Hedgefund manager turned human rights activist Bill Browder will share his quest to bring justice to Russian officials involved in corruption, money laundering, and the elimination of political opponents.
Bill Browder has been challenging the Russian authorities with anti-corruption cases since the beginning of this century. In 2009, his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian prison after being severely beaten. Since then, Browder has been campaigning for the Magnitsky Act, legislation that enables the freezing of bank assets belonging to Russian oligarchs.
Time and again, Browder emphasizes: Putin is essentially running a mafia state. His war against Ukraine has little to do with ideology or a desire to restore the Soviet empire. It is all about distraction; war as a strategy to stay in power.
Bill Browder wrote the books Red Notice (2015) and Freezing Order (2022) about the workings of the Russian kleptocracy. In Russia, the country he once fell in love with and invested millions in, Browder is now persona non grata. In De Balie we speak with Browder about Putin, his circle of oligarchs and the war he is waging against Ukraine.
Bill Browder is in the Netherlands at the invitation of the organizers of the symposium “Undermining the Rule of Law in Europe”, which focuses on Pieter Omtzigt’s work in the Council of Europe.
Speakers
How do age-old imperial myths still influence Russian politics, culture and the mindset of its citizens?
Met de oorlogen in Oekraïne en Gaza, een grillige bondgenoot in het Witte Huis en veranderende internationale machtsverhoudingen, doet het buitenland zich gelden tijdens de verkiezingen. Welke rol moet Nederland spelen op het wereldtoneel? Politici gaan in aanloop naar de Kamerverkiezingen in debat in De Balie.
In conversation with Estonia’s former president Toomas Hendrik Ilves
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, eyes have also been turned towards the Baltic states. Will Putin risk invading Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania? We speak with Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the former president of Estonia, who, during his presidency (2006-2016), faced increasing Russian cyberattacks and efforts to destabilize the region.
