That’s when those corrupt officials came after him and his company, he says. He was declared “persona non grata” and denied re-entry into the country. Russian officials charged Browder with tax evasion and corruption and moved to seize his company. He got all his at-risk employees out of the country -- except one. Magnitsky stayed, believing that, as a lawyer, he was safe from persecution. He was wrong. He was arrested, tortured and murdered in a Russian prison.
The death of Magnitsky, whom Browder calls “the bravest man I’ve ever known” and to whom the book is dedicated, leads Browder on a crusade for justice and eventually takes him to international human rights groups, the U.S. government and the halls of Congress.
During that time, he is indicted in Russia and is sued for libel in Britain by the corrupt officials he names. Russia seeks a “Red Notice” (an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol) against him that is later rejected and even attempts to interfere with actions by Congress.
Browder finally gets the justice he has sought for Magnitsky -- by having a law passed in the U.S. punishing those Russians implicated in his book. Several other European countries follow suit. Vladimir Putin retaliates by banning adoptions of Russian orphans by Americans.
Browder writes that Russia has become a nation with no rule of law, but a nation ruled by men -- and that they are crooks.
William L. Haacker is an award-winning journalist and editor who has worked for various New Jersey newspapers including Gannett New Jersey.