Kremlin critic says ‘struggle just beginning’ as he is knighted
Sir Bill Browder began his campaign against human rights abuses and corruption in 2009 after the death of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in Moscow.
A staunch Kremlin critic described as “Putin’s number one enemy” said the “struggle is just beginning” as he was knighted at Buckingham Palace.
Sir William “Bill” Browder was knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours after years of lobbying governments to introduce sanctions against human rights violators and kleptocrats.
His company Hermitage Capital Management was once the largest foreign investor in Russia.
Sir Bill began his campaign work in 2009 following the death of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow jail after exposing a tax fraud involving Russian officials.
Since then, Sir Bill has led the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign which lobbies governments to impose visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and corrupt officials.
The British-American financier and activist was made a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George by the Princess Royal during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Thursday for “services to human rights, anti-corruption, and international affairs”.
Speaking after the ceremony, he said: “This is an award to recognise the fight that I’ve waged for 15 years for human rights and for justice after the murder of my lawyer Sergei Magnistky in Russian custody.
“I dedicate this honour to all the other brave opposition activists who have stood up to oppression and lost their lives – people like Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, and many others.”
Mr Navalny was a vocal campaigner against Vladimir Putin and spoke out against official corruption in Russia.
He died in a remote Arctic prison in February this year while serving a 19-year sentence on several charges, including running an extremist group, which he said were politically motivated.
He was jailed after returning in 2021 from Germany where he was recuperating from a nerve agent poisoning he blamed on the Kremlin, and was since given three prison terms.
Russian officials have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
Boris Nemtsov, another prominent opposition politician, was assassinated on Moscow’s Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in 2015.
Sir Bill, who is the author of Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s No. 1 Enemy, said: “This honour is just a milestone in a continued struggle for human rights and justice.
“There’s so many terrible things going on right now that I need to work on and continue to work on, in relation to the war in Ukraine, to human rights abuses all over the world.”
He added: “The struggle is just beginning – it’s not new nor over.
“I hope this recognition makes me more effective and a better human rights activist, and hopefully I can help more people.”
