British Member of Parliament (MP) Denis MacShane has called on the British government to place visa restrictions on Russian officials accused of involvement in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in prison in 2009.
“What the United States government has done is to list 60 Russian officials who are named in connection with Mr. Magnitsky’s death and I’m urging the British prime minister, as our other British MPs, to do the same thing,” MacShane told RFE/RL’s Russian Service.
MacShane said that the British home secretary has executive power to say that a person cannot come into Britain because it is not conducive to the public good, “in other words, that person is banned from entering Britain.”
He added that though the British Parliament does not pass laws on individual’s cases like this, “but by raising it in Parliament we hope that the British prime minister, Mr. [David] Cameron, and the British government will take the necessary action.”
In February, 22 British MPs representing all the main political parties called on the British government to impose visa sanctions and asset freezes on the Russian officials responsible for Magnitsky’s death.