This Helsinki Commission hearing was brought to order due to the independence movements in the Baltic States. The independence movements in these states expressed the desire for self-rule on the part of peoples who, after forcible incorporation into the Soviet Union, had been brutally colonized for 50 years, reduced to the status of minorities and second-class citizens in their historic homelands, robbed of their language, their culture and their history, and victimized by police brutality and environmental assault. They sought independence from Moscow not because they hate Russians, but because they saw it as a prerequisite for physical and cultural survival.
Members
Hon. Steny Hoyer
Co-Chairman
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Hon. Don Ritter
Commissioner
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Hon. Edward Feighan
Commissioner
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Witnesses
Ernst Jaakson
Counsel General
Embassy of Estonia
Anatol Dinbergs
Charge d'Affaires
Latvian Legation
Stasys Lozoraitis
Charge d'Affaires
Lithuanian Legation in Washington
James Dobbins
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs
Department of State
William Hough
Member
Lawyers’ Committee on Human Rights
Relevant Issues
Leadership
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