MOSCOW, July 12 (RAPSI) - The US Department of State is considering the possibility of expanding the scope of the Magnitsky list, AFP reported on Friday, citing former spokesperson Victoria Nuland.

Nuland made a statement to this effect at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations at her nomination hearing for the next assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs.

Senator John McCain slammed the Russian court's conviction of dead lawyer Sergei Magnitsky for tax evasion. The Tverskoy District Court on Thursday found him guilty of tax evasion in a posthumous trial and closed the case due to his death.

McCain spoke of the possibility of "getting tougher on Russia" and expanding the scope of the Magnitsky list.

Nuland referred to the Russian court ruling as "a travesty of justice," and said that the State Department was already looking into the possibility of expanding the list of names.

The Magnitsky List includes the names of 18 Russian officials who are barred from travelling to the United States. It was published on April 12. The list was named after Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in 2009 during his pre-trial detention in a Moscow remand center, where he was placed on charges of helping Hermitage Capital fund CEO William Browder evade taxes.