British investor William Browder, responsible for leading the global campaign that resulted in the approval of the magnitsky law in the United States, criticized on Wednesday (30) the application of measure by the Donald Trump government against the Supreme Court (STF) minister Alexandre de Moraes.
“I spent years struggling for the approval of the Magnitsky Law to end impunity against serious human rights violators and cleptocrats. As far as I know, the Brazilian judge Moraes does not fit any of these categories,” wrote Browder in X.
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The statement occurred hours later, based on the Global Magnitsky program, which provides for blocking goods and restrictions on transaction to foreigners accused of abuses of human rights or corruption on a large scale.
Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was expelled from the country after reporting corruption in state -owned companies, including Gazprom energy giant. His lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, discovered in 2008 a $ 230 million tax fraud scheme committed by Russian authorities and was arrested, tortured and killed in prison in 2009.
The case inspired the, sanctioned by then -president Barack Obama in 2012, initially restricted to Russian citizens. In 2016, the legislation was expanded to global reach, allowing sanctions against foreigners from any country.
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According to Browder, the original intention of the law is to punish systematic abusers of human rights and high corrupt employees, criteria that, in their assessment, do not apply to the case of Moraes.
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The sanction to the STF minister is part of a broader Trump government offensive against Brazilian authorities in the context of accusations of “political persecution” to former President Jair Bolsonaro, tried for orchestrating an attempt at coup that culminated in the acts of January 8, 2023.
