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Russian diplomat: Guantanamo prison unlikely to be closed before Obama leaves his post

Moscow is concerned about this, first of all, from the viewpoint of the fate of Russian citizen Ravil Mingazov, Russian Foreign Ministry’s human rights ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov says

© EPA/ITAR-TASS

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MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. The United States has not yet started the consideration of the case of Russian citizen Ravil Mingazon who is kept at the Guantanamo prison, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov told TASS on Wednesday.

He also said Moscow had serious doubts that the Guantanamo special prison would be closed before the term of office of US President Barack Obama expires.

"We monitor the situation with our citizen Ravil Mingazov. Despite all the US promises, we have no information that his dossier has been considered," Dolgov said. "The Americans at first promised to refer Mingazov’s case to the relevant military commission and then either to bring charges against him or release our citizen."

"It's been a very long time since the visit of Russia’s interdepartmental delegation to Guantanamo," the diplomat said. "We keep this issue under control, however, no progress has been observed so far. This issue should be settled, the same as the decision in general to close the special prison Guantanamo is long overdue. The process is still just middling."

"There are serious doubts that the prison will be closed before the expiry of Barack Obama’s presidential term. We are concerned about this, first of all, from the viewpoint of the fate of Russian citizen Ravil Mingazov," Doldov said.

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Foreign policy Barack Obama United States Human rights Konstantin Dolgov

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