Feb 5, 2010

Polanski is in Switzerland, so Kazakhstan can do what it wants?


You may recall, back in September, that Kazakh Human Rights defender Yevgeniy Zhovtis was sentenced to a 3-year prison term after a most unfortunate car accident. The case has gotten a lot of attention, because those individuals running the investigation and trial were not too good at following procedure and obeying laws. In any case, the good people at Foreign Policy recently interviewed Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev and asked him his thoughts on the case.

"Mr. Zhovtis was born and raised in our country and he had not had any problems with the law before but because he was involved in the tragic accident that led to the death of another person, he plead guilty and this is it. I don't even want to comment on this issue. On the same grounds, within that time period 200 people were convicted on the same grounds. The actual penalty foreseen is from three to eight years of imprisonment. Mr. Zhovits was given near the minimum sentence, so why don't you speak about the other 199 convicted?

Switzerland, for example, is not extraditing Mr. Polanksi -- but that is not being discussed at such levels."

Um...what?! I really fail to see the connection there.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brim over I agree but I think the brief should secure more info then it has.

Pirates(and)Diplomats said...

spam