order repealing the first order issued in March 2003 which blocked property of several political leaders in Zimbabwe for “undermining democratic processes or institutions in Zimbabwe.”

...

Ofac last month designated 11 individuals, including Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and three entities for their involvement in corruption or serious human rights abuse pursuant to executive order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

Mnangagwa last month became the first sitting head of State to be designated by the US under its Global Magnitsky Programme alongside wife Auxillia and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga. Others are Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri, Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Owen Ncube, Central Intelligence Organisation deputy director Walter Tapfumaneyi, businessman Obey Chimuka and tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei as well as his wife Sandra. Sakunda and Fossil Group, companies that are linked to Tagwirei and Chimuka, were also put on the new list.

17/04/2024

#die nuus #zimbabwe #usa #imperialism #news day

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Rebecca Vincent

Human rights activist Rebecca Vincent was born in 1983. Vincent is the Director of International Campaigns at Reporters Without Borders, an organization that defends and promotes freedom of the press throughout the world. She is a former diplomat who has organized several high-profile international human rights campaigns. Much of Vincent's previous work has focused on Azerbaijan. She was expelled from Azerbaijan for her human rights work, but continued championing reform in the country from abroad. In addition to her work at Reporters Without Borders, Vincent is also on the committee for the Magnitsky Human Rights Awards.

#journalism #human rights #press freedom #human rights activists #Youtube

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

Navalny is not the first opponent to fall victim to Putin’s increasingly bloody regime and he won’t be the last. The roll call is long and growing — Sergei Magnitsky, Boris Nemzov, Denis Voronenkov, Stanislav Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Anna Politkovskaya, and those whose end was uncertain, like Boris Berezovsky. The names of all those who have fallen from windows or decided to end their life in mysterious circumstances are much, much longer.

Elena Davlikanova, responding to Putin's murder of Navalny.

#alexei navalny #sergei magnitsky #boris nemtsov #denis voronenkov #stanislas markelov #anastasia baburova #anna politkovskaya #boris berezovsky #russia #russian terrorism #putin is a terrorist #make putin pay #rest in peace

[andrasthehun]

The Book "Red Notice" by Bill Browder Brought up Memories

January 28, 2024 Published in 2015, Red Notice is a memoir spanning the period of Russia’s privatization of state assets during President Yeltsin’s time (1991 to 1999) and the rise of the oligarchs during President Putin’s time (from 2000). Browder noticed business opportunities spawned by privatization and took advantage of them but then ran afoul of the Russian political system, and the…

View On WordPress

#Bill Browder #hungary #Magnitsky #privatization #Putin #Red notice #russia #Senator Durbin #Senator McCain #Yeltsin

[feodor-dostoevsky]

Artyom Borovik, Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Magnitsky, Alexander Litvinenko, Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny

#and many more putin's victims #that said anything against him

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Vladimir Kara-Murza delivered these remarks on Monday at the closing session of his trial in Moscow: 

Members of the court: I was sure, after two decades spent in Russian politics, after all that I have seen and experienced, that nothing can surprise me anymore. I must admit that I was wrong. I’ve been surprised by the extent to which my trial, in its secrecy and its contempt for legal norms, has surpassed even the “trials” of Soviet dissidents in the 1960s and ’70s. And that’s not even to mention the harshness of the sentence requested by the prosecution or the talk of “enemies of the state.” In this respect, we’ve gone beyond the 1970s — all the way back to the 1930s. For me, as a historian, this is an occasion for reflection.

At one point during my testimony, the presiding judge reminded me that one of the extenuating circumstances was “remorse for what [the accused] has done.” And although there is little that’s amusing about my present situation, I could not help smiling: The criminal, of course, must repent of his deeds. I’m in jail for my political views. For speaking out against the war in Ukraine. For many years of struggle against Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship. For facilitating the adoption of personal international sanctions under the Magnitsky Act against human rights violators.

