Title: A resolution calling for accountability and justice for the assassination of Boris Nemtsov.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution commemorates the life of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and his work promoting democracy and human rights, and condemns Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime for targeting political opponents and attempting to cover up Nemtsov's assassination. It also calls on the Department of State to impose sanctions on those involved and to report to Congress on the assassination.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 81 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 81

 Calling for accountability and justice for the assassination of Boris 
                                Nemtsov.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 27, 2019

Mr. Rubio (for himself, Mr. Coons, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Johnson, 
and Mr. Gardner) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                 to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Calling for accountability and justice for the assassination of Boris 
                                Nemtsov.

Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a Russian statesman, who over twenty-five years of 
        public service served as Member of Parliament, Governor of the Nizhny 
        Novgorod Region, and First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia;
Whereas Boris Nemtsov throughout his life showed an unwavering commitment to the 
        ideals of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law, and to upholding the 
        rights and dignity of Russian citizens;
Whereas Boris Nemtsov was a powerful voice in opposition to the authoritarianism 
        and corruption of Vladimir Putin's government, publicizing its abuses, 
        leading street protests against election fraud and the war on Ukraine, 
        and successfully advocating for international sanctions on human rights 
        violators;
Whereas Boris Nemtsov was co-chairman of a leading opposition party, won 
        election to the Yaroslavl Regional Duma in 2013, and was planning to run 
        for the Russian Parliament in 2016 and challenge Vladimir Putin for the 
        presidency in 2018;
Whereas, on the evening of February 27, 2015, Boris Nemtsov was shot in the back 
        and killed as he walked across Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge near the 
        Kremlin in Moscow;
Whereas, on March 7 and 8, 2015, Russian authorities arrested five individuals, 
        all of them natives of the Chechen Republic, on suspicion of carrying 
        out the assassination, while a sixth suspect allegedly blew himself up 
        during the attempted arrest;
Whereas the defendants were tried at the Moscow District Military Court, which 
        on June 29, 2017, found them guilty of carrying out the assassination of 
        Boris Nemtsov, and on July 13, 2017, sentenced them to different prison 
        terms;
Whereas, at the time of the assassination, the now-convicted gunman, Zaur 
        Dadayev, was serving as a Lieutenant in the Internal Troops of the 
        Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation and as Deputy Battalion 
        Commander in the ``Sever'' (``North'') Regiment stationed in the Chechen 
        Republic, under the command of the Internal Troops Commander, General 
        Viktor Zolotov, and the Kremlin-backed head of the Chechen Republic, 
        Ramzan Kadyrov;
Whereas Ramzan Kadyrov has called Lieutenant Zaur Dadayev a ``true patriot'' and 
        has publicly referred to Boris Nemtsov as an ``enemy of Russia'';
Whereas by Decree No. 115 issued on March 8, 2015, President Vladimir Putin 
        awarded Ramzan Kadyrov the Order of Honor;
Whereas, according to reports published in RBC newspaper on January 20, 2016, 
        General Alexander Bastrykin, chairman of the Investigative Committee of 
        the Russian Federation, has on two occasions prevented investigators 
        from indicting Major Ruslan Geremeyev, Battalion Commander in the 
        ``Sever'' (``North'') Regiment of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of 
        Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation stationed in the Chechen 
        Republic and a close associate of Ramzan Kadyrov, as an organizer in the 
        assassination;
Whereas, according to reports published in Novaya Gazeta newspaper on December 
        9, 2016, operatives of the Federal Security Service of the Russian 
        Federation in the Chechen Republic have failed to serve Major Ruslan 
        Geremeyev with a summons for questioning as a witness, reporting to 
        their superiors that on the sole occasion they attempted to do so, 
        ``nobody opened the door'';
Whereas, despite requests from the legal team representing Boris Nemtsov's 
        family, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the 
        Moscow District Military Court have refused to question high-ranking 
        persons of interest, including Ramzan Kadyrov and General Viktor 
        Zolotov;
Whereas the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has, to this day, 
        not issued any indictments against the organizers or masterminds of the 
        assassination of Boris Nemtsov, with the exception of Major Ruslan 
        Geremeyev's driver, Ruslan Mukhudinov, who is named alongside ``other 
        unidentified persons'';
Whereas the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Moscow 
        District Military Court have refused to classify the assassination of 
        Boris Nemtsov under Article 277 of the Criminal Code as ``encroachment 
        on the life of a statesman or a public figure,'' choosing instead 
