POLITICIANS SET TO ENACT JAPAN’S ‘MAGNITSKY ACT’ VS RIGHTS ABUSERS

Japanese lawmakers are launching a multipartisan parliamentary group to establish the Japan version of "the Magnitsky Act," a law that imposes sanctions on foreign individuals or organizations involved in human rights violations.

Former Defense Minister Gen Nakatani of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and House of Representatives member Shiori Yamao of the opposition Democratic Party for the People (DPP) announced the initiative on Jan. 27, Jun Aoki reported for Mainichi Shimbun.

The ruling coalition partner Komeito's Acting Secretary-General Kiyohiko Toyama and lower house member Seiichi Kushida of the conservative opposition Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) were among the lawmakers who attended the meeting of promoters for the legislation held in the Diet that same day. The group is set to hold its first general meeting in early February.

The Magnitsky Act, named after Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in prison after investigating wrongdoing by the Russian government, was enacted in the United States in 2012 to allow the US government to freeze assets and ban entry of individuals and groups involved in human rights violations in Russia.

The law has since been revised to authorize sanctions on any parties regardless of country or region in which human rights violations took place.

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