Dan Gertler, Glencore’s partner and connection in Congo. PHOTOGRAPHER: SIMON DAWSON/BLOOMBERG
DAN GERTLER, MAGNITSKY, JUNE 15, 2018 AND A SET OF ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dear Reader:
We reiterate that this is an opinion based upon research, public filings and other information available online as well as a wide array of analyses. Our contentions are not to be taken as doctrine. They are opinions.
Within that Opinion, we also commented on the date of Glencore’s victorious well-publicized announcement, made on June 15, 2018 and the significance of that date. On that date Glencore proclaimed that it had resolved payment issues with Dan Gertler. Those payment issues were adversely affecting shareholders in Glencore, a publicly traded company; and following that announcement shareholders celebrated. Dan Gertler was allegedly due hundreds of millions of dollars which were being tied up; and the uncertainty was holding the stock price hostage. The announcement set it free.
We remarked that in the context of those June 15 announcements, Glencore along with the help of the US and Swiss governments, had come up with a workaround that would allow them the ability to pay Gertler without violating the Magnitsky Act sanctions. What was remarkable to us was another announcement made on the same exact day as the Glencore announcement.
And here is where we made an error. We mistakenly stated that both the Glencore Announcement and the US Treasury Magnitsky Sanctions were announced on the same day. We were unequivocally mistaken as to the dates. The announcement of that day, June 15, 2018 by the US Treasury, were the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Sanctions.
Indeed, Magnitsky had been announced by the Department of the Treasury on December 17, 2017, seven months earlier. For your perusal we have posted the Magnitsky Sanctions Notice below and highlighted the relevant section.
The Treasury Department announcement we posted yesterday was actually the announcement of the OFAC sanctions against entities related to Dan Gertler.
The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax accountantSergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009.
Since 2016 the bill, which applies globally, authorizes the US government to sanction those who it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the U.S.[1]
The main intention of the law was to punish Russian officials who were thought to be responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky by prohibiting their entrance to the United States and their use of its banking system.[9] The legislation was taken up by a Senate panel the next week, sponsored by Senator Ben Cardin, and cited in a broader review of the mounting tensions in the international relationship.[10][11] Browder later wrote that the Magnitsky Act found quick bipartisan support because the corruption exposed by Magnitsky was blatant beyond dispute, and “[t]here wasn’t a pro-Russian-torture-and-murder lobby to oppose it.”[6]p. 329
In November 2012, provisions of the Magnitsky bill were attached to a House bill (H.R. 6156) normalizing trade with Russia (i.e., repealing the Jackson–Vanik amendment) and Moldova.[12] On December 6, 2012, the U.S. Senate passed the House version of the law, 92–4.[9] The law was signed by President Barack Obama on December 14, 2012.[13][14][15][16][17]
In 2016, Congress enacted the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US government to sanction foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere in the world.[18]
Generally speaking, the Magnitsky Act is intended as a means to control the flow of money generated from activities that violate human rights. While arguably Dan Gertler is not a “government official” as strictly defined by the Act, his place in the morally challenged list of Magnitsky sanctioned individuals is his connection to Joseph Kabila’s activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is not the only mineral wealthy impoverished nation where Gertler’s activities provide a thriving source of profiteering.
In no uncertain terms, businesses and partnerships that profit from digging and mining in the DRC (amongst others) while the Congolese people work in deplorable conditions, starve, have little to no access to healthcare and suffer all manner of indignities fit the definition for Magnitsky Act purposes. Whether or not Gertler got a fair shake is up to his attorneys to litigate. Alan Dershowitz, one of Gertler’s attorneys/lobbyists has commented that he believes that Gertler is being wrongly sanctioned. He may be right. That’s for him to defend.
But if you assume for a second that the Sanctions are a form of justice, we find ourselves asking how Gertler has been able to walk sanctioned waters without drowning. It is inconceivable that he has not had a top official negotiating to part those seas. That is the genesis of this opinion.
In theory, if the Magnitsky Act were to be applied in spirit (and not just in faulty drafting), it would prevent someone engaging in any activities profiting from human rights abuses to have access to any capital, regardless of currency. Unfortunately, the Magnitsky Act, like many other US laws, their related acts or sanctions, have loopholes. The Magnitsky Act has no shortage of holes for educated treasure-hunters and they are best manipulated, like many US finance and tax laws, by the uber-wealthy. Mere mortals simply don’t have the advantages of lobbying teams. The loophole within Magnitsky that Glencore and Gerler were able to circumvent was the focus on business transacting and rendering payment in US Currency – the Dollar, the ever famous Greenback.
