Magnitsky's Boss Wanted in Russia

Russia has officially asked Interpol to put Hermitage Capital equity fund head William Browder on an international wanted list, following his earlier sentencing in absentia. “On orders by the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Russian branch of Interpol has sent a request to the Interpol General Secretariat to issue an international search warrant for British citizen William Felix Browder, born in 1964,” the interior ministry said in a statement. The statement said Browder had been sought on charges of grand fraud and tax evasion involving illegal purchase of Gazprom shares. Browder and Sergei Magnitsky, an accountant for Hermitage Capital, was tried in absentia by a Moscow court in July and was sentenced to nine years in jail and banned from doing business in Russia for three years. Moscow requested Interpol to issue a “blue notice” for Browder, requiring all 190 member states to “collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a crime.” However, the Interpol General Secretariat rejected the request, citing “a predominantly political nature” of the case against Browder.

http://ruvr.co.uk/2013_07_26/Russia-puts-Magnitsky-ally-Browder-on-wanted-list/

UPDATE:
Interpol Turns Down Russia's Warrant Request for Browder
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130726/182443759.html

Stolichnaya Slams Russia Over Gay Rights

Stolichnaya, one of the most popular vodkas in the United States, came out swinging at the Russian government Thursday with a message of support for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community worldwide. “Stolichnaya Premium Vodka stands strong & proud with the global LGBT community against the actions and beliefs of the Russian government,” the US company said on its Facebook page. President Vladimir Putin signed a controversial law last month banning the promotion of “non-traditional relationships” toward minors, a move critics says is part of a broader crackdown on Russia’s gay community. Noteworthy, the Stolichnaya vodka distributed in the US has no relation with the Stolichnaya vodka distributed in Russia. US courts have held that the Stolichnaya brand belongs to SPI Group (that apparently issued the above statement).  Russian courts have held that the Stolichnaya brand is held by SPI illegally and in fact belongs to a Russian state-run company. The Stolichnaya vodka distributed in Russia is distilled in Russia, while the vodka distributed by SPI in the US is distilled in Latvia.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130726/182427294/Stolichnaya-Slams-Russia-Over-Gay-Rights.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolichnaya

US Charges 4 Russians, 1 Ukrainian in Massive Hacking Scheme

US authorities on Thursday charged four Russian nationals and a Ukrainian man in connection with the theft of more than 100 million credit card numbers breaching the computer networks of major US and international corporations in what is being called the largest hacking scheme ever to be prosecuted in the United States. “The losses in this case are staggering,” Paul Fishman, the US attorney for the district of New Jersey, told a news conference Thursday, The New York Times reported. “This type of crime is really the cutting edge of financial fraud.” The five men stand accused of conspiring in a worldwide scheme that targeted major corporate networks, stole more than 160 million credit card numbers and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, Fishman’s office said in a statement Thursday.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130725/182420529/US-Charges-4-Russians-1-Ukrainian-in-Massive-Hacking-Scheme.html

Strasbourg Court: Yukos Trial Nether Political Nor Fair

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday that the 2005 conviction against Russian businessmen Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev was based on legitimate charges, dismissing their complaint that their prosecution was politically motivated, but found that the hearing of their case was unfair. Thursday’s ruling by the ECHR stated almost eight years after the trial ended that the charges had been brought on "a sound basis," but that numerous violations had been committed during the trial. The charges launched in 2003 against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are commonly known in Russia as “the first Yukos case,” and led to a crackdown on the company and its eventual liquidation. The trial, which was one of that decade’s most high-profile legal cases in Russia, was widely criticized by human rights groups. The ECHR found that the Russian authorities had violated a range of the defendants’ rights during and after the legal proceedings, including by sending both to remote penal colonies in Siberia and Russia’s far north – thousands of kilometers away from their families – and by breaching lawyer-client confidentiality.

http://en.ria.ru/crime/20130725/182416665/Yukos-Trial-Not-Political-But-Not-Fair--European-Court.html

Russian Ministry of Justice: Khodorkovsky sentence may be annuled
http://top.rbc.ru/society/25/07/2013/867574.shtml
http://smotri.com/video/view/?id=v2523216e1ee (video)

