State Department Reportedly Revokes Visa Of Magnitsky Act Campaigner

[Madam45for2923]

Source: NPR

The State Department has reportedly revoked a visa for British citizen Bill Browder, a hedge-fund manager-turned human-rights activist responsible for the Magnitsky Act. The 2012 U.S. law is aimed at punishing Russian officials believed responsible for the death in a Moscow prison of Sergei Magnitsky, who was allegedly beaten and denied medical care.

The cancelling of Browder's visa came on the same day that the Kremlin issued yet another international arrest warrant for him via Interpol.

The Magnitsky Act, which freezes the assets and bans visas for certain Russians, including those close to Vladimir Putin "touched off a nasty confrontation with the Kremlin, and the two sides have been trying ever since to undermine the credibility of the other. Recently, however, Russian prosecutors have taken that effort to a remarkable new level, claiming that Mr. Magnitsky was actually murdered by Mr. Browder," according to The New York Times.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/23/559463071/state-department-reportedly-revokes-visit-of-magnitsky-act-campaigner

---

Heads up: @Billbrowder will be on @AliVelshi today at 3 to discuss the Trump administration pulling his visa in tandem with Russia.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Madam45for2923]

1. Cancelling of Browder's visa came on same day Kremlin issued yet another interntl arrest warrant

The cancelling of Browder's visa came on the same day that the Kremlin issued yet another international arrest warrant for him via Interpol.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Are we just a Russian colony now? nt

[Madam45for2923]

3. This is eff-up news. Needs to blow up.

[Irish_Dem]

5. GOP leadership is on the take from Russia. They won't do anything.

Looks like the US has been sold out, lock, stock and barrel.

I expect cheap vodka to be on US shelves any day now.
So we can be like Russians who have to drink to get rid of the stench that is their government.

[Madam45for2923]

6. McCain & Graham won't like this though. They know about Putin.

[Irish_Dem]

7. And what have they done so far? To attack Putin is to challenge GOP control of the US government.

[Hortensis]

30. Two grab your ankles posts in a row? If you imagine

100 million Democratic voters are joining you in that, you are extremely mistaken. I know no one else who rushes to declare defeat for no reason.

Madam45, this is shocking, yet not surprising, news. Sounds like Putin's been applying the stick and the stroke.

Congress can restore his visa. Our congressman takes his direction from ALEC, knows they'll keep him funded in office so he doesn't worry about answering to us, but hopefully a majority will be offended and feel a need to slap back at Putin's meddling.

[Irish_Dem]

31. I hope you are right. That is what I am trying to do.

Get people to open their eyes and take action.

Voting won't count if Russia and the GOP continue to maintain control of our voting system.

[ancianita]

35. FYI, all but four of the 112th Congress voted Yea to pass the Magnitsky Act in 2012. Republican

House composition hasn't changed enough to rescind that law.

At least, not yet. And not during this session.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/112-2012/s223

[lark]

4. Sickening orange assface Putin fluffer.

He and Putin are the only 2 people on this earth that he truly loves. Ivanka is just a disgusting "toy" for him and Melania is there for the pix only.

We are in deep shit if he's still around for the 2018 elections because he will ensure that Russia steals every state possible, once again, and we will be one "terror" event away from having the constitution set aside and we become Trumpland.

[maxsolomon]

18. he will still be around for the 2018 elections

gird your loins

[lark]

22. Fuck, I don't know if my stomach can take it.

I've already got severe inflammation! Guess I will just have to push harder for us to move out of this country and this one will be uninhabitable after 4 years of he and Russia screwing us over on purpose for their profit and fun.

[orangecrush]

8. How obvious

Does this have to become before the mainstream GOP says "enough"?

Holy shit, Trump is going to help Putin kill this man.

[Madam45for2923]

9. Holy shit is right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[orangecrush]

10. I'm not sure exactly how

but I am sure this qualifies as a crime on behalf of the Trump administration.

[Madam45for2923]

11. I think so too. This is close to assassinating enemies & witnesses against Donald & Putin.

This is scaring future witnesses!

[ancianita]

36. Amazon suspended the book, The Killing of Bill Browder... by Alex Krainer, a hedge fund manager.

[Madam45for2923]

38. ??? Say more...

