Human Rights
Sunday 27 January 2019
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“Demanding from the Russian side answers to queries by investigators that seemingly have already been fully answered by Russia, the Dutch authorities simply categorically refuse to give up their own secrets, which could be useful in the course of investigation.”
While the Joint Investigation Team has not shared with Russia all of the material from its ongoing investigation of the MH-17 shoot-down, they have concluded Russia is to blame for the downing, and say Moscow has not fully responded to the Joint Investigative Team requests. -
“The new American fashion is hostages. Back at the beginning of the 21st century, only bandits and terrorists took hostages. They have a goal -- they seize a person or several and demand the fulfillment of their wishes from others.”
None of the Russian people Kiselyov names are “hostages.” One was convicted in court, another pleaded guilty, and one has not even been arrested. Reasonable protests have been made in the fourth case, but there have been no demands from the U.S. as terms for release. -
“I note that we’ve never, even in the days of tsarist Russia, killed people for dissent. This, by the way, is the great strength of our people.”
Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union have persecuted dissidents, sometimes using capital punishment. Modern Russia has abolished the death penalty, although a number of dissidents and journalists have been murdered, their cases remaining unsolved. -
“In December 2018, in the Odessa region, unknown persons organized a pogrom at a church in the village of Semenovka, Belgorod-Dniester district. The attackers stole donations and desecrated the church premises.”
The incident in the Odessa region was totally unrelated to the fire in Kyiv, and it was an act of vandalism.” No motive has been established. In Kyiv, police detained a 24-year-old homeless man who is accused of setting fire to some mattresses. -
“This is an absolute lie, without a grain of truth, not a single percent of reality. There were not and could not have been any detentions on the grounds of sexual orientation during this period in the Chechen Republic.”
The New Year has brought fresh claims of LGBTI detentions in Chechnya, which local authorities have denied. But there is a lack of transparency in a country that allows no independent media, where independent investigations are stifled -- hindering efforts to determine what is happening. -
“It’s a provocation, specifically to coerce the Russian delegation to slam the door and pull out of PACE.”
The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly's letter sent to Russia and all other member states proved Slutsky’s claim was false. The letter said all PACE delegations should include at least “one member of the under-represented sex appointed as a representative.” -
"Meanwhile, the investigation is still not allowed to tell the public where S. (Sergei) and Y. (Yulia) Skripal were, and what they were doing after they drove from their home in the direction of Porton Down laboratory with phones supposedly turned off on the morning of March 4."
The road on which the Skripals were spotted leads to Porton Down, but it also leads to the cemetery where Sergei’s wife and son are buried. It was established long ago that Sergei and his daughter drove to visit their graves. -
“#FreeMariaButina is a showcase that exposes all bias & hypocrisy of #feminist agenda, actively promoted in some western countries … #MeToo someone?”
The Russian Embassy in Canada has tried to tie the conspiracy case of Maria Butina to the Me Too movement against sexual harassment and assault. The embassy said her conviction shows the “bias and hypocritical” nature of western feminism. But Butina’s prosecution has no link to #metoo or feminism. -
“Now about Wagner and what people are doing. Everyone must stay within the law, everyone. … We can ban private security activity in general, but one has only has to do this and, I think, they will come to you with a large number of petitions, demanding protection of this labor market. We have almost a million people working there. If this Wagner group is violating something, then the Prosecutor General’s Office should give a legal assessment.”
Wagner -- which has enjoyed support from the Russian defense establishment and is most likely a creation of the Russian Defense Ministry -- is in violation of the Russian law banning mercenary activity. -
"We should treat the representatives of all religions in the same way - this is true, but still, it is also necessary to take into account the country and the society in which we live. True, this does not mean at all that we should include representatives of religious communities in some destructive, or even in terrorist organizations. Of course, this is complete nonsense, you need to carefully deal with it. Here I agree with you."
Incidents of state persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia have been recorded as far back as 2007. The Russian Supreme Court designated the church as an “extremist organization” in April 2017. Is it really possible that Vladimir Putin knew nothing about this? -
“I have reasons to assume that the goal of the [detention] conditions that were created for her was to break her will and make her admit to something that she most probably did not commit."
While a debate rages within the U.S. regarding the country’s plea bargaining system and the use of solitary confinement, there is no evidence that Maria Butina was faced with circumstances that deviate from current norms in the U.S. criminal justice system. -
“The Friday airstrikes of the US-led Coalition have completely destroyed a hospital in the Syrian city of Hajin in the eastern Deir ez-Zor province, Ikhbariya broadcaster reported.”
The original ‘report’ of destruction emerged from Islamic State media, was picked up by Syrian media and later the Russian state media outlet. The hospital in question was still standing as of December 9. An explosion was reported in the hospital that day, but what caused it is unclear.