As we understand it, under Magnitsky a payment not made through a US company and/or in US Dollars, does not trigger sanctions. And, well… human rights be damned. Such is the case with the Glencore deal.
The US government, the Swiss government and others structured an artfully created carve-out that allowed Glencore to be unencumbered by its association with Gertler, allowed Gertler to retain access to hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly due and owing to him and provided Glencore’s shareholders some comfort. Our view is that someone with a savvy sense of finances, the law and intergovernmental relationships was responsible for orchestrating the shifting tides, lobbying the US President to sign the OFAC paperwork on a particular date, and drafting and negotiating the Glencore/Gertler payment deal. In our opinion, the person or people had to have a vested financial interest in the outcome of those negotiations, enough legal savvy to understand the nuances, enough inside information into Glencore’s activities and the ear of the US Government.
The timing of the OFAC announcement on the same day as the Glencore announcement was either a really stupid mistake made by super savvy business-people, a misunderstanding, a Glencore leak or a poorly timed coincidence. We do not believe in coincidences.
To the OFAC announcement, Consistent with Magnitsky Act, OFAC can also block the transfer of assets between related entities of those individuals sanctioned under Magnitsky. In Gertler’s case, the “not exhaustive” list which OFAC announced on June 15, 2018 includes entities with which Gertler is associated; and as of June 15, 2018 the list of entities had been expanded to 34. Interestingly, Glencore, which has acknowledged time and time again a partnership with Gertler, has not had its assets frozen under OFAC.
That simple reality makes us wonder, who in the US government, the Treasury Department, the “Powers that Be” in these decisions has money invested in Glencore, a publicly traded company, such that Glencore has so far escaped unscathed and is, indeed, able to both continue to transact even with its associations to Gertler, and to pay Gertler, so long as those payments are not rendered in US Dollars. It is also able to continue its own mining activities unhindered.
Moreover, and perhaps more interesting, we note that regardless of which notice circulated on June 15, 2018, it is utterly inconceivable whomever negotiated that deal did not know the sanctions were coming down the pipeline and was not working on behalf someone with a vested financial interest. The shares of stock, as far as we have seen, went wild during the week immediately following the announcement.
To our view, there are two other very interesting points that can be made here. First, why was Glencore not itself sanctioned under the US Treasury’s announcement of June 15, 2018? It would seem that if the US Treasury sanctions were worth their weight in salt where Gertler is concerned, Glencore should have had its assets frozen with the 34 other Gertler associations. We are sure there are a valuable set of reasons why Glencore did not meet the criteria; but we can’t think of any.
Second, are there not tax implications of a decision to exclude payments under Magnitsky?
By our analysis (and it could be wrong), Magnitsky Act money, being money generated in US Dollars, is taxable under US tax laws. It is deemed a part of the long-arm jurisdiction of the US tax system, however much we may disagree with that long-arm. In contrast, once money is deemed to be outside of the scope of Magnitsky, that money is likely also outside the scope of the US Department of Finance’s taxing authority.
As such, it is our belief (and we could be wrong), that not only did Gertler and Glencore’s negotiator find a loophole to allow payment to Gertler, but also found a loophole for Gertler to avoid paying US taxes on this money. Moreover, we are guessing that he has also managed to skirt paying taxes on that hundreds of millions of dollars in any other jurisdiction. It is likely all quite legal and all a function of how the money was characterized in order to avoid Magnitsky.
Our only possible conclusion under the totality of all of the informaiton is that senior government officials in multiple countries were involved in the negotiations that both allowed Gertler to continue operating as though nothing had happened, wholly unencumbered by Magnitsky and that allowed Glencore to continue its operations, given its association with Gertler and Kabila.
We reiterate that this is only an opinion. It is a theory, based upon publicly available information, logical conclusions and some guesswork and should be taken as nothing more.
What a time to own the world’s most valuable cobalt mine, and to have to fight to keep it.