Constitutional Court OKs Russia's WTO Entry

Russia's Constitutional Court has rejected an official inquiry submitted by Duma lawmakers questioning the constitutionality of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organisation. The lawmakers that submitted the inquiry say that State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) did not receive a copy of the Marrakesh Agreement with an official translation, and that the draft bill on the accession was not approved by the federal subjects of Russia. The MPs also claimed that the draft law presented to them had an incorrect economic basis. The Constitutional Court refused the probe, stating that overturning a presently active international treaty under the pretense of domestic law is reserved for extreme cases with proven violations of the Constitution.

http://rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130724/268306668.html

http://rt.com/politics/wto-constitution-membership-protest-700/

US Presses Russia on Snowden Airport Status

The United States would be “deeply” disappointed if Edward Snowden were allowed to depart the Moscow airport where he has reportedly been living for the last month, the US State Department said Wednesday amid a flurry of contradictory reports about the fugitive former intelligence contractor’s plans to leave the airport’s transit zone. “We have seen, of course, the press reports and are seeking clarification from the Russian government,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news briefing Wednesday. “Obviously any move that would allow Mr. Snowden to depart the airport would be deeply disappointing.”

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130724/182403761/US-Clarifying-Snowden-Status-With-Russia--White-House.html

US Couple Pleads Guilty in Russian Adoptee Abuse Case

A couple from Virginia pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges in connection with the abuse of a young boy they adopted from Russia. Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Sweeney, an officer in the US Navy, pleaded guilty to a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and received a suspended sentence of 60 days behind bars. His wife, Amy Sweeney, pleaded guilty to felony abuse and neglect, and will be sentenced in December. The couple adopted Daniil Kruchin from Russia in 2006 and renamed him Daniel Alexander.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130723/182385948/US-Couple-Pleads-Guilty-in-Russian-Adoptee-Abuse-Case.html
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/07/matthew-and-amy-sweeney-arrested-accused-of-repeated-abuse-of-son-78001.html (video)

UPDATE:
Russia Slams Suspended Sentence in US Child Abuse Case
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130724/182405187/Russia-Slams-Suspended-Sentence-in-US-Child-Abuse-Case.html

Uzbek Border Guards Killed in Shootout on Kyrgyz Border

An Uzbek border guard was killed and another seriously injured in an exchange of fire across the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan border on Tuesday. According to Kyrgyzstan’s border service, the incident occurred around 10:25 a.m. local time when a border guard detail comprised of three servicemen detected two Uzbek border guards who “illegally intruded into Kyrgyzstan’s territory.” In response to a demand to leave the republic’s territory, the Uzbek border guards started a “verbal argument that subsequently developed into a clash,” a representative of the Kyrgyz border service told RIA Novosti. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s State Border Protection Committee said the incident happened on Uzbek soil and demanded an explanation from Kyrgyzstan over the shooting, according to a statement by the State Border Protection Committee, a copy of which was obtained by RIA Novosti. It said four Kyrgyz border guards intruded into Uzbek territory and opened fire without any provocation, which is “the grossest possible violation” of the rules of conduct on the border. The committee’s press service said empty shells from the rounds fired by Kyrgyz border guards were found on Uzbekistan’s territory about 100 meters from the state border. A source in the committee later told RIA Novosti that the second border guard, who was seriously injured in the attack, died in the hospital without regaining consciousness. There are currently about 50 disputed sections on the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border between the two Central Asian countries, with 354 kilometers of the border yet to be delimitated.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20130723/182380466/Uzbek-Border-Guards-Killed-in-Shootout-on-Kyrgyz-Border.html

World Musicians: Free Pussy Riot

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International says more than 100 prominent musicians have signed an open letter calling for the release of jailed members of the Russian feminist punk performance art collective Pussy Riot. Amnesty said on July 22 that Adele, U2, Madonna, Yoko Ono, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and Sting were among those who signed the letter. The musicians urged Russian authorities to free 23-year old Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and 25-year-old Maria Alyokhina, who received two-year sentences last August for protesting against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral. Their parole appeal hearings are scheduled later this week. The letter, organized by Amnesty International, says the impact of Pussy Riot's "shockingly unjust trial and imprisonment has spread far and wide, especially among your fellow artists, musicians, and citizens around the world."

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-pussy-riot-letter-musicians/25053732.html
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/scores-musicians-urge-russia-release-pussy-riot-2013-07-22
http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/Pussy%20Riot%20open%20letter%2022-07-13.pdf (document)