Not only do I not repent of any of this, I am proud of it. I am proud that Boris Nemtsov brought me into politics. And I hope that he is not ashamed of me. I subscribe to every word that I have spoken and every word of which I have been accused by this court. I blame myself for only one thing: that over the years of my political activity I have not managed to convince enough of my compatriots and enough politicians in the democratic countries of the danger that the current regime in the Kremlin poses for Russia and for the world. Today this is obvious to everyone, but at a terrible price — the price of war.

In their last statements to the court, defendants usually ask for an acquittal. For a person who has not committed any crimes, acquittal would be the only fair verdict. But I do not ask this court for anything. I know the verdict. I knew it a year ago when I saw people in black uniforms and black masks running after my car in the rearview mirror. But I also know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate. When black will be called black and white will be called white; when at the official level it will be recognized that two times two is still four; when a war will be called a war, and a usurper a usurper; and when those who kindled and unleashed this war, rather than those who tried to stop it, will be recognized as criminals. This day will come as inevitably as spring follows even the coldest winter. And then our society will open its eyes and be horrified by what terrible crimes were committed on its behalf. 

From this realization, from this reflection, the long, difficult but vital path toward the recovery and restoration of Russia, its return to the community of civilized countries, will begin.Even today, even in the darkness surrounding us, even sitting in this cage, I love my country and believe in our people. I believe that we can walk this path.

[Opinion:: Vladimir Kara-Murza’s last statement to Russian court: A reckoning will come  ::: WAPO]

#dissent #resist #Russia #WAPO #Vladimir Kara-Murza #Russian Court #the price of war

[mariacallous]

The two opposing blocs in Bulgaria’s coalition government – GERB/United Democratic Forces and We Continue the Change / Democratic Bulgaria – appear at a dead end amid a tense government rotation.

On Thursday, GERB leader Boyko Borissov said his party would give its partners one more day to accept its ministerial list which was announced on Tuesday. Also on Thursday, WCC/DB demanded that GERB come up with a new “plan, adequate to the crisis you’ve created”. 

Bulgaria is in the midst of a planned power rotation after the parties in power agreed on a strategy that would see the first nine months governed by Nikolai Denkov of We Continue the Change with GERB’s Mariya Gabriel acting as vice PM.

The two would then switch positions in March.  But the transfer of power has triggered a series of clashes, more noticeable since Monday, when GERB received a mandate from President Rumen Radev. 

GERB has been criticised for announcing a line of ministers not coordinated with WCC and DB despite long discussions. WCC leader Kiril Petkov claimed Borissov is not even answering his calls. “I then left him a message saying fear is not a good advisor,” he said in a TV interview on Wednesday. 

WCC has hinted that GERB is also clearly reluctant to discuss further measures around Bulgaria’s judicial reform. “After all, a working judicial system would see Borissov arrested,” Venezia Nemsova of WCC said on Wednesday.

Developments have caused a fresh row with designated PM Gabriel. So far, she has acted as a mediator between the blocs and had a good working relationship with outgoing PM Denkov. But last week, Gabriel changed her tone. GERB’s draft of the cabinet would see Gabriel acting as PM while retaining the post of Foreign Minister – which WCC and DB find controversial. 

WCC co-leader Assen Vassilev called Gabriel “the beautiful new face of the mafia”:  “We never left the negotiation table, it was GERB who did this … and announced a cabinet without the people on the list knowing that they will be nominated as ministers; I honestly could not believe what was happening,” Vassilev said in a TV interview on Wednesday. 

Although the ministerial offerings are not that different from those who have served since June, a major sticking point between the parties is that GERB wants the pro-Western, pro-Ukraine Defence Minister Todor Tagarev of WCC replaced.

GERB has not explained why it is eager to oust Tagarev, or why it is putting upfront a rather unknown figure, Hristo Gadjev, who has been climbing the party ranks since 2007 and was previously a secretary in the Defence Ministry (2010-2013). 

GERB member Vladislav Goranov, who in 2023 was sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act, told Bulgarian National Radio on Thursday that “it’s unlikely that talks will continue”.