A dozen years ago the future of technology bounced out of a remote corner of Africa on the back of a truck, along with a world of potential trouble. Both, embodied in the same load of rock, landed in the hands of Ivan Glasenberg, chief executive officer of Glencore Plc, the world’s largest middleman for the raw materials that fuel, feed, and underpin civilization. Glasenberg’s obsession was copper, because China’s appetite for it was insatiable, with copper wire electrifying the nation’s rising cities and running through the appliances its factories sold to the West. The metal’s price had quadrupled in less than three years, triggering a global frenzy. Miners blasted it from Chilean mountaintops and dug it from the African earth as fast as they could.
At a processing plant in Zambia, Glencore was buying up all the ore containing copper it could get its hands on when technicians noticed something extraordinary. One trader consistently rolled in with rocks showing levels of purity that were off the charts—not just for copper, but also for the blue metal cobalt. Glencore’s men asked the trader to take them to the source, and Glasenberg joined the contingent that trekked to the site some weeks later. The trader led them up a bumpy track of red earth that crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo and led to a meadow covered with bluish-purple flowers. Locals dug up rocks by hand and shoveled them into threadbare sacks. The place was called Mutanda.
In 2007, Glencore bought a large stake in Mutanda, assumed operational control, and fenced off the property. The subsistence miners who were locked out had unwittingly discovered the richest vein of cobalt on earth. Cobalt is essential for the batteries that power electric vehicles and our ubiquitous mobile devices, and Congo produces two-thirds of the world’s supply—it’s the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age, in the words of one analyst. With demand skyrocketing, the price of the metal has tripled since mid-2016, and at one point had quadrupled. Mutanda produces more cobalt than any other mine, and the only one likely to overtake it anytime soon is nearby and also owned by Glencore.
Glasenberg couldn’t have known just how important cobalt would become when he invested in Mutanda, but he did know Congo would yield something special. And he understood that in a country as physically and politically unnavigable as Congo, Glencore would need good relations with its temperamental government. The solution he struck upon served the company well for many years: He teamed up with a brash Israeli diamond trader named Dan Gertler, who’d been forging bonds with Congolese elites for a decade.
Glencore’s Katanga mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its sister mine, Mutanda, is also owned by Glencore. PHOTOGRAPHER: SIMON DAWSON/BLOOMBERG
Just six months ago, Glasenberg sounded confident that the crowning moment of his journey remained ahead, reminding shareholders of predictions that the world would need to triple cobalt production by 2030 to meet demand. “We’re the best placed of all the large-cap companies to take advantage of this electric vehicle phenomenon,” he said at Glencore’s annual meeting in May. But in July that promise clouded. Glencore announced that the U.S. Department of Justice had subpoenaed documents and other records related to its Congolese investments and other deals, and was examining its compliance with U.S. laws on foreign corruption and money laundering. The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office is also considering whether to open an investigation, people familiar with the agency’s thinking told Bloomberg Businessweek. These actions do not necessarily mean that the company committed any wrongdoing or that charges will be filed. Glencore and Glasenberg declined to comment for this article.
At the center of it all: a two-decade swath of corruption allegedly cut across Congo by Gertler. Public and confidential records, some of them contained in the Paradise Papers obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, as well as interviews with three dozen sources, including government officials, people who’ve worked on Glencore’s Congolese operations, and mining executives, show the business relationship between Gertler and Glasenberg is deeper than was previously known. It’s becoming apparent that Glasenberg’s ties with Gertler could threaten not only Glencore’s cobalt dreams but also, perhaps, Glasenberg’s career and legacy at the very moment he appears poised to own the future.
New Executive Order Implements Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act,
Provides for Treasury Sanctions Against Malign Actors Worldwide
Washington – Today, the Trump Administration launched a new sanctions regime targeting human rights abusers and corrupt actors around the world. Building on the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act passed by Congress last year, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order (Order) today declaring a national emergency with respect to serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world and providing for the imposition of sanctions on actors engaged in these malign activities. In an Annex to the Order, the President imposed sanctions on 13 serious human rights abusers and corrupt actors. In addition, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), acting on behalf of the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, imposed sanctions on an additional 39 affiliated individuals and entities under the newly-issued Order.
“Today, the United States is taking a strong stand against human rights abuse and corruption globally by shutting these bad actors out of the U.S. financial system. Treasury is freezing their assets and publicly denouncing the egregious acts they’ve committed, sending a message that there is a steep price to pay for their misdeeds,” said Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. “At the direction of President Trump, Treasury and our interagency partners will continue to take decisive and impactful actions to hold accountable those who abuse human rights, perpetrate corruption, and undermine American ideals.”
