MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. Moscow is calling on the US authorities to release Russian national Ravil Mingazov kept in the Guantanamo prison for more than a decade without formal charges, Russian Foreign Ministry human rights commissioner Konstantin Dolgov said on Wednesday.
“We continue seeking the speedy release of Ravil Mingazov as the American side has pressed no official charges against him,” said Dolgov, who visited the notorious prison in Cuba in January.
“We spoke about this when I was in Guantanamo, we met with him. Since then, the American side has promised to solve the issue to opt either to announce charges or release the Russian citizen,” he said.
The Russian diplomat said “no progress” has been made so far on the issue, adding that the Russian Foreign Ministry keeps this case under scrutiny and continues providing consular assistance to Mingazov.
Media reports said the White House is drafting options that would allow US President Barack Obama to close the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay until his presidential term ends. “The whole international community has been long insisting on this,” Dolgov said, commenting on the reports. “The whole existence of Guantanamo is an absolutely illegal thing, the gravest failure in regard to international legitimacy and the rule of law. This is a legal vacuum,” he stressed.
Mingazov is the only Russian prisoner in the detention camp, which mainly keeps persons detained during the US anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan. Mingazov was transferred to Guantanamo in 2002, following his arrest by US security services in the house of a Pakistani man who had connections with al-Qaeda.
The United States suspected him of having been trained in terrorist camps in Afghanistan.