Ambassador Ordway's 22 May 2007 Press Briefing
American ambassador John M. Ordway addressed the Kazakhstani detainees in Guantanamo during a May 22, 2007 press briefing at the Kazakhstani Press Club. Ordway confirmed that one detainee the USA considered a citizen of Kazakhstan remained in Guantanamo. He stated that it was against US policy to compensate former detainees. He asserted detainees were not detained any longer than necessary for US national security.
| Question: |
What can you tell us about the fourth Kazakhstani still detained at the Guantanamo facility. Will the United State pay compensation if it turns out he violated no laws and was detained without cause? |
| Ambassador Ordway: |
With regard to the issue of compensation, we do not pay compensation for any of the enemy combatants who were in the Guantanamo facility. With regard to the Kazakhstani citizen who is still there, as was the case before, I can’t provide any details other than to say that we have been and will continue to be in discussion with the government of Kazakhstan about any possible release or return of their citizens. There are many of these people, the reason they are released is because we do not have any particular charges. They were enemy combatants who were found in Afghanistan in circumstances that they were fighting with or participating with forces that were fighting U.S. forces and therefore were captured as enemy combatants. There was then a process to determine whether they represented any future threat. If not, as was the case with the three who were released, they are then released. We also had a very extensive process to determine when there was no longer any reason to hold those people because they represented no further threat. That is exactly what happened with the three who were released and returned to Kazakhstan. They were no further threat. |
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