Russia should think about punishing people responsible for Magnitsky's death, not measures responding to Magnitsky Act - Gannushkina
MOSCOW. Dec 8 (Interfax) - Russian human rights veteran Svetlana Gannushkina hails the adoption by the U.S. of the Magnitsky Act and believes a similar law can be adopted in the EU.
"It's a good law. Human rights violations are not an internal affair of a specific country. If our country does not react to such a signal, it's going to be very bad," Gannushkina, who leads the human rights committee Civil Assistance, told Interfax on Friday.
"Russia should not take measures in response. We should think what we need to do to prevent tragedies such as Magnitsky's death from occurring again. We also need to think about punishing those responsible for Magnitsky's death," she said.
Gannushkina believes "a document similar to the Magnitsky Act may be adopted in the EU countries." "I would not be surprised. The human rights situation is getting worse and worse. I am not saying that Europe needs to take this step, but it would not surprise me," she said.
Gannushkina said there are many human rights problems in Western countries too. "We draw people's attention to these problems. The most interesting thing is that they at least listen to us. And in Russia it's impossible to get them to listen to us," she said.
The upper house of the U.S. Congress adopted the Magnitsky Act on Thursday, linking it to the abolition of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.
