The European Parliament, sitting in Strasbourg, today became the latest legislature to demand action against those responsible for the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The Parliament called on the Council of the European Union – composed of the national governments of the EU – to impose visa bans and freeze the assets of officials identified as having played a part in Magnitsky’s detention, torture and death.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s friend and business associate Vasily Alexanyan was also remembered, as MEPs voted in favour of a recommendation calling on EU member states to pass legislation punishing those responsible for serious human rights abuses in Russia.

Alexanyan’s case was discussed after the recommendation was widened to cover other alleged cases of serious violations of human rights. As the Russian state moved against Yukos, Alexanyan was appointed executive vice president of the company but was subsequently illegally detained, tortured and denied lifesaving medical treatment. He died in October 2011.

The Parliament’s rapporteur on the legislation, former Estonian foreign minister Kristiina Ojuland MEP, formally introduced the recommendation in Parliament and mentioned the Alexanyan case as another example of why targeted sanctions are so important as a means of expressing the EU’s dismay at systemic human rights abuses in Russia.

In her speech, Ojuland said: “Nearly three years have passed since the tragic death of Sergei Magnitsky in custody, after torture and lack of medical aid. The horrific treatment and torture also resembles the case of Vasily Alexanyan, the young lawyer of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Yukos, who died soon after unlawful imprisonment.”

She stated: “Putin’s regime has turned its back to the liberal democratic values and to the rule of law.”

“The democratic Russian opposition encourages us to endorse this legislation without delay because it is in the interests of those Russians, who want to live in a state of the rule of law,” she added.