Kazakhstan Getting Ugly Before OSCE Chairmanship

There’s more news about the jailing of Yevgeny Zhovtis in Kazakhstan, which Bob hit up last night on HuffPo.  There’s a story that just hit the wire from Reuters, which quotes the U.S. Embassy’s statement:  “In recent days, we have expressed our concerns about this case and urged the Kazakhstani authorities to provide Mr. Zhovtis access to fair legal proceedings, consistent with Kazakhstani law. (…) We will continue to make the same request during the appeals process.“

The condemnation from Human Rights Watch also mentions the OSCE:  “The judge’s unwillingness to consider important evidence from Zhovtis’s lawyer made it clear that this was really a choreographed political trial. (…)  We are shocked at how easy it is for the government to violate basic human rights just a few months before it will chair the OSCE. (…) Kazakhstan clearly is not ready to take on a role as important as the OSCE chairmanship.”