4 Human rights activist Browder: ‘The Netherlands must punish Russian murderers’

Former businessman and human rights activist Bill Browder believes that lawyers, tax advisers and accountants who help Russian oligarchs should be obliged to share their information with the Dutch authorities. He told the British NU.nl: “The Dutch government can do much more than it is now. Your Prime Minister, Rutte, has long prioritized trade relations with Russia.”

Bill Browder is extremely enthusiastic about the reticent attitude of the Dutch government, and especially Prime Minister Mark Rutte, about sanctions against the clique around Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The Russians, together with 189 Dutchmen, took an airplane out of the sky. “This was your 9/11 moment,” he says. “What did Rutte do then? It prevented the introduction of sanctions, gas interests were more important. He did not go to Brussels to promote such a law.”

He was also not impressed by the report by former minister Stef Blok on sanctions that emerged on Friday. “Now 600 million euros have been seized. I would say there is much more Russian money in the Netherlands.”

Browder focuses on Amsterdam Zuidas lawyers, tax specialists and accountants who have been assisting the Russian oligarchs and the Kremlin for years.

“The Dutch government should force these experts to give up all their information, where the money is stored. And if they don’t cooperate, they should be punished. The block is now reaping the rewards. The hand has to dig. Deeper.”

Browder is in the Netherlands for his new book Hunted by the state mafia released last week and topped the nonfiction bestseller list. “This book reads like a John le Carré thriller,” said one critic. NRC Handelsblad This week.

Browder wants to put employee killers behind bars

Browder’s life changed completely after the murder of his partner Sergei Magnitsky on November 16, 2009. “Sergei was a heroic figure,” says Browder. “He was involved in a major fraud case. He was arrested, spent 11 months in prison, and despite being tortured, he did not give up.”

Browder was startled by guilt. “Magnitsky worked for me,” he said in a speech in Amsterdam. If he hadn’t, he would still be alive.”

When Magnitsky dies after being tortured in a Russian cell in November 2009, Browder pledges to himself, Magnitsky’s wife and son, to put the perpetrators behind bars.

Browder, now a successful businessman and owner of Hermitage Capital Investment, leaves his company and becomes what he calls a full-time human rights activist. For the past ten years, he has been warning the West about Putin, who he says only wants to secure their stolen billions.

Browder paid a heavy price for his struggle

Thanks to Browder’s relentless struggle, countries like Canada and the United States have passed the so-called Magnitsky Act. Under these laws, sanctions can be imposed on people who commit human rights violations or corrupt practices.

Previously, sanctions could only be applied to all countries. Magnitsky laws made it possible to personally attack the perpetrators without penalizing the entire population.

The former businessman paid a high price for his fight against the Kremlin. Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, with whom Magnitsky and Browder worked closely, was assassinated. Browder himself was also threatened. In addition, at the request of Russia, he is wanted by Interpol and even arrested in Spain, as he describes in his book.

“More dangerous for me than ever before”

“Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is more dangerous for me than ever before,” he says. “All the restrictions that the Russian secret service could have had are now gone. The only upside is that the assassins working for Putin are now so busy killing their opponents that they can become overworked.”

In the Netherlands, Browder worked closely with MPs Pieter Omtzigt and Sjoerd Sjoerdsma. “From the start, they were really committed to implementing the Magnitsky Act in Europe.”

Browder, on the other hand, strongly criticizes Prime Minister Rutte, who is against the introduction of such a law in the House of Representatives. “I find it unbelievable that Rutte has done this. And why? Because he was afraid of harming his trade relations with Russia. Incredibly, it was after the destruction of MH17.”

According to Browder, Rutte should have intervened and promoted the Magnitsky law in Europe. “He was greeted with open arms, especially by the Dutch Prime Minister, but he didn’t.” Thanks in part to the efforts of Omtzigt, Sjoerdsma and others, EU legislation was finally adopted in December 2020.

European law passed, but Magnitsky’s name not given

At that time, Browder also had a meeting with Stef Blok, then State Secretary, who would argue for the introduction of the law on behalf of the Netherlands. Blok was asked to do so in a motion that was passed by the House of Representatives. Browder: “The bloc said I had to tone down, otherwise countries like Hungary wouldn’t come on board. But what was all that nonsense? Did I turn your volume down? I do not think so.”

The European law was eventually passed, but does not bear Magnitsky’s name, as Hungary resigned. In addition, according to the law, only perpetrators of human rights violations can be punished, not guilty of corruption.

“I find it unheard of for the EU and Bloc to return to Hungary,” Browder said. “Now is the time to change the law. After the invasion of Ukraine, everyone will see what Russia and Putin can do. Hopefully we can now entrench the law for the next 50 years.”

And then there’s something Browder hopes the Netherlands will act quickly on: putting Magnitsky’s killers on the sanction list. “How is it possible that your government hasn’t already done that?” Still afraid of insulting Putin?