hearing transcript (pdf - 690 kb) - House Foreign Affairs Committee ...

42
was still holding services, defining the Securitate in a church that
had no roof. It was just a remarkable act of civil disobedience on
his part.
Regrettably, in Turkmenistan those who engage in similar activities
find themselves hauled off to prison for beatings and mistreatment
because Turkmenistan does not get much of the international
limelight.
I would ask you, and you might want to comment on
Turkmenistan, because it does not get the kind of focus it deserves,
and Georgia as well. We do have, as I indicated earlier to Ambassador
Hanford, a very significant aid package. Shevardnadze has
made good statements, but there seems to be very little or no follow-through.
They condemn these acts of violence fomented by the defrocked
priest and others, and then you find out that they are happening
all over again with people hurt and bloodied. Nothing is done to
rein in on this rain of terror.
And then, on the French law, you might want to comment on
that. That anti-cult legislation, as I indicated earlier, was passed,
in my view as an anti-religious act, using the pretext of criminal
characters in order to get it passed.
Is there any kind of interface with the French by the Commission
to try to admonish them that not only is it bad for people living
in France who want to exercise their freedom of conscience, but it
also is picked up like a fumbled football and carried over the goal
line in places like China and elsewhere, who they cite by name, the
repressive laws in Europe, like the anti-cult law in France as justification.
They say, if the French can do it, why can’t we?
Again it becomes a very, very dangerous tool in the hands of anyone,
but especially a dictatorship.
Ms. GAER. We think that Turkmenistan needs more attention. If
I may use a phrase I have used with you before, Mr. Smith, it
needs some calibrated attention.
Mr. SMITH. That goes back to Romania 20 years ago.
Ms. GAER. It is a place with a repressive one-man dictatorship
that effectively prohibits religious freedom. It only allows two religions
to function. We have a whole report on that situation with
a series of policy recommendations. I am happy to share those with
you.
In the situation in Georgia, I couldn’t agree with you more. This
is a real tragedy. Here is a country with an enlightened leader that
should be able to put a stop to this quite promptly. Many experts
would argue that the economic situation has fueled the kind of popular
dissatisfaction and the outlet for that is the kind of things
that Father Basil tends to engage in and the police and the TV
seem to allow to go forward and be publicized. I don’t know if that
is true. The Commission, in fact, is closely studying the situation
in Georgia but we have not done a full analysis of that. But it certainly
merits a great deal of attention and that is a place where
we have leverage.
Finally, on the French law, one of my fellow commissioners has
traveled to France and had discussions with leading French officials
on these issues. In fact, two of my fellow commissioners, Leila
Sadat and Richard Land, have both been there. Professor Sadat
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