Just talkin' 'bout adoption. Who is... Svetlana Ukhnalyova?

[ck4829]

On the Magnitsky List. She was a judge in Moscow's Tverskoi district court. She approved of Sergei Magnitsky's nearly yearlong detention without trial, citing the possibility that he could otherwise flee the country, despite the fact that authorities had confiscated his passport. Ukhnalyova repeatedly denied Magnitsky's complaints about violations of his human and legal rights during his time in detention.

https://www.rferl.org/a/24956509.html
http://rw-infopedia.pbworks.com/w/page/119190081/Svetlana%20Ukhnalyova

More profiles to come every day.

[Igel]

1. Said what she did.

Not really who she is. Some of these judges are True Believers. Some just want to keep their jobs or not screw up their kids' or relatives' chances of keeping their jobs or going to college.

But the "despite the fact that authorities had confiscated his passport" line is a ridiculous premise on which to base the conclusion, "therefore, he could not flee." Perhaps if "he had no money" had been added it would at least have a patina of plausibility.

Passports are only a barrier for those with no money or no contacts or lacking the ingenuity of an underachieving piece of gravel. The Russian border's not nearly as open as the US border, but it's long and officials--by which I mean everybody from the new hire at a check point up to the president--are insanely corrupt on a routine basis.