| U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently joined a foreign ministers' meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Secretary voiced her concerns about a range of serious human rights violations throughout the OSCE region. In Belarus, human rights defenders face unremitting persecution. Political activist Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on trumped up charges of tax evasion. In the eyes of the state, his real crime was advocating for human rights. Former opposition presidential candidates, including Andrei Sannikau and Mikalai Statkevich, remain in prison a year after the government crackdown along with other political prisoners. "In Ukraine, the prosecution of Yulia Tymoshenko raises serious questions about political motivations," said Secretary Clinton, "The United States is also concerned by the prosecution of other opposition leaders and members of the preceding government." Politically motivated trials undermine democracy and democratic values. Politically motivated trials risk ingraining self-censorship in the media and discourage civil participation more broadly for fear of prosecution. |
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