As a result of today’s actions, all of the assets within U.S. jurisdiction of the individuals and entities included in the Annex to the Order or designated by OFAC are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Further details on these designations are included below.
YAHYA JAMMEH
Yahya Jammeh (Jammeh), the former President of The Gambia who came to power in 1994 and stepped down in 2017, has a long history of engaging in serious human rights abuses and corruption. Jammeh created a terror and assassination squad called the Junglers that answered directly to him. Jammeh used the Junglers to threaten, terrorize, interrogate, and kill individuals whom Jammeh assessed to be threats. During Jammeh’s tenure, he ordered the Junglers to kill a local religious leader, journalists, members of the political opposition, and former members of the government, among others. Jammeh used the Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA) as a repressive tool of the regime – torturing political opponents and journalists. Throughout his presidency, Jammeh routinely ordered the abuse and murder of those he suspected of undermining his authority.
During his tenure, Jammeh used a number of corrupt schemes to plunder The Gambia’s state coffers or otherwise siphon off state funds for his personal gain. Ongoing investigations continue to reveal Jammeh’s large-scale theft from state coffers prior to his departure. According to The Gambia’s Justice Ministry, Jammeh personally, or through others acting under his instructions, directed the unlawful withdrawal of at least $50 million of state funds. The Gambian Government has since taken action to freeze Jammeh’s assets within The Gambia.
In a related action, OFAC designated Africada Airways, Kanilai Group International, Kanilai Worni Family Farms Ltd, Royal Africa Capital Holding Ltd, Africada Financial Service & Bureau de Change Ltd, Africada Micro-Finance Ltd, Africada Insurance Company, Kora Media Corporation Ltd, Atlantic Pelican Company Ltd, Palm Grove Africa Dev’t Corp. Ltd, Patriot Insurance Brokers Co. Ltd, and Royal Africa Securities Brokerage Co Ltd.
ROBERTO JOSE RIVAS REYES
As President of Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council, drawing a reported government salary of $60,000 per year, Roberto Jose Rivas Reyes (Rivas) has been accused in the press of amassing sizeable personal wealth, including multiple properties, private jets, luxury vehicles, and a yacht. Rivas has been described by a Nicaraguan Comptroller General as “above the law,” with investigations into his corruption having been blocked by Nicaraguan government officials. He has also perpetrated electoral fraud undermining Nicaragua’s electoral institutions.
DAN GERTLER
Dan Gertler (Gertler) is an international businessman and billionaire who has amassed his fortune through hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Gertler has used his close friendship with DRC President Joseph Kabila to act as a middleman for mining asset sales in the DRC, requiring some multinational companies to go through Gertler to do business with the Congolese state. As a result, between 2010 and 2012 alone, the DRC reportedly lost over $1.36 billion in revenues from the underpricing of mining assets that were sold to offshore companies linked to Gertler. The failure of the DRC to publish the full details of one of the sales prompted the International Monetary Fund to halt loans to the DRC totaling $225 million. In 2013, Gertler sold to the DRC government for $150 million the rights to an oil block that Gertler purchased from the government for just $500,000, a loss of $149.5 million in potential revenue. Gertler has acted for or on behalf of Kabila, helping Kabila organize offshore leasing companies.
In a related action, OFAC designated Pieter Albert Deboutte, Fleurette Properties Limited, Fleurette Holdings Netherlands B.V., Gertler Family Foundation, Oil of DR Congo SPRL, Jarvis Congo SARL, International Diamond Industries, D.G.D. Investments Ltd., D.G.I. Israel Ltd, Proglan Capital Ltd, Emaxon Finance International Inc., Africa Horizons Investment Limited, Caprikat Limited, Foxwhelp Limited, Caprikat and Foxwhelp SARL, Lora Enterprises Limited, Zuppa Holdings Limited, Orama Properties Ltd, DGI Mining Ltd, and Rozaro Development Limited.
SLOBODAN TESIC
Slobodan Tesic (Tesic) is among the biggest dealers of arms and munitions in the Balkans; he spent nearly a decade on the United Nations (UN) Travel Ban List for violating UN sanctions against arms exports to Liberia. In order to secure arms contracts with various countries, Tesic would directly or indirectly provide bribes and financial assistance to officials. Tesic also took potential clients on high-value vacations, paid for their children’s education at western schools or universities, and used large bribes to secure contracts. Tesic owns or controls two Serbian companies, Partizan Tech and Technoglobal Systems DOO Beograd, and two Cyprus-based companies, Grawit Limited and Charso Limited. Tesic negotiates the sale of weapons via Charso Limited and used Grawit Limited as a mechanism to fund politicians.