[ancianita]

39. I only know what I read: last paragraph of Bill Browder's Wikipedia entry. Also the footnotes.

Also, Garry Kasparov. Read Kasparov if you want a good look at international attitudes toward mafia style dictatorships like Putin's.

The Magnitsky Act, passed in 2012, enraged Putin. The law, championed by Bill Browder, levied asset and travel sanctions on some Russian officials who arrested his investment group's ( I think it was the Hermitage Fund out of London) lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in 2008, and who died in pretrial detention after being beaten and not getting medical attention.

Oligarchs are trying to intimidate and retaliate against Browder, but other oligarchs have his back, while greedy American leaders in government have kicked the "how to deal with mafia men like Putin" can down the road since 9/11.

Looks like when Browder wants to stop American style mafia government, he catches hell.

[Texin]

12. Browder has dual US/British citizenship,

and he's a fulltime resident of Britain and has been since the '90s. I agree that this is an outrageous tack, but Putin has been specifically targeting Mr. Browder since around the early 2000s, and this particular turn by the State Department has to be seen as a direct order from Putin to Shitler, with Shitler issuing the directive to Tillerson. This is not the first time Browder has had a Red Notice issued on him. He's been allowed to move between Britain and the States freely throughout that period, so this is the first time the US has been co-opted by the Kleptocrat in the Kremlin. It's breathtaking. Just stunning. I just hope Britain keeps him out of harms way, but if something happens in London, it won't be the first time, because Putin has his agents ready with guns and poison. Whatever works.

[Madam45for2923]

13. First time his USA visa revoked same day as Putin's arrest warrant.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

28. He renoucned his US citizenship years ago

[OnDoutside]

29. He didn't have to. I know plenty of dual passport holders

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

37. The US makes being an expatriate really frustrating

And the more frustrating it gets the more that overseas financial institutions decide it just isn't worth it to deal with American expats.

[DK504]

14. More proof the Orange Maggot is Putin's bitch.

Why isn't this being screamed across the air waves by all news casts? They need to stop giving so much time to his created scandels and spend them on his lawlessness.

[blueinredohio]

15. Trump and Putin have to get rid of him he knows too much

[Sunlei]

16. Republicans let Russia rule & attack! America. Wish the Brits/Europeans would accept USA 'refugees'

I don't want to live in a country like Russia or a country where Republicans are allowing Russia and China and Corporations more Freedom than the actual citizens of America!

[keithbvadu2]

17. Now that republicans love Mother Russia...

Now that republicans love Mother Russia...

[Nitram]

19. The Finlandization of America.

[Madam45for2923]

20. Heads up: @Billbrowder will be on @AliVelshi today at 3 to discuss the Trump administration pulling

Heads up: @Billbrowder will be on @AliVelshi today at 3 to discuss the Trump administration pulling his visa in tandem with Russia.

Link to tweet

[Eliot Rosewater]

21. Trump and Tillerson you are no good fucking TRAITORS

[orangecrush]

23. In case anyone wonders why they did this...

"Remember that Bill Browder's huge investment in post-Soviet Russia was stolen by gangsters, and was himself framed-up by corrupt state actors, following which a member of his defence team, Sergei Magnitsky, was murdered by Russian state actors, facts so well-accepted by ALL honest Americans that they resulted in the passage by both houses of Congress of the "Magnitsky Act" sanctions against the Russian government which now stand in the way of a $1/2 Trillion oil and gas deal with Exxon. Is the U.S. State Department now going to further isolate Bill Browder, the innocent party in this dirty business, who so courageously testified before Congressional Committee at their request?"

"And did the U.S. State Department deny Bill Browder a Visa to testify before the Intelligence Committee then? No. So what's different now?"

[Eliot Rosewater]

24. TREASON TREASON TREASON TREASON TREASON TREASON ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! !!! !! !! !!! !

[Madam45for2923]

25. I share your outrage!

[bsiebs]

26. Red Notice - Must read

Anyone that has not had a chance to read his book - Red Notice - should do so...

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

27. I suspect there is an innocent explanation on the US side of this

I would imagine the red notice caused his ESTA approval and or B1 or B2 visa to be withdrawn automatically. Since if you have done something bad enough to get a red notice you're almost certainly inadmissible to the United States.

