A resolution condemning the practice of politically motivated imprisonment, calling for the immediate release of political prisoners in the Russian Federation, and urging action by the United States Government to impose sanctions with respect to persons responsible for that form of human rights abuse.

III 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. RES. 524 Condemning the practice of politically motivated imprisonment, calling for the immediate release of political prisoners in the Russian Federation, and urging action by the United States Government to impose sanctions with respect to persons responsible for that form of human rights abuse. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 2, 2020 Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. COONS, Mr. JOHNSON, and Mrs. SHAHEEN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations RESOLUTION Condemning the practice of politically motivated imprison- ment, calling for the immediate release of political pris- oners in the Russian Federation, and urging action by the United States Government to impose sanctions with respect to persons responsible for that form of human rights abuse. Whereas the right to liberty and security of a person and the protection from arbitrary imprisonment are among the principal human rights guaranteed by Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Ar- ticle 23 of the Concluding Document of the Vienna Meet- ing of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Eu- VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR524.IS SR524 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •SRES 524 IS rope, and Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights; Whereas the Russian Federation, as a member of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the Council of Europe, is bound by international commitments with regard to human rights and the rule of law; Whereas, on October 3, 2012, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Resolution 1900 (2012) that defined anyone whose ‘‘detention has been imposed in violation of one of the fundamental guarantees set out in the European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocols’’ or ‘‘is the result of proceedings which were clearly unfair and this appears to be connected with polit- ical motives of the authorities’’ as a political prisoner; Whereas, on July 2, 2014, the OSCE Parliamentary Assem- bly adopted the Baku Declaration in which it ‘‘endorses the adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Coun- cil of Europe of a resolution confirming the definition of political prisoners’’ and ‘‘strongly urges participating states to co-operate with international institutions like the OSCE, to help ensure that . . . there will be no polit- ical prisoners in the OSCE area’’; Whereas, based on the criteria of the Parliamentary Assem- bly of the Council of Europe Resolution 1900 (2012), the Memorial Human Rights Center, one of the most re- spected nongovernmental organizations in the Russian Federation, estimates that there are currently more than 300 political prisoners in the Russian Federation; Whereas the list of Russian political prisoners designated by the Memorial Human Rights Center includes journalists, VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR524.IS SR524 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •SRES 524 IS civil society activists, human rights advocates, partici- pants of peaceful demonstrations, adherents of prohibited religious groups, members of ‘‘undesirable’’ organiza- tions, and Ukrainian citizens from the illegally annexed Crimea; Whereas the longest-serving political prisoner in the Russian Federation, Alexey Pichugin, has been incarcerated since June 19, 2003, in violation of 2 rulings by the European Court of Human Rights and the opinion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Whereas opposition activist Konstantin Kotov was sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment on September 5, 2019, for par- ticipating in peaceful demonstrations, in a ruling Human Rights Watch has described as ‘‘an outrageous violation of the right to peaceful protest’’; Whereas Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist in the Open Rus- sia movement, has been held under house arrest since January 23, 2019, on the charge of belonging to an ‘‘un- desirable’’ organization and has been designated by Am- nesty International as a prisoner of conscience; Whereas Yuri Dmitriev, a historian and the leader of the Me- morial Human Rights Center’s branch in the Republic of Karelia who has worked to document mass burial sites from Stalin-era executions, is being held in pretrial de- tention on charges of child pornography that Human Rights Watch has described as ‘‘bogus’’ and part of an ongoing ‘‘smear campaign’’; Whereas Dennis Christensen, a Jehovah’s Witness and a cit- izen of Denmark, was sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment on February 6, 2019, in a decision condemned by the United States Commission on International Religious VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR524.IS SR524 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •SRES 524 IS Freedom as part of the broader pattern of the Govern- ment of the Russian Federation ‘‘engaging in or toler- ating severe violations of religious freedom’’; Whereas, on February 10, 2020, a court in Penza sentenced 7 activists to prison terms ranging from 6 to 18 years for participation in what authorities alleged was a ter- rorist organization called ‘‘Network’’ after a trial marked by incommunicado detention, torture, and other ill treat- ment to extract confessions, in what Human Rights Watch has described as an example of the Russian au- thorities ‘‘abusing counterterrorism laws to silence critics and deny fundamental human rights’’; Whereas, on June 18, 2018, the Department of State af- firmed that ‘‘the United States is deeply concerned by the growing number of individuals . . . identified by credible human rights organizations as political and reli- gious prisoners held by the Government of the Russian Federation’’ and called on the Government of the Rus- sian Federation ‘‘to release all those identified as political or religious prisoners immediately and cease its use of the legal system to suppress dissent and peaceful reli- gious practice’’; Whereas, on January 28, 2020, 43 parliamentarians from 16 European countries introduced a resolution in the Par- liamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe calling for the appointment of a rapporteur ‘‘to examine the growing crisis with politically motivated imprisonments in the Russian Federation’’; and Whereas, according to the Memorial Human Rights Center, the number of political prisoners in the Russian Federa- tion has increased more than 6-fold since 2015: Now, therefore, be it VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR524.IS SR524 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •SRES 524 IS Resolved, That the Senate— 1 (1) expresses support for those unjustly impris- 2 oned in the Russian Federation; 3 (2) condemns the practice of politically moti- 4 vated imprisonment in the Russian Federation, 5 which violates the commitments of the Russian Fed- 6 eration to international obligations with respect to 7 human rights and the rule of law; 8 (3) calls on the Government of the Russian 9 Federation to immediately release political prisoners, 10 including Alexey Pichugin, Konstantin Kotov, 11 Anastasia Shevchenko, Yuri Dmitriev, and Dennis 12 Christensen; 13 (4) urges the United States Government, in all 14 its interactions with the Government of the Russian 15 Federation, to raise individual cases of political pris- 16 oners held by the Russian Federation and to press 17 for their release; and 18 (5) urges the Secretary of State and the Sec- 19 retary of the Treasury to use their authority under 20 the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability 21 Act of 2012 (title IV of Public Law 112–208; 22 22 U.S.C. 5811 note), the Global Magnitsky Human 23 Rights Accountability Act (subtitle F of title XII of 24 Public Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note), and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR524.IS SR524 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •SRES 524 IS other applicable provisions of law to designate for 1 the imposition of sanctions officials of the Govern- 2 ment of the Russian Federation who are responsible 3 for human rights abuses in the form of politically 4 motivated imprisonment. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Mar 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR524.IS SR524 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS