OTTAWA, November 3. /TASS/. Canadian government has introduced sanctions against 30 Russian citizens, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
It said the restrictive measures were taken in line with the recently endorsed legislative piece entitled the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, which is also known as the Sergei Magnitsky law and is a Canadian variation of the US Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act.
The ministry said the sanctions concerned the individuals who, in the opinion of the Canadian government, bear responsibility for or are involved in crude violations of human rights or corruption schemes. The Canadian authorities will freeze all the banking assets of the blacklisted persons and will ban entry to the Canadian territory for them.
"Canada is determined to protect human rights and combat corruption worldwide," the country’s foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland said in connection with the sanctions. "Today's announcement sends a clear message that Canada will take action against individuals who have profited from acts of significant corruption or who have been involved in gross violations of human rights."
She added she was glad to see the first practical application of the Magnitsky law.
The first Canadian blacklist compiled in connection with the law contains 52 names. Its Russian section includes, among others, the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, as well as Stanislav Gordiyevsky, who according to the data revealed by the Russian media used to work for the Investigative Committee, and Gennady Plaksin, a former high-rank executive at the Universalny Bank Sberezheniy [Universal Savings Bank].
The restrictions also embrace President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and the South Sudanese general Paul Malong.