The U.S. Senate committee of the U.S. Congress is due to vote for the so-called "Magnitsky bill" on June 26. The Chairman, Democratic Sen. John Kerry announced that the issue would be placed on the agenda for the meeting.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had been scheduled to vote on the "Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act" at a meeting last week. But the bill was taken off the agenda after Democratic Senator Jim Webb requested a delay, as reported by Reuters.
The bill imposes sanctions on a number of Russian officials over their alleged involvement in the death in prison of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
A draft proposal to penalize Russian officials for human rights abuses has been rewritten in the Senate to let the U.S. government keep secret some names on the list of abusers, congressional aides said on Monday.
The reworked Senate version, which could still change, upset some supporters of the legislation to create what is known as the "Magnitsky list." They said that keeping part of the proposed list secret would neuter the effect of the bill, which is aimed at exposing human rights violators in Russia.
The House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee this month approved the "Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act," named for a 37-year-old anti-corruption lawyer who worked for the equity fund Hermitage Capital. His 2009 death after a year in Russian jails spooked investors and blackened Russia's image abroad.
The measure would require the United States to deny visas and freeze the U.S. assets of Russians linked to Magnitsky's death. The bill as originally written in both the House and Senate would make public the list of offenders and broaden it to include other abusers of human rights in Russia.
