European Parliament
Jiří Maštálka,
author.
(CS)
Mr President, I, too, would like to join those speaking out today in defence of prisoners of conscience. Anyone who is unjustly persecuted for his or her opinions should receive our protection.
I am afraid, however, that our choice of topics to debate completely fails to take account of the lack of Parliamentary time, or of the profound social dangers involved in the breach of some rights. We can certainly adopt resolutions on defending people of any nationality, but we should not, through our choice, ignite ethnic or international disputes that might result in far more serious violations.
Today, we are adopting a resolution intended to defend the rights of Andrzej Poczobut. I am afraid, however, that most of our voters will be much more interested in the rights of another dissident – Julian Assange, one of the founders of the WikiLeaks server. Does it not strike you as a very dangerous precedent that someone who revealed dirty political secrets to the public might be treated as a criminal?
(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8))

