The 22 November 2017 Oslo Magnitsky Hearing Session 1

As part of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) 40th Anniversary, the Oslo Magnitsky Hearing discusses challenges for human rights work in corrupt authoritarian states, and how democratic states can step up efforts to support and protect human rights defenders and whistle-blowers.

The Hearing was named after Sergei Magnitsky, a whistle-blower that exposed extensive tax fraud in Russia and died from mistreatment in a Russian prison in 2009.

Session 1 of the Hearing discusses the large-scale tax fraud which is at the core of the Magnitsky case, Sergei Magnitsky’s role in investigating the fraud, the arrest of Magnitsky, and the circumstances around his death in prison on 16 November 2009.

It is introduced by Bjorn Engesland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, and Bill Browder, the head of the Magnitsky Campaign. It includes a panel discussion with Olesya Shmagun, Investigative Journalist, Novaya Gazeta, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP); Anton Pominov, Director General, Transparency International Russia; Andrei Nekrasov, Film Director; Vadim Kleiner, Head of Research, Hermitage, Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Campaign; and Valery Borschev, Chairman of the Moscow City Public Oversight Commission, member of the Moscow Helsinki Committee.

A panel of two distinguished Norwegian lawyers, Frode Elgesem and Brynjulf Risnes, and Gro Skaaren-Fystro, Special Advisor, Transparency International, Norway moderated the Hearing.