Rule of Law Accountability Act, then being considered by the US Congress. The draft law was named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Moscow lawyer who uncovered a massive tax-fraud scheme involving several law-enforcement officials and who died in custody of those same officials in 2009 after being tortured and denied medical care. Its purpose was to prevent the issuing of U.S. visas to persons "responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky", (and for "extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights" in Russia) and to freeze access to any U.S.-based assets those persons might hold. The law also extended to cover Russian officials involved in broader acts of corruption and in violations of basic civil liberties. Kara-Murza explained his support for the law by saying that "The prospect of losing access to the West and its financial systems...may well be, for now, the only serious disincentive to corruption and human rights violations by Russian officials." Writing in The National Interest Mark Adomanis warned that the Magnitsky law came with a cost. It had "potential downsides," and was worsening "Russia's already precarious human-rights situation", driving "some of the ever-dwindling number of effective opposition journalists" from the country. In particular he cited the firing of Kara-Murza, although the journalist's employers described his dismissal as part of "a long-planned reorganization". Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, reported Adomanis, "suggested the decision to fire Kara-Murza may have come from an extremely high-ranking official: Alexei Gromov, the deputy head of the presidential administration." An article in July by Peter Baker of The New York Times was devoted largely to the arguments of the law's critics. He did quote Kara-Murza's comment that the bill would hit corrupt officials and human-rights violators "where it hurts, closing access to their ill-gotten gains in the West." On 25 July 2012, Kara-Murza testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. Congress about human-rights abuses in Russia and described the proposed Magnitsky Law as "a pro-Russian bill which provides a much-needed measure of accountability for those who continue to violate the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens." He added: "The Kremlin's reaction to this legislation shows that it hits them precisely where it hurts. I want to take this opportunity to thank Co-Chairmen McGovern and Wolf for their leadership on this issue. I hope the Magnitsky Act is signed into law before the end