Russia Criticizes USA Human Rights Record

The Associated Press reports that the Russian Foreign Ministry Wednesday issued a 90-page report on injustices committed elsewhere in the world. Previous American State Department accusations of human rights failures in Russia have been made in regular annual reports, and the Foreign Ministry report may be a rebuke and reply.

The Russia report also berates the NATO operation in Libya, nations of the European Union, Canada and Georgia, but the longest section, twenty pages, are taken up by American rights violations.

Specifically mentioned are

• The prison at Guantanamo Bay, "legalizing indefinite and extrajudicial custody and the return of court martials."

• Violating the rights of Muslim Americans as part of the war on terror

• Errors by American courts: "Judicial errors are the Achilles heel of American justice as concerns capital punishment." Specifically, 130 persons were sentenced to death in the last 30 years who were later cleared of the offenses, some following execution

• Setting up roadblocks to prevent independent candidates from running for office

• Permitting governors to nominate senators for open seats, even corrupt governors such as now-convicted Illinois former Governor Rod Blagojevich

State Department spokesman Mark Toner replied, "In terms of our human rights record, we're an open book."

Summarized from:

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-slams-us-human-rights-record-132909195.html;_ylc=X3oDMTNubmQwNWh1BF9TAzIxNDU4NjgyNzQEYWN0A21haWxfY2IEY3QDYQRpbnRsA3VzBGxhbmcDZW4tVVMEcGtnAzIzNWNkZDE1LWNhMWItMzgzNS1iMGU0LTUxOTQxY2MwZmM5YQRzZWMDbWl0X3NoYXJlBHNsawNtYWlsBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3