Dima Yakovlev Law
Federal Law of 28 December 2012 No.272-FZ "On Sanctions for Individuals Violating Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms of the Citizens of the Russian Federation", popularly known as the Dima Yakovlev Law (Russian: Закон Димы Яковлева), is a law in Russia that defines sanctions against U.S. citizens involved in "violations of the human rights and freedoms of Russian citizens". It creates a list of citizens who are banned from entering Russia, and also allows the government to freeze their assets and investments. The law suspends the activity of politically active non-profit organisations which receive money from American citizens or organisations. It also bans citizens of the United States from adopting children from Russia.
Dima Yakovlev Law | |
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Standard of the president of Russia | |
Long title
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Citation | 272-ФЗ |
Territorial extent | Russian Federation |
Signed by | President Vladimir Putin |
Signed | 28 December 2012 |
Effective | 1 January 2013 |
Legislative history | |
Introduced | 29 December 2012 |
First reading | 21 December 2012 (State Duma) |
Second reading | 27 December 2012 (Federation Council) |
Status: In force |
The law was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 28 December 2012 and took effect on 1 January 2013. The law is informally named after a Russian orphan adopted by a family from Purcellville, Virginia, who died of heat stroke after being left in a parked car for nine hours. The law is described as a response to the Magnitsky Act in the United States, which places sanctions on Russian officials who were involved in a tax scandal exposed by Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky; Magnitsky was alleged to have been handcuffed and tortured while in jail, supported by the official post-mortem expert opinion of the Russian Forensic Medical Examination Center of the Russian Ministry of Health.