Europe must oppose humans rights abuses in Russia, says David Trimble

Belfast Newsletter

Europe must provide much stronger opposition to human rights abuses and corruption in Russia, the former first minister of Northern Ireland said tonight.

Lord Trimble said the Council of Europe must press for countries to impose visa bans and freeze the assets of Russian officials who had been implicated in corruption.

In the United States, the Obama administration had already passed a “Magnitsky law” which banned from America any Russian officials thought to be involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in detention in Russia.

Speaking during a debate in the House of Lords, the peer said the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights organisation of which Russia is a member, needs to increase pressure on president Vladimir Putin’s government.

Lord Trimble said: “I think what we should do is that we should have no illusions about the regime. Their legal system is an extension of the ruling party, and the party of the government as a whole are deep in corruption and will stop at nothing to preserve their power.

“I hope that the European Court of Human Rights will vindicate the fundamental rights and freedoms of the convention in the cases that come before it.

“But what do we say to such a member of the council? I think we should firmly oppose human rights abuses and the distortion of democracy. We should remind the Russians of their obligations as a member of the Council of Europe.

“We should press for a Magnitsky law, that proposes visa bans and freezes assets. We should address the corruption that pervades the Russian system and that at the very least (we should) stop the laundering of dirty money that flows from there to here. That at least will be hurting them in their pockets.”

Meanwhile, Labour peer Lord Judd, a former MP and director of Oxfam, said human rights abuses in Russia must be brought to the public’s attention.

He said: “The Committee of Ministers in the Council of Europe must stop pussy-footing and pursue Russia relentlessly on carrying out what has been ruled by the European Court as necessary.

“They raise these issues but they don’t pursue them as vigorously as they should.”

Conservative peer Lord Bates said the UK could not do anything about the bloodshed in Syria or Iran’s nuclear aspirations without dealing with Russia.

He said: “I argue that going back through history one of the great weaknesses of British foreign policy is that we failed to understand Russia. We have manifestly failed to do that.

“Churchill famously declared Russia in 1939 as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Of course it has puzzled us and we’ve never quite got to grips with it or how to respond to Russia in foreign relations.”

Liberal Democrat Baroness Williams of Crosby said: “There is a real prospect in Russia of a new generation which is much more open to democracy than the present generation and yet sees itself with a president who talks the language of the old tsars because old tsars were brilliant at imprisoning almost everybody – that was their favourite move in silencing the opposition and Mr Putin seems to be following in that tradition.”

Foreign minister Baroness Warsi said Mr Putin’s presidency had been characterised by a clamping down on free speech.

She said: “The fact that there are scant signs of improvement is worrying. In parallel, president Putin’s third term has been characterised by a clampdown on civil society.”

Following reports that Russia is looking to appeal to foreign investors, she added: “The Government needs to demonstrate support for the development of a strong civil society … business leaders must see evidence of the fair application of law and it will be that climate that will bring in investment into Russia.”

She said the release of political prisoners “would be seen as a huge step internationally towards that goal”. hairy woman займ онлайн на карту без отказа www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php онлайн займы