Mr. William Browder:

These are important questions. In a perfect world, I would like the committee to draft a motion calling on the Irish Government to implement Magnitsky sanctions in Ireland. I will describe those sanctions in a moment. I would also like the motion to call on the Government to use its position as Presidency of the EU to initiate a process at the Council of Ministers for EU-wide implementation of Magnitsky sanctions. The Magnitsky sanctions specifically proposed would be the publication of names, banning of visas and freezing assets of people involved in the false arrest, torture and death of Mr. Magnitsky and the crimes he uncovered, as well as other comparable gross human rights abuses that take place in Russia.

There is currently no list other than what the US Government will ultimately produce. We can suggest names and it will decide what to do. The US Government list does not have to be used and other parties can form their own lists. The list should include people for which there is credible evidence of being involved with these crimes. I am just an advocate and I am not trying to create extra-judicial processes. I want a scenario where there is no judicial process. A visa is not a right but rather it is a privilege. There are far lower thresholds for denying a visa than evidence that somebody has been involved in a terrible crime.

Ireland has its own experience with the Criminal Assets Bureau in deciding the threshold of evidence required to freeze a person's assets. I would leave this to the Government, as it is not for me to say how this could be done in Ireland. I would like Ireland to help in creating a process with which we can prick a bubble of impunity.