[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15964-15965]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          POLITICAL PRISONERS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, much of our international focus in recent 
months has understandably been on Iran and Syria. Both will require 
further attention as we make sure Iran complies with the nuclear 
agreement and try to bring an end to the catastrophic human suffering 
in Syria. And we must continue to insist that Russia abide by the Minsk 
agreement in territory it so brazenly seized in eastern Ukraine.
  But amid these important foreign policy challenges, I would like to 
make sure we do not lose sight of smaller but also important battles 
for human rights occurring around the world.
  First, let me start with a small nation straddling the lines of 
Europe and Asia, which many had hoped would strengthen its ties with 
the community of democracies--Azerbaijan. Since 2014, the government 
has arrested close to a hundred political prisoners representing some 
of the strongest voices for democracy and transparency in the country.
  Many of those who currently sit in prison on trumped-up charges such 
as tax evasion, fraud, and even treason include noted human rights 
defenders like Leyla and Arif Yunus, Rasul Jafarov, Intigam Aliyev, and 
Anar Mammadli. They worked tirelessly before their arrests on issues 
trying to strengthen the country's democratic institutions.
  Just recently, the Organization of Security and Co-operation in 
Europe, or OSCE, announced that it is canceling its mission to monitor 
the upcoming parliamentary elections due to restrictions imposed by the 
government. Without the OSCE's mission, the likelihood for free and 
fair elections in November is obviously diminished.
  The Azeri Government has been particularly aggressive in quashing 
freedom of the press, notably arresting in 2014 Khadija Ismayilova, one 
of the country's top investigative reporters. For years she exposed 
secret connections between President Alivey's immediate family and 
business dealings, including the privatized state airline, the nation's 
biggest telecom provider, and massive construction projects.
  As a result of her work, she faced repeated threats, hidden cameras 
in her home, and even attempted blackmail by crudely posted videos of 
private moments with her boyfriend; yet as the Washington Post recently 
reported on its front page, she pressed forward, believing that the 
Azeri public had a right to know about corruption at the highest levels 
of their government.
  Two weeks later, Khadija's employer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 
was raided and shut down. Its staff has faced repeated harassment and 
some have even left the country out of concern for their safety. 
Recently she was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on what can only be 
seen as a blatant attempt to halt her work.
  The U.S. State Department, the OSCE, and the European Union 
Parliament have all called on Azerbaijan to release its political 
prisoners. And in July, 15 of my Senate colleagues joined me in a 
letter to Azeri President Aliyev expressing concern that the space for 
civil society and the freedom of press within the country is 
diminishing. I call on Aliyev here today to not further jeopardize his 
ties to the West by continuing these authoritarian actions against his 
own people.
  Next, let me turn to Latin America where we continue to see 
democratic backsliding in a number of countries.
  First, Ecuador, where President Correa has seemingly no tolerance for 
criticism and a troubling habit of harassing the media and restricting 
freedom of association and the press. It is not clear why Correa, who 
has a large majority in the parliament, has to take such draconian and 
undemocratic measures.

[[Page 15965]]

  For example, over the years, the police have raided the homes of 
journalists working to expose government corruption and shut down an 
environmental organization critical of the regime's extractive 
policies. Government thugs have harassed and intimidated Twitter users 
who criticize the government. And Correa recently seemed set to force 
the closure of Fundamedios, a respected NGO that promotes freedom of 
the press.
  The NGO's crime? Tweeting links to two political editorials critical 
of the Ecuadoran government.
  Facing strong international condemnation, it now appears Correa has 
decided to back off this ill-suited vendetta against Fundamedios.
  And in Venezuela the other week, leading opposition figure Leopoldo 
Lopez, who had already been sitting in jail for 19 months on absurd 
political charges, was sentenced to almost 14 years.
  Equally troubling is what the Venezuelan regime has done to Judge 
Maria Lourdes Afiuni, who tried to maintain a semblance of judicial 
independence. She was shamelessly jailed after releasing a defendant 
who had been detained for 3 years without charges and swiftly charged 
with corruption and abuse of authority. Afiuni sat in jail for 2 years 
next to violent prisoners she had once sentenced.
  While in prison, she was brutally raped and became pregnant--her body 
terribly destroyed by the violence. She was granted house arrest to 
recover from emergency surgery. And today she must still report to the 
authorities every 15 days and cannot leave the country or speak to the 
news media. Incredibly, Venezuela's Attorney General denied in Geneva 
there was a complaint for sexual abuse and torture involving Afiuni.
  I know U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power has taken on this case. I want 
to join that effort and call for her unconditional release and 
exoneration.
  Venezuelan President Maduro is presiding over the near collapse of 
his once proud nation, manufacturing internal and external enemies to 
explain his own government's economic mismanagement.
  Not only has his government sentenced Lopez to jail, but it has also 
started a border dispute with Colombia, embarrassingly trying to 
further deflect attention from its own disastrous policies.
  Furthering more division and repression will only make things worse. 
I know this administration and others in the region have tried to offer 
paths forward for Maduro, but I fear he is heading in the opposite 
direction with Lopez's sentencing.
  Now, some of you may remember the international outrage that occurred 
when writer and activist Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1,000 public 
lashes and 10 years in prison on blasphemy and apostasy charges in 
Saudi Arabia.
  You may also recall his brother-in-law and lawyer, human rights 
activist Waleed Abu al-Khair, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison 
by Jeddah's specialized criminal court for inciting public opinion and 
undermining the state.
  These imprisonments--and both their dubious charges and inhumane 
punishments--were denounced around the world by reputable human rights 
organizations, foreign governments, and many others.
  Our State Department called for the release of both Raif and Waleed, 
and in Congress, I was joined by seven of my Senate colleagues in 
writing to the late King Abdullah urging their release. Sixty-seven of 
my colleagues in the House did the same months later when King Salman 
became the new leader of Saudi Arabia. And just the other day, Badawi 
was awarded the PEN Literary Award.
  We have a longstanding friendship with the Saudi regime, and friends 
do at times disagree. But it is because of the nature of our friendship 
that I believe we have an obligation to encourage Saudi Arabia to do 
better--to uphold basic human rights for free speech, for women, for 
religious minorities, for foreign workers, and countless others.
  I hope the new King, King Salman, will show compassion and bring an 
end to Saudi Arabia's troubling human rights record.
  And last, let me mention some hopeful steps in Belarus, where 
recently the last candidate who ran in 2010 for President against 
strongman President Lukashenko, was finally released from jail.
  Michael Statkevich was released after nearly 5 years and, 
coincidentally, just days after he had passed the deadline to be an 
eligible opposition candidate for the next Presidential election.
  You see on the eve of the 2010 election--an election that could have 
brought an end to the distinction of being the last dictatorship in 
Europe--Lukashenko had seven candidates arrested and thrown in jail--
not much of an incentive to be a candidate.
  Sadly, such repression and election manipulation has been the norm in 
Belarus which incredibly still operates its own KGB to enforce 
political repression.
  However, Belarus has another election coming up next week on October 
11. I want President Lukashenko to know that the world is watching and 
hoping that this time it will be a free and legitimate election worthy 
of the Belarussian people.

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