But if the current mandate is returned unfulfilled, it will be then handed to WCC and DB, which would have no chance of parliamentary support and that would lead to snap elections. 

A 2021-2023 stalemate yielded five general elections in Bulgaria, with different parties matching the nation’s thirst for change after GERB’s long dominance of politics since 2008.

The stalemate has produced new fixtures, with pro-Russia Revival improving its turnout in every election, and newcomers There’s Such a Nation winning the popular vote in July 2021, before then fading.

Pro-Western reformist parties We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria found increased public trust and won elections at the end of 2021 only to be ousted by the GERB-led opposition in 2022 and, in order to break the cycle, reluctantly siding with GERB in 2023. 

This has led to the reinvention of GERB, while strongman Borissov has given way to new players like Gabriel. GERB returned to power last June when a coalition was established between GERB/UDF and WCC/DB, under the leadership of WCC’s Denkov over shared ambitions for Eurozone and Schengen area entrance. 

[sushigrade]

At the conclusion of his trial in Moscow, the Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza addressed the court, declining to express “remorse for his misdeeds” or to plead with the judges for mercy. The anti-Putin dissident is charged with disinformation about the Russian military, complicity with an undesirable organization (a charge connected to the political foundation Open Russia), and, finally, with high treason. Based on the accumulated charges, the prosecution has asked the court for a 25-year sentence, despite the fact that, after surviving two poisoning attempts, Kara-Murza suffers from lower-body polyneuropathy, listed as one of the conditions that should legally preclude a person from serving a prison sentence. The politician has been in custody since April 2022. This is the full text of his courtroom statement.

I’d been convinced that, after two decades in Russian politics, and after all I’d seen and experienced myself, nothing could surprise me anymore. I must admit I was wrong. I have been surprised to see that, in the degree of opacity and discrimination against the defense, my 2023 trial leaves the Soviet dissident trials of the 1960s and 1970s in the dust. The requested sentence and the use of words like “enemy” are redolent not of the 1970s, but of the 1930s. As a historian, I see this as a cause for reflection.

At the stage of the defendant’s testimony, the moderator reminded me that expressing “remorse” for my “misdeeds” would be considered an extenuating factor. Although I’m rarely amused these days, I couldn’t help smiling at this. Criminals can express remorse for their misdeeds, but I am in jail because of my political views. I’m here because I’ve spoken against the war in Ukraine; because of my many years of struggling against Putin’s dictatorship; because of my contribution to effecting personal international sanctions against human rights violators under the Magnitsky Act. Not only do I not feel remorseful about any of it, I’m proud of what I’ve done. I’m proud of having come to politics thanks to Boris Nemtsov. I’d like to hope that he isn’t ashamed of me.

I would sign under every word that I’ve ever said and that’s now being used against me. I have only one cause for remorse: that in all my years in politics, I haven’t been able to persuade enough of my compatriots and politicians from democratic countries of the danger presented by the current Kremlin regime to both Russia and the rest of the world. It’s become self-evident by now, but at a terrible price that is war.

An allocution statement is usually a time to plead for an acquittal. For someone who committed no crime, an acquittal is the only lawful outcome in a trial. But I ask this court for nothing. I know my verdict; I knew it even a year ago, when I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw the men in black running after my car. This is the price of non-silence in Russia at present.

But I also know the day will come when the darkness that’s enveloped our country will be dispelled; when people will see something that’s black and call it black, and when they call what’s white white; when it’s officially recognized that two times two equals four; when a war is called a war, and an impostor an impostor; when those who started this war will be called criminals, instead of those who tried to stop it. That day will come just as inevitably as the spring that follows even the most ferocious winter. On that day, our society will open its eyes and stand in horror of the crimes committed in its name. This realization, this consciousness will be the beginning of a long and difficult journey to Russia’s recovery and its return into the company of civilized countries.

Even today, in the darkness that surrounds us, and even sitting in this cage, I love my country and believe in our people. I believe that we can make this journey.

This is the bravest motherfucker on the planet.

#russia #ukraine #dissident #antifascist