In the event of the death of the third president of Georgia, Mykhailo Saakashvili, in prison, international sanctions may hit the first persons of the state. American financier, author of the "Magnitsky Act" William (Bill) Browder stated this in an interview with SOVA.

 "I don't want to make any predictions until I get the evidence [of Saakashvili's poisoning]. It all depends on what we get. The first wave of sanctions will affect the middle or lower echelon. If Mykhailo Saakashvili dies in prison, then the sanctions will affect high-ranking officials, the first persons.

 I think the West will take very tough measures against the Georgian government if he dies in prison," said Browder.

 He also added that when someone gets on the Magnitsky List, it has a devastating effect. "It destroys their lives. Anyone we add to the list can no longer do business in any country in the world. It is impossible or almost impossible to travel to other countries. Open bank accounts. The assets are no longer in their location. They are experiencing a kind of fiscal death. Everything they once had no longer belongs to them," warned the author of the Magnitsky Act.

 According to Browder, such sanctions are a very powerful lever, and many people do not understand this "until they wake up one day and find their name on the sanctions list."

 William Browder is the founder and CEO of the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management, for which Russian auditor Sergei Magnitsky worked. He revealed a scheme of large-scale embezzlement of budget funds, but he himself found himself under the consequences - the auditor was accused of helping to evade paying taxes. In 2009, Magnitsky died in the Matroska Tysha pre-trial detention center after 11 months of arrest.

 Browder initiated the adoption of the "Magnitsky Act" in the United States. It provides for personal sanctions against persons responsible for violations of human rights and the rule of law in Russia.