The Obama administration has imposed sanctions on five Russians for human rights violations under the 2012 U.S. law. The five Russians were allegedly involved in the 2009 death of Russian whistle-blower and anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. State and Treasury Departments have identified Aleksey Anichin, Boris Kibis, Pavel Lapshov and Oleg Urzhumtsev as Russian officials who took part in the death of Segei Magnitsky.
Magnitsky was jailed after courageously exposing Russia's most controversial tax fraud that amounted to $230 million in tax rebate, as noted by the New York Times. He died in prison in 2009 after being severely beaten and having been denied of medical treatment. The death of Magnitsky sparked a worldwide clamor over human rights violations in Russia.
Russian courts apparently failed to give justice to the investigations over the incidents surrounding Magnitsky's death, prompting the United States Congress to pass a law in 2012 that would prohibited anyone responsible for Magnitsky's death from entering the US.
When the Magnitsky Act was passed in 2012, Russia's Duma responded with a legislation of their own which prevented US families from adopting Russian children.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the State Department would've have submitted the new names on Friday, but Secretary of State John Kerry prevented the rollout on Friday, as he allegedly still had a few questions regarding the persons to be included in the Magnitsky List. But the list got out when Rep. Jim McGovern congratulated the State Department for adding the new names to the list. McGovern said Friday they would be revoking the list because it was passed prematurely.
Nevertheless, the announcement of the names puts Kerry in a tight position as he is still in trying to seal cooperation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Syrian peace talks in Geneva this week. Kerry is reportedly asking Russia to cease attacks on Syrian civilians and other members of the opposition bloc who are not part of the Islamic State.
A fifth official named Yevgeni Antonov is also being added on the Magnitsky List. Antonov ran a prision in Chechnya that was known for strings of human rights abuses.
There are currently 34 individuals in the Magnitsky List, 28 of whom were actually linked to the murder of Magnitsky. The others are included in the list for human rights violations. Aside from punishing those involved in Magnitsky's death, legislation had intended for the list to be a way of punishing violators of human rights in Russia.
