Rights, Freedoms and Repression Woman whose soup run fed 250 homeless in Dublin told to cease or face €300k fine 21:35 Feb 07 2 comments Germany cannot give up it's Nazi past - Germany orders Holocaust survivor institutionalized over Cov... 23:31 Jan 14 1 comments Crisis in America: Deaths Up 40% Among Those Aged 18-64 Based on Life Insurance Claims for 2021 Afte... 23:16 Jan 06 0 comments Protests over post-vaccination deaths spread across South Korea 23:18 Dec 26 0 comments Chris Hedges: The execution of Julian Assange 22:19 Dec 19 1 comments more >>Blog Feeds
Anti-EmpireThe Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović US Gives Weapons to Taiwan for Free, The... Fri May 03, 2024 03:55 | Anti-Empire Russia Has 17 Percent More Defense Jobs ... Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:56 | Marko Marjanović
The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Lockdown Skeptics
Debt-Funded GB Energy to Bet on the Costliest Electricity Generation Technologies Sat Jul 27, 2024 15:00 | David Turver
Christians Slam Paris Opening Ceremony for Woke Parody of ?Last Supper? Sat Jul 27, 2024 13:00 | Richard Eldred
Victorian Laws Against Priests Meddling in Politics Are Now Needed More Than Ever ? To Prevent Imams... Sat Jul 27, 2024 11:46 | Steven Tucker
Live and Let D.E.I. Sat Jul 27, 2024 09:00 | Dr James Allan
Three Generations of Waughfare: Alexander Waugh (1963-2024) Sat Jul 27, 2024 07:00 | James Alexander
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international editionNetanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en |
International - Event Notice Thursday January 01 1970 Grotesque Human Rights violations in Kazakh prisons uncovered by delegation led by Joe Higgins MEP
international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
event notice
Tuesday September 14, 2010 15:09 by Michael O'Brien - Office of Joe Higgins MEP (Socialist Party) michaelobrien at socialistparty dot net 150 Pearse Street , Dublin 2 087 2400331
Seeks meeting with Minister Michéal Martin regarding the OSCE conference due to take place in Kazakhstan to which Taoiseach will be invited Press conference: FROM PRESS RELEASE Repressive governments around the world go to great lengths to prevent the truth about the brutality of their regimes coming to public knowledge. The worst will simply have their death squads murder citizens who speak out or have them rot in jail for long periods. Others who try to put on a more democratic face use variants of these tactics. Last week, I was personally involved in one such episode, in this case deployed by the government of Kazakhstan. I was delegated by the United Left Group in the European Parliament to go there and meet groups of workers, human rights defenders and other organisations representing ordinary people suffering under the repressive regime of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. A lawyer and well known campaigner, Vadim Kuramshin, had arranged to meet us in the city of Karaganda on Monday, August 30th. Vadim had been in jail for three years essentially for exposing corruption by local authorities in his home area. In prison, he was subjected to horrific abuse and witnessed widespread brutality against other prisoners. He wanted to give our delegation his testimony and appeal to us to report to the European Parliament the horrors inflicted on prisoners in Kazakhstan as part of a campaign to end this abuse. Vadim Kuramshin never made it to meet us however. Two days beforehand, he was arrested by the police who attempted to frame him with having assaulted somebody. Not being able to produce any evidence, they accused him of verbal abuse and he was sentenced to ten days in jail with immediate effect. This would mean that he would be in prison for the duration of our visit and would not be able to give us his direct testimony. ......... In June, a law was passed essentially making him President for Life and prohibiting any criticism of him or his family. Election rules are rigged so that only his party is represented in parliament. There is routine obstruction of critical media, of trade unions which try to be independent of the state, routine arrest and jailing for anybody who organises protests or strikes. Disgracefully, in view of this brutal regime, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) allowed Kazakhstan to chair the organisation in 2010. This body is supposed to monitor the implementation of human rights! Now, however, all over Kazakhstan, massive posters have photos of Nazarbayev celebrating the OSCE chairship. Ireland scandalously is going along with this cynical exercise. The full text can be found at the link below see http://www.joehiggins.eu/2010/09/kazakhstan-and-the-cyn...osce/ for background information |