Posted by Sean on May 24, 2007
The comedy that is the Alexandr Litvinenko murder case took yet another turn to the absurd yesterday when the US House of Representatives began looking a resolution that calls on Russia to fully cooperate with Britain. Apparently, the mighty Empire feels that Russia should extradite Andrei Lugovoi even though the Russian Constitution forbids extradition. I think that if the resolution passes, it will be a good reason for Russia not to comply.
In the meantime, Russian deputy prosecutor general Sabir Kekhlerov issued a reply to the British request to extradite Lugovoi. “Great Britain has the right, if they believe they have proven the guilt of one of our citizens, to send all of the materials to us. If the general prosecutor’s office believes that the British side has presented us with sufficient grounds, they will be given an appropriate legal appraisal,” he told Kommersant. ..read more
Posted by Sean on May 24, 2007
Amnesty International has released its annual “State of the World’s Human Rights.” The report documents and evaluates the status of human rights around the world, providing regional and individual country reports. The report is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.
In the report’s forward, Irene Khan, Amnesty’s Secretary General, describes the growing climate of fear that envelopes the globe. “Today far too many leaders are trampling freedom and trumpeting an ever-widening range of fears,” she writes, “fear of being swamped by migrants; fear of “the other” and of losing one’s identity; fear of being blown up by terrorists; fear of “rogue states” with weapons of mass destruction.” Moreover, this fear “thrives on myopic and cowardly leadership” who use real reasons for fear to promulgate “policies and strategies that erode the rule of law and human rights, increase inequalities, ..read more
