Magnitsky's mother thanks Obama for legislation

[January 25, 2013]  MOSCOW (AP) -- The mother of a whistle-blowing Russian lawyer who died in prison is thanking President Barack Obama for a U.S. law targeting Russian officials deemed to be human rights violators involved in her son's death.

Sergei Magnitsky died in jail of untreated pancreatitis in 2009 after accusing Russian officials of stealing $230 from the state. The case has angered both Russian activists and the West, and in December, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in Magnitsky's name, calling for sanctions against officials deemed to be connected with human rights abuses.

Natalya Magnitskaya said Thursday she is grateful to Obama for facilitating the adoption of the bill saying that it "will somehow keep my son's memory."

She also criticized Moscow's decision to bar Americans from adopting Russian children in retaliation.

[Associated Press]

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