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Portuguese Presidency Urged to Stand up to Russia
HELSINKI, Finland, July 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Today in Helsinki, Russian human rights activists attending the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum 2007 are calling on Portuguese President, AnÃbal Cavaco Silva, to fulfil his obligations under Portuguese and European law and uphold the common values of democracy and human rights that he has pledged to defend. Ludmilla Alexeeva, Chairperson of the Moscow Helsinki Group and delegate at the conference, emphasised that "this is no time for the leadership of Europe to abandon us to our fate so that they may cuddle up with the new gas Czar of Europe." Echoing Mrs. Alexeeva's position, several of the delegates attending the conference reacted strongly to the recent statement made by Manuel Curto, Portugual's Ambassador to Russia, who indicated to reporters that Portugal - which currently holds the rotating Presidency of the EU - "...will not lecture Russia." Alexander Nikitin, Director of the Bellona Foundation in St. Petersburg and Grigory Pasko, journalist, both formerly Prisoners of Conscience incarcerated by the Russian authorities, strongly defended the German EU Presidency held from January to June 2007. "We were and continue to be very supportive of the way in which the German EU Presidency addressed the increasing velocity of repression and authoritarianism in Russia in such a direct and unceremonious manner throughout its mandate. We can only hope that the Portuguese prove to be as frank and intolerant of behaviour which clearly violates the most basic values of democracy and human rights," remarked Mr. Pasko. Mr. Robert Amsterdam, international defence counsel for Mikhail Khodorkovsky, commented: "The Portuguese Presidency cannot succeed if it chooses expediency over principle when such issues as Kosovo and the central role of human rights in the future of the EU-Russia partnership fall under its mandate".