        Article 105 that deals with common domestic murders;
Whereas, throughout the proceedings at the Moscow District Military Court, the 
        judge repeatedly disallowed questions relating to political motives 
        behind the assassination;
Whereas the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation has refused to 
        release video footage from the security cameras on Bolshoi Moskvoretsky 
        Bridge from the night of the assassination, claiming in a letter to 
        State Duma Member Dmitry Gudkov on November 6, 2015, that the bridge 
        next to the Kremlin is ``not a protected object'';
Whereas, on May 18, 2017, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 
        appointed Lithuanian Member of Parliament Emanuelis Zingeris as its 
        special rapporteur on the need to shed light on the background of the 
        murder of Boris Nemtsov, with a mandate to review and report on the case 
        and on the progress of the official Russian investigation;
Whereas, on May 24, 2018, the Russian Foreign Ministry informed Emanuelis 
        Zingeris that he is forbidden from entering the Russian Federation;
Whereas, at its twenty-seventh annual session held on July 7-11, 2018, the 
        Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation 
        in Europe (OSCE) adopted a resolution urging Russian authorities to 
        ``undertake a new, full and thorough investigation into the February 
        2015 assassination of Boris Nemtsov'';
Whereas, on July 8, 2018, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for 
        Security and Cooperation in Europe held a public event to discuss the 
        need for OSCE oversight of the official Russian investigation into the 
        assassination of Boris Nemtsov;
Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation are full members of the 
        Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
Whereas the OSCE Moscow Document has established that ``issues relating to human 
        rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law . . . are 
        matters of direct and legitimate concern to all participating States and 
        do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the State 
        concerned'';
Whereas, on February 27, 2018, Washington, DC designated the street in front of 
        the Embassy of the Russian Federation as ``Boris Nemtsov Plaza'' to 
        honor Mr. Nemtsov; and
Whereas, on February 22, 2019, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of 
        the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, George 
        Tsereteli, appointed Swedish Member of Parliament and Vice President of 
        the Assembly Margareta Cederfelt as the rapporteur on the investigation 
        of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, with a mandate to review and 
        report on the case and on the progress of the official Russian 
        investigation: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commemorates the life of Russian opposition leader 
        Boris Nemtsov and his work to advance democracy and human 
        rights in Russia;
            (2) condemns Vladimir Putin and his regime for targeting 
        political opponents and working to cover up the assassination 
        of Boris Nemtsov;
            (3) urges the United States Government, in all its 
        interactions with the Government of the Russian Federation, to 
        raise the case of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov and 
        underscore the necessity of bringing the organizers and 
        masterminds to justice;
            (4) supports the efforts by the Organization for Security 
        and Cooperation in Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly to 
        initiate oversight of the official Russian investigation into 
        the assassination of Boris Nemtsov;
            (5) calls on the Government of the Russian Federation to 
        allow an impartial international investigation of the 
        assassination of Boris Nemtsov and to cooperate with the 
        Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and 
        Cooperation in Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
        Council of Europe in their ongoing inquiries over this case;
            (6) calls on the Secretary of State and the Secretary of 
        the Treasury to use their authority under the Sergei Magnitsky 
        Rule of Law Accountability Act (title IV of Public Law 112-208) 
        and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 
        (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 114-328) to designate 
        individuals whom they determine to have been involved in the 
        assassination of Boris Nemtsov as perpetrators, organizers, or 
        masterminds, on the list of specially designated nationals and 
        blocked persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets 
        Control of the Department of the Treasury, freezing their 
        assets and making them ineligible to receive United States 
        visas; and
            (7) calls on the Secretary of State, in consultation with 
        the Director of National Intelligence, to prepare and submit to 
        Congress a report detailing the circumstances of the February 
        27, 2015, assassination of Boris Nemtsov, including the list of 
        individuals whom they determine to have been involved in the 
        assassination as perpetrators, organizers, or masterminds, and 
        identifying what measures, if any, have been taken by the 
        Government of the Russian Federation to investigate this crime 
        and bring its perpetrators, organizers, and masterminds to 
        justice, and evaluating the effectiveness of such measures.
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