Bill Browder speaks with Committee Chair Matteo Mecacci before the meeting, 23 Feb 2012.VIENNA, 23 February 2012 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's 11th Winter Meeting began today with a panel discussion on judicial systems and prison reform in the Assembly's human rights committee.
Chaired by Italian parliamentarian Matteo Mecacci, the committee heard presentations from former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak, Bill Browder of Hermitage Capital Management, Eugenia Tymoshenko, Lucia Uva, and Iryna Bogdanova, who provided background and personal testimonials on various cases related to prisons and justice in the OSCE area.
Committee Chair Mecacci noted the importance of highlighting individual stories to make real the meaning of the OSCE's human dimension.
"It takes a human face to drive home the urgency of human rights. At its best the OSCE was known for this kind of work, focusing on specific cases of rights being abused. I'm proud to see that today we returned to this important work hearing from people who reflect some of the biggest challenges to justice in the OSCE region," Mecacci said.
Manfred Nowak gave a general overview of prison conditions across the OSCE area and discussed the varied national standards for housing inmates, highlighting in particular the positive example of Denmark. He noted that the United States leads the OSCE in both incarceration rates and prison population, and discussed the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Bill Browder spoke about the case of his former attorney, the late Sergei Magnitsky, who died in police custody in Russia. "They put him in a pre-trial detention cell and began to pressure him to withdraw his testimony," Browder said. "They put him in cells with fourteen inmates and eight beds, and left the lights on twenty-four hours a day to deprive him of sleep."
Eugenia Tymoshenko discussed the case of her mother, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, currently serving a seven-year prison sentence. She said her mother's trial was a "show trial," and highlighted the danger to democratic systems inherent in political prosecutions. "No democracy can exist if political leaders are to be imprisoned for their political decisions," she said. "No decision would ever be taken if that were the case."
Lucia Uva talked about the case of her brother Giuseppe Uva, who died in police custody in Italy, and Iryna Bogdanova, sister of former Belarusian presidential candidate and opposition leader Andrei Sannikov, gave a heartfelt presentation on behalf of her brother, who is serving a five-year sentence for protesting following the December 2010 election.
In addition to the panel discussion on prisons and justice, the committee's agenda included presentations by the committee Vice-Chair Alain Neri, who discussed follow-up action taken by OSCE institutions and field operations on recommendations in the OSCE PA's Belgrade Declaration.
Rapporteur Coskun Coruz presented his ideas and intentions regarding his report for the Annual Session in Monaco, followed by a discussion.
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic also addressed the committee, focusing on internet freedom. The Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Amb. Janez Lenarcic, highlighted in particular the important co-operation between the PA and ODIHR on election observation activities. Amb. Thomas Greminger, Chair of the OSCE Human Dimension Committee, discussed the growing collaboration between the OSCE's governmental side with the Parliamentary Assembly on the human dimension.
