WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama should expand the list of individuals sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act in response to the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, US Senator Ron Johnson told Sputnik.
“He [Boris Nemtsov] came into my office and showed us that list of additional names that should be added to the [Magnitsky] list,” Johnson said on Thursday.
The Senator added that he would like to see US President Barack Obama “take that up and add those people to the list.”
Johnson, who chairs the US Senate Homeland Security Committee, sponsored a resolution on March 4 to honour Nemtsov’s life, and called for US actions to respond to his murder.
The Magnitsky Act is a special sanctions list the US Congress initiated to target individuals `they believe were associated with the death of Russian lawyer and political activist Sergei Magnitsky as well as general human rights abuses.
The resolution, which passed the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is “a tribute to Boris Nemtsov” which lays out “exactly what Russia represents to the world and the threat they represent to Europe,” Johnson told Sputnik.
In the days following Nemtsov’s murder President Putin ordered a multi-agency investigation led by the Russian Investigative Committee, the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service. Two suspects have been charged with the murder and three other detained.
