US Congressmen called for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Russia

“The resolution calls on the Russian Federation to immediately release political prisoners and calls on the Trump administration to impose sanctions on those officials in the Russian government who are responsible for human rights violations,” the statement of the authors of the resolution of the committee chairman Eliot Engel and committee member Michael McCall said.

It is supposed to impose sanctions, in particular, in the framework of the “Magnitsky Act”. The document also condemns the “practice of politically motivated” arrests. According to the authors of the resolution, it is necessary "to immediately release all those who are called political prisoners in Russia."

The resolution accuses the Russian government of harassing journalists, the opposition, civil society and supporters of religious freedoms. Earlier, the Foreign Ministry rejected such criticism.

Recall that the Magnitsky Act was passed by the US Congress and signed by US President Barack Obama in 2012. According to the document, sanctions measures may be applied against a number of Russian officials. We are talking about law enforcement officers who, according to Washington, were involved in the death in November 2009 in the Moscow detention center “Sailor Silence” of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The main initiator of this law is the founder of the fund, William Browder. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the document provocative.