[ancianita]

40. Innocent explanations are only cover. One can be driven out of capitalist competition in "free"

Last edited Tue Oct 24, 2017, 11:21 AM - Edit history (2)

markets by using mechanisms and playa tools of captured states -- like attorney generals and corporate cabinet oligarchs.

Dictatorships' powers are used in the courts to keep their bullying or intimidations toward a guy like Browder out of international limelight so that he doesn't get "martyr points" or public sympathy.

Putin's and eventually Trump's lead prosecutors will continue to use their power to inflict endless barrages of charges, trials and court appearances -- death by a thousand legal cuts -- to drive competition out of any landbase area. It was Manafort's job to warn about or soften the Russian mafia blows with difficult client states like Ukraine, or even the U.S. This is what Tillerson and his American gangstas are also blatantly doing for Putin oligarchs.

The U.S. has not been innocent in its lackadaisical treatment of Putin. Only when one of its hedge fund managers raised holy hell about how murderous it is to "do business" with Russia, has any good come of U.S. relations with Russia.

Pussy Riot learned how to get international attention to notice the internal capitalist totalitarianism Putin was practicing inside their country.

[orangecrush]

42. Great post!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

43. That is ridiculous

Interpol messages contain (when available) all the information that appears on a passport. ESTA, the system that automatically scrutinizes criminal and intelligence data sets to determine the probable admissibility of travelers from VWP countries uses the same information.

A passport number with a red notice (which is an arrest warrant) associated with it is going to be red flagged. Unresolved arrest warrants will make you inadmissible to most countries.

The immigration affairs between the US, Canada and VWP countries are almost completely automated and have been for some time.

Now while undoubtedly Putin intended to use the red notice as a means of harassing this individual, a red notice issued by Palau would have been no less disruptive.

[ancianita]

44. What -- exactly what -- is ridiculous. That these leaders are rational actors?

Just because Interpol acts as an international liaison across nations who issue red notices, doesn't make the issuers rational actors at all.

We're not the first to notice how authoritarian governments misuse and abuse the red notice. Not to mention their own internal agencies.

"...The disclosure comes amid growing concern in Europe about the use of red notices by authoritarian leaders cracking down on their critics.

This week Angela Merkel warned President Erdogan of Turkey not to "misuse" Interpol after the system was used by Ankara to arrest a Turkish journalist in Spain.

A Council of Europe report this year cited earlier Russian attempts to seek Mr Browder's arrest through Interpol as an example of alleged "abuses" of the system by states pursuing "political goals".

Bernd Fabritius, the special rapporteur who wrote the report, told the Telegraph that the European human rights body had been clear that Interpol should "block repeated red notices" and that he would "take action" if Interpol had allowed the latest request.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/24/russia-issues-new-red-notice-request-arrest-british-putin-critic/

I've read elsewhere that Putin has put out five red notices on Browder. What's ridiculous is restricting the movement of an American-born British citizen who's on Putin's target list.

Just what are you trying to say.

[ancianita]

45. There has been international concern that Interpol elected itself authoritarian leadership.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/11/10/china-and-russia-take-the-helm-of-interpol/

“The appointment of Meng Hongwei [as president of Interpol] is alarming, given China’s long-standing practice of trying to use Interpol to arrest dissidents and refugees abroad,” said Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia director at Amnesty International in a press release Thursday.

And just to round things out, Interpol also elected a Russian official, Maj. Gen. Alexander Prokopchuk, as its vice president on Thursday. Russia, like China, isn’t known for having a particularly fair and just police force. Prokopchuk has been with Russia’s Interior Ministry since 2003.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

46. The US immigration bureaucracy is not doing Putin's bidding at Trump's behest

Automated systems revoked travel authorization and a non-resident visa based on an active arrest warrant.

[ancianita]

47. It's not Interpol's duty to carry out red notice "warrants." Interpol gives a 'heads up' to

various states' law enforcement.

But everyone knows what's going on this time.

And who the hell said US immigration bureaucracy does Putin's bidding. Pretty sure Putin could care less what ICE is up to.

