Russia Issues Travel Warning To Its Citizens About United States and Extradition

mendax writes "The New York Times reports that the Russian government is warning its citizens to not travel to countries that have an extradition treaty with the United States, noting that 'detentions of Russian citizens in various countries, at the request of American law enforcement, have become more frequent.' The article reports the Russian foreign ministry as saying,'Experience shows that the judicial proceedings against those who were in fact kidnapped and taken to the U.S. are of a biased character, based on shaky evidence, and clearly tilted toward conviction.'"

Re:Shaky?

[theycallmeB]

No, but is an excellent propaganda phrase.

Re:Biased charges, clearly tilted toward convictio

[LandDolphin]

The fact that you would call the US a Totalitarian Police State means that you have very little understanding of the a Totalitarian Police State actually is.

Is the US doing things it shouldn't be (Spying on its citizens, TSA, etc.), sure. But that is far from Soviet Union, North Korea, Nazi Germany. You know, actual Totalitarian Police States.

Re:Times have changed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, yes, it does. About 60 have been extradited to Britain in the last 7 years. I presume that the US extradites citizens to other countries also.

Re: In Soviet Russia..

[donscarletti]

There is a joke, but it's hardly funny. The joke is that the Russians are warning their people about America in the same way that America warned it's citizens about Russia in the 70's and 80's.

Or alternatively, Russians are warning their people about America in the same way that Soviets warned their people about America in the 70's and 80's. The exact same bullshit about the boogiemen over there has been flung both ways for centuries. These days we have the Internet to open our eyes, but the lies are pretty much the same as those that started the Punic wars 2200 years ago.

Re: Absolutely the case

[funkylovemonkey]

There wasn't much outrage in May because there was no evidence that the rebels used nerve gas in May. There was accusations made by Carla Del Ponte who was a member of an inquiry team for the UN who once made a name for herself prosecuting the Mafia. She claimed that it was the rebels trying to make it look like it was the Syrian government... However that wasn't backed up by any concrete evidence, and her colleagues disagreed (mostly again, pointing out that there was no evidence). The biggest question mark is of course where the rebels would have gotten the nerve gas. But probably the main reason most people ignored it? The source. Carla Del Ponte has a long history of making up allegations that later prove to be false. In 2005 she accused the Vatican of sheltering Croatian war criminals. She accused NATO pilots of war crimes in Kosovo before quickly recanting. And finally she published a book about Albanian doctors butchering Serbian prisoners and selling their organs, allegations that eventually led her to prosecute. All the accused have since been acquitted as Del Ponte was unable to satisfy any sort of burden of proof.