In a related action, OFAC designated Preduzece Za Trgovinu Na Veliko I Malo Partizan Tech DOO Beograd-Savski Venac (“Partizan Tech”), Charso Limited, Grawit Limited, and Technoglobal Systems DOO Beograd.
MAUNG MAUNG SOE
In his former role as chief of the Burmese Army’s Western command, Maung Maung Soe oversaw the military operation in Burma’s Rakhine State responsible for widespread human rights abuse against Rohingya civilians in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. The Secretary of State determined on November 22 that the situation in northern Rakhine state in Burma constituted ethnic cleansing. The United States Government examined credible evidence of Maung Maung Soe’s activities, including allegations against Burmese security forces of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages. Security operations have led to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing across Burma’s border with Bangladesh. In August 2017, witnesses reportedly described mass killings and arson attacks by the Burmese Army and Burmese Border Guard Police, both then under Maung Maung Soe’s command in northern Rakhine State. In August 2017, soldiers described as being from the Western Command allegedly entered a village and reportedly separated the inhabitants by gender. According to witnesses, soldiers opened fire on the men and older boys and committed multiple acts of rape. Many of the women and younger children were reportedly also shot. Other witnesses described soldiers setting huts on fire with villagers inside.
BENJAMIN BOL MEL
Benjamin Bol Mel (Bol Mel) is the President of ABMC Thai-South Sudan Construction Company Limited (ABMC), and has served as the Chairman of the South Sudan Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture. Bol Mel has also served as South Sudanese President Salva Kiir’s principal financial advisor, has been Kiir’s private secretary, and was perceived within the government as being close to Kiir and the local business community. Several officials were linked to ABMC in spite of a constitutional prohibition on top government officials transacting commercial business or earning income from outside the government.
Bol Mel oversees ABMC, which has been awarded contracts worth tens of millions of dollars by the Government of South Sudan. ABMC allegedly received preferential treatment from high-level officials, and the Government of South Sudan did not hold a competitive process for selecting ABMC to do roadwork on several roads in Juba and throughout South Sudan. Although this roadwork had been completed only a few years before, the government budgeted tens of millions of dollars more for maintenance of the same roads.
In a related action, OFAC designated ABMC Thai-South Sudan Construction Company Limited and Home and Away LTD.
MUKHTAR HAMID SHAH
Shah is a Pakistani surgeon specializing in kidney transplants who Pakistani police believe to be involved in kidnapping, wrongful confinement, and the removal of and trafficking in human organs. As an owner of the Kidney Centre in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Shah was involved in the kidnapping and detention of, and removal of kidneys from, Pakistani laborers. Shah was arrested by Pakistani authorities in connection with an October 2016 incident in which 24 individuals from Punjab were found to be held against their will. Impoverished and illiterate Pakistanis from the countryside were reportedly lured to Rawalpindi with the promise of a job, and imprisoned for weeks. Doctors from the Kidney Centre were allegedly planning to steal their kidneys in order to sell them for a large profit. Police state that one of the accused arrested in connection with the events estimated that more than 400 people were imprisoned in the apartment at various times.
GULNARA KARIMOVA
Gulnara Karimova (Karimova), daughter of former Uzbekistan leader Islam Karimov, headed a powerful organized crime syndicate that leveraged state actors to expropriate businesses, monopolize markets, solicit bribes, and administer extortion rackets. In July 2017, the Uzbek Prosecutor General’s Office charged Karimova with directly abetting the criminal activities of an organized crime group whose assets were worth over $1.3 billion. Karimova was also charged with hiding foreign currency through various means, including the receipt of payoffs in the accounts of offshore companies controlled by an organized criminal group, the illegal sale of radio frequencies and land parcels, siphoning off state funds through fraudulent dividend payments and stock sales, the illegal removal of cash, the non-collection of currency earnings, and the import of goods at inflated prices. Karimova was also found guilty of embezzlement of state funds, theft, tax evasion, and concealment of documents. Karimova laundered the proceeds of corruption back to her own accounts through a complex network of subsidiary companies and segregated portfolio funds. Karimova’s targeting of successful businesses to maximize her gains and enrich herself in some cases destroyed Uzbek competitors. Due in part to Karimova’s corrupt activities in the telecom sector alone, Uzbeks paid some of the highest rates in the world for cellular service.