Just what is your point. A technical correction? That Browder is a menace to America? That authoritarians running trade wars are to be trusted in domestic matters?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

48. my point is I doubt human hands revoked Browder's US visa

The ESTA system saw a red notice associated with Browder's passport. These automated systems don't account for somebody being an enemy of Putin and deserving of special consideration.

[ancianita]

50. I see. Fine. But given Putin's past behavior, Browder's lawyer might ask which is more likely.

The reason this is a concern is so that we Americans can get an accurate map of whose interests these events are serving, late as we are to the party.

[VaBchTgerLily]

32. Why else would Tillerson do this but to carry favor with Putin......

This whole administration is dirty!!!

[Hortensis]

33. "A Prominent Russian Journalist Has Been Stabbed In Moscow"

(nothing to do with this gentleman, but perhaps a lot to do with Putin's murders)

AP: MOSCOW (AP) — A well-known journalist for Russia’s top independent radio station was stabbed in the throat Monday by an attacker who burst into her studio — the latest in a string of attacks on journalists and opposition activists in Moscow.

Buzzfeed: Tatiana Felgenhauer is the deputy editor-in-chief for and cohost of a popular morning radio show on Ekho Moskvy.

The attack on Felgenhauer came less than two weeks after state-owned Russia-24 carried a show in which it called Ekho Moskvy a foreign agent. Felgenhauer was specifically identified during the show.

Ekho Moskvy, which is known for its independent journalism and has often published searing criticism of the Kremlin, has been a target in the past. Earlier this year, Yulia Latynina, host of a weekly show on Ekho Moskvy and a columnist for Novaya Gazeta, fled Russia following a series of attacks.

Ms. Felgenhauer is in a medically induced coma right now while they try to support while encouraging her body to live.

[Loubee]

34. He is not putting the suspicions of kompromat to rest.

[ancianita]

41. Last June it was Dana Rohrabacher who led the charge against Browder after traveling to Moscow.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-lawmaker-got-direction-from-moscow-took-it-back-to-dcGOP

Lawmaker Got Direction From Moscow, Took It Back to D.C.

After being given a secret document by officials in Moscow, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher sought to alter sanctions legislation and tried to set up a virtual show trial on Capitol Hill.

Along with that, one Veselnitskaya was promoting an anti-Browder/Magnitsky film at Rohrbacher's defamation party.

An email reviewed by The Daily Beast shows that before that June 14 hearing, Rohrabacher’s staff received pro-Kremlin briefings against Browder, once Russia’s biggest foreign investor, and his tax attorney Sergei Magnitsky from a lawyer who was working with Veselnitskaya.

Rohrabacher’s office was given the film by the Prosecutor General’s office in Moscow, which is run by Yuri Chaika, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin who is accused of widespread corruption, and Viktor Grin, the deputy general prosecutor who has been sanctioned by the United States as part of the Magnitsky Act.

That same Prosecutor General’s office also was listed as being behind the “very high level and sensitive information” that was offered to Donald Trump Jr. in an email prior to his now infamous meeting with Russian officials at Trump Tower on June 9

[BadGimp]

49. McCain put a stop to this - now Donny Two Scoops may have yet another scandal on his tiny hands

https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=press-releases&id=A8D4E587-77D5-4A3A-AC6C-D44277C7FF7E

STATEMENT BY McCAIN & CARDIN ON THE REVOCATION OF BILL BROWDER’S U.S. VISA
Oct 23 2017

Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement today on the revocation of Bill Browder’s U.S. visa. The senators are the co-authors of the 2012 Sergei Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and the 2016 Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act:

“We understand that William Browder’s U.S. visa has been revoked due his inclusion on the Interpol list. According to Browder, the Russian government has submitted his name for inclusion on the Interpol list on several occasions in the past, yet it was rejected as politically motivated. And through these episodes, his U.S. visa status has been immediately reinstated. The Department of Homeland Security should expedite an immediate review of the decision to revoke Mr. Browder’s visa.

[Madam45for2923]

51. I am so glad!

[orangecrush]

52. GOOD

Thanks for sharing this!

[mdbl]

53. I'm sure the Russian bots are faking all over facebook and twitter about this

I don't even read those sites anymore. Of course, stopped reading twitter when the biggest liar of them all started to us it as his bully pulpit from he white house bathroom.

[Nitram]

54. Collusion with the enemy. Trump is an American Quisling.