Putin makes US adoption ban law

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 28 Desember 2012 | 18.19

28 December 2012 Last updated at 05:47 ET

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a ban on Americans adopting Russian orphans.

The law is a reaction to the US Magnitsky Act, which blacklists Russian officials accused of rights abuses.

The death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky soured relations between the US and Russia.

A Moscow court acquitted a prison doctor accused of negligence over Magnitsky's death in 2009. It was the only trial to be held in the case.

The judge said Dmitry Kratov had acted appropriately when Magnitsky fell ill in jail. Mr Kratov was deputy head of the high-security Butyrka prison in Moscow at the time.

A Russian official report last year concluded that Magnitsky had been tortured and handcuffed in jail.

Magnitsky represented London-based Hermitage Capital Management (HCM). He uncovered what he described as a web of corruption involving Russian tax officials, including the alleged theft of more than $200m (£125m).

After reporting it to the authorities, he was himself detained on suspicion of aiding tax evasion, and died in custody on 16 November 2009 at the age of 37.

His case became a symbol of the fight against corruption in Russia. The EU has also criticised Russia over its handling of the case.

Earlier this month the US Congress adopted the Magnitsky Act, prompting Russia's retaliation.

On Friday, President Putin signed into law the adoption ban targeting Americans. It had already been approved by the Russian parliament.

"I see no reason not to sign it," Mr Putin told officials earlier, at a televised meeting. He said he would also sign a presidential decree "that will modify the support mechanisms for orphaned children".

"There are lots of places in the world where living standards are higher than they are here," Mr Putin said. "And what - are we going to send all our children there? Perhaps we should move there ourselves?"

The rate of adoption in Russia is low. Some 3,400 Russian children were adopted by foreign families in 2011, nearly a third of them by Americans. The number of children adopted by Russian citizens was 7,416.

The US is the main destination when foreign couples adopt Russian children. In the past two decades Americans have adopted more than 60,000 Russian children.

Suspicious death

The Moscow judge on Friday ruled that Mr Kratov had organised Magnitsky's transfer to hospital and had "taken all the necessary measures to treat the illnesses" that Magnitsky was suffering from.

Magnitsky had pancreatitis, but an investigation by Russia's presidential council on human rights concluded that he had been severely beaten and denied medical treatment.

The council's report, compiled while Dmitry Medvedev was president, singled out senior interior ministry investigator Oleg Silchenko and prison chief Ivan Prokopenko as being at fault for neglect over the lawyer's death.

The document said they "obstructed" his medical care by moving him to another prison just before he was due to have an operation, where there was a criminal failure to provide him with care in the last days of his life.

Magnitsky's mother, widow and lawyers believe that Mr Kratov has been used as a decoy by the authorities to protect the real culprits in the lawyer's death.

Mr Kratov's assistant Larisa Litvinova had also been a suspect in the case, but the investigation into her actions was dropped in April.


Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Putin makes US adoption ban law

Dengan url

https://gemukesehatan.blogspot.com/2012/12/putin-makes-us-adoption-ban-law.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Putin makes US adoption ban law

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Putin makes US adoption ban law

sebagai sumbernya

0 komentar:

Posting Komentar

techieblogger.com Techie Blogger Techie Blogger