On the recordDecember 3, 2020
As a member of the Tom Lantos Commission for Human Rights and a former member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan resolution, H. Res. 958, ``Condemning the practice of politically motivated imprisonment and calling for the immediate release of political prisoners in the Russian Federation and urging action by the United States Government to impose sanctions with respect to persons responsible for that form of human rights abuse.'' For years, Russia's human rights record has continued to deteriorate, with the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly consistently restricted, both by law and in practice. Most often, the people who are courageous enough to attempt exercising their most basic human rights, including freedom of the press and freedom of speech, face reprisals, ranging from harassment to police ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest, heavy fines, and, in some cases, criminal prosecution and imprisonment. Among the Kremlin's political prisoners are journalists, opposition activists, peaceful protesters, adherents of ``prohibited'' religious groups, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as members of ``undesirable'' political organizations like Open Russia, an organization that has done a lot to support victims of human rights violations in Russia.…
