In a letter led by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04)—joined by Senators Roger Wicker (MI), Mike Lee (UT), and Marco Rubio (FL)— a coalition of leading human rights lawmakers has requested that a hold be placed on U.S. funding of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), for its apparent complicity in the destruction of a Russian family that fled to Guatemala.

     The letter requested that the hold be placed pending congressional oversight and investigation of CICIG, amid serious and substantial allegations that the organization has played a key role in the jailing and gross mistreatment of the Bitkovs—a family who fled for their lives in 2008 from Putin’s Russia, only to be tracked there by the Kremlin and prosecuted in Guatemalan courts. (Click here to see the request letter and the congressional notification.).

     “There has been little congressional oversight of CICIG – it’s clearly time for that to change,” said Rep. Smith. “When Kremlin cliques use a UN agency to pursue their vendettas abroad, it’s time for Congress to demand that the wrong be righted, that the agency be held accountable for what happened, and for Congress to put appropriate oversight mechanisms in place.”

     On Friday, April 27, Rep. Chris Smith chaired a hearing of the Helsinki Commission, “The Long Arm of Injustice: Did a UN Commission Founded to Fight Corruption Help the Kremlin Destroy a Russian Family?” Witnesses at the hearing provided extensive testimony outlining CICIG’s role in prosecuting the Bitkovs in Guatemala.

     The Kremlin had initiated proceedings against the Bitkovs – which were taken up with a vengeance and in extremely suspicious circumstances by CICIG, working in conjunction with a Russian bank VTB. In January, Igor Bitkov, the father, was sentenced to 19 years in prison, Irina, his wife, to 14 years, and Anastasia, their daughter, to 14 years, although Guatemala’s constitutional court found they could be charged with nothing more than administrative violations.

     The tragedy of the Bitkovs has been covered by the Wall Street Journal and National Review, which also reported indications of CICIG’s collusion with the bank VTB to target the Bitkovs.

     (Click here to see the hearing transcript.)