The International Committee of the US Senate may begin considering legislation related to the “Magnitsky list” as early as April. This statement was made by the head of the committee, Democratic Senator John Kerry, on Tuesday, March 27. “I would like to try to get this bill moving after we get back from the break. We must do this,” RIA Novosti quoted Kerry as saying.

American lawmakers are proposing to ban entry into the United States of dozens of Russian officials who, in their opinion, are involved in the death of investment fund auditor Sergei Magnitsky in a pre-trial detention center in Moscow. The list, compiled by Senator Benjamin Cardin, was called both the “Magnitsky list” and the “Cardin list.”

Conservative American parliamentarians are setting the adoption of such a law as a condition for repealing the Jackson-Vanik trade amendment, which discriminates against Russia, which the US administration has been seeking from Congress for a year and a half.

Members of the House of Representatives are also in favor of adopting the law on the “Magnitsky list”. The head of the chamber's international committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, has repeatedly stated that she would support the repeal of the Jackon-Vanik amendment only in exchange for the passage of Cardin's law.

A lawyer for the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management (HCM) died in a Moscow pre-trial detention center in November 2009 after he was denied medical care for several months. The Magnitsky case was conducted by investigators, whom the lawyer accused of involvement in the theft of 5.4 billion rubles from the state budget. As a result, Magnitsky himself was accused of this crime.

The US Senate will begin discussing legislation on sanctions against officials on the Magnitsky list in April.