WE’VE NEVER SEEN A COUNTRY GO BACKWARDS AS QUICKLY AS RUSSIA

OPINION BY CHRISTINE MCDANIEL, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR

One evening in September 2009, Sergei Magnitsky, a corporate tax accountant, was rotting in a Russian jail cell for the Putin government’s fraudulent case against him. Magnitsky had exposed a massive theft and money laundering operation pointing to tax officials at some of the highest levels in the Kremlin. After being held 11 months without trial, Sergei Magnitsky died in jail. An investigator believed his death was premeditated murder. Magnitsky’s employer, Bill Browder – a U.S.-UK financier involved with a major Russian portfolio – has since documented that Sergei was indeed beaten to death by eight police officers.