[Witness spoke in Russian, interpreted as follows:]
First of all, we are of course grateful for the sanctions that have been imposed on the aggressor state so far. We are grateful for the reaction of the international community, including Canada, to the occupation of Crimea.
I wish there was a similar reaction to the occupation of part of Georgia in 2008. Perhaps that would have prevented the occupation of Crimea. Nevertheless, there are sanctions, but those sanctions are insufficient to make Russia leave the occupied territory.
I think we have to make the price of the occupation for Russia as high as possible. It is already high, but perhaps not as high as it could be.
I know all these sanctions also damage the countries that impose sanctions, especially those countries that neighbour the Russian Federation, because the sanctions affect oil and gas trade and stop the flow of currency. Nevertheless, Russia faces isolation, and it will slowly turn into a North Korea until it's forced to take into account international human rights.
It is very important to impose sanctions because of the repression against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people. As far as sanctions go, we believe that the Magnitsky act should be expanded to include the repressions against the Crimean Tatar people, the indigenous people of Crimea.
We know the names of all the prosecutors and judges who are coming up with these unjust verdicts. It would be great if they were included in the Magnitsky act. I think some of the most effective acts would be to stop buying oil and gas from the Russian Federation and switching Russia out of the SWIFT international banking system.
I think there are many steps that could be undertaken, but I understand that it also comes at a cost to the countries that impose those sanctions.