Duma criticises death sentence to Tareq Aziz.

26/10 Tass 268

MOSCOW, October 26 (Itar-Tass) -- A death sentence to ex-Deputy Prime
Minister of Iraq Tareq Aziz is an attempt to draw away the attention of
the public from critical publications in the mass media and on the
Internet about the U.S. operation in Iraq, members of the Duma committee
for international affairs believe.
"Some interesting coincidence is noticeable," Konstantin Kosachev,
head of the Duma committee, said in an interview with Itar-Tass. He does
not understand, why the sentence was passed now, of all times. "I believe
it is quite probable that this is nothing but an attempt to draw away
public attention from publications about the way the U.S. is conducting an
operation in Iraq," he added.
According to Kosachev, he met Tareq Aziz at the time, when he was an
influential member of the Iraqi leadership. "He was a politician, and the
impression was that he had nothing to do with the military institutions,"
Kosachev continued.
He assured, at the same time, that Moscow continued to sympathize with
the Iraqi people, but believed that the democratisation process could go
on more quickly and in a less painful way, "had it been implemented in
accordance with international standards, and not with the help of the
methods used by the United States in that country."
Leonid Slutsky, first deputy head of the committee, also said he was
surprised both by the time the sentence was passed at and by the sentence
itself. "It is obvious that the decision was made for political reasons
and that it is inhuman. At present Tareq Aziz is an old man suffering from
a grave disease. If he is hanged, it will look as an outrage," Slutsky
stressed.
Tareq Aziz, the second person in Saddam Hussein's hierarchy, was
sentenced to capital punishment by the Supreme Criminal Court on Tuesday.
According to Iraqi TV, the death sentence was passed for his role in the
persecution of Shiite religious parties during the rule of Saddam Hussein,
who was executed in 2006. The sentence is to be carried out within a month.
-0-rom/kud


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