ANGEL RONDON RIJO
Angel Rondon Rijo (Rondon) is a politically connected businessman and lobbyist in the Dominican Republic who funneled money from Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company, to Dominican officials, who in turn awarded Odebrecht projects to build highways, dams, and other projects. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Odebrecht is a Brazil-based global construction conglomerate that has pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and agreed to a criminal fine of $4.5 billion. In 2017, Rondon was arrested by Dominican authorities and charged with corruption for the bribes paid by Odebrecht.
ARTEM CHAYKA
Artem Chayka (Chayka) is the son of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation and has leveraged his father’s position and ability to award his subordinates to unfairly win state-owned assets and contracts and put pressure on business competitors. In 2014, reconstruction of a highway began, and Chayka’s competitor for supplying materials to the project suddenly fell under prosecutorial scrutiny. An anonymous complaint letter with a fake name initiated a government investigation against the competitor. Government inspectors did not produce any documents confirming the legality of the inspections, and did not inform subjects of the investigation of their rights. Traffic police were deployed along the route to the competitor, weight control stations were suddenly dispatched, and trees were dug up and left to block entrances. The competitor was forced to shut down, leaving Chayka in a position to non-competitively work on the highway project. Also in 2014, Chayka bid on a state-owned stone and gravel company, and was awarded the contract. His competitor contested the results and filed a lawsuit. Prosecutors thereafter raided his home. After Chayka’s competitor withdrew the lawsuit, prosecutors dropped all charges.
GAO YAN
Gao Yan (Gao) was the Beijing Public Security Bureau Chaoyang Branch director. During Gao’s tenure, human rights activist Cao Shunli was detained at Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Chaoyang Branch where, in March 2014, Cao fell into a coma and died from organ failure, her body showing signs of emaciation and neglect. Cao had been arrested after attempting to board a flight to attend human rights training in Geneva, Switzerland. She was refused visitation by her lawyer, and was refused medical treatment while she suffered from tuberculosis.
SERGEY KUSIUK
Sergey Kusiuk (Kusiuk) was commander of an elite Ukrainian police unit, the Berkut. Ukraine’s Special Investigations Department investigating crimes against activists identified Kusiuk as a leader of an attack on peaceful protesters on November 30, 2013, while in charge of 290 Berkut officers, many of whom took part in the beating of activists. Kusiuk has been named by the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office as an individual who took part in the killings of activists on Kyiv’s Independence Square in February 2014. Kusiuk ordered the destruction of documentation related to the events, and has fled Ukraine and is now in hiding in Moscow, Russia, where he was identified dispersing protesters as part of a Russian riot police unit in June 2017.
JULIO ANTONIO JUAREZ RAMIREZ
Julio Antonio Juarez Ramirez (Juarez) is a Guatemalan Congressman accused of ordering an attack in which two journalists were killed and another injured. Guatemalan prosecutors and a UN-sponsored commission investigating corruption in Guatemala allege that Juarez hired hit men to kill Prensa Libre correspondent Danilo Efrain Zapan Lopez, whose reporting had hurt Juarez’s plan to run for reelection. Fellow journalist Federico Benjamin Salazar of Radio Nuevo Mundo was also killed in the attack and is considered a collateral victim. Another journalist was wounded in the attack.
YANKUBA BADJIE
Yankuba Badjie (Badjie) was appointed as the Director General of The Gambia’s NIA in December 2013 and is alleged to have presided over abuses throughout his tenure. During Badjie’s tenure as Director General, abuses were prevalent and routine within the NIA, consisting of physical trauma and other mistreatment. In April 2016, Badjie oversaw the detention and murder of Solo Sandeng, a member of the political opposition. In February 2017, Badjie was charged along with eight subordinates with Sandeng’s murder. Prior to becoming Director General, Badjie served as the NIA Deputy Director General for Operations. Prior to becoming a member of the NIA’s senior leadership, Badjie led a paramilitary group known as the Junglers to the NIA’s headquarters to beat a prisoner for approximately three hours, leaving the prisoner unconscious and with broken hands. The following day, Badjie and the Junglers returned to beat the prisoner again, leaving him on the verge of death.
LOSTMESSIAH 