WASHINGTON D.C., January 20 (RAPSI) – The US Department of Defense will disclose the hearing date of Russian national Ravil Mingazov only after the case will be submitted to a military court, official spokesman for the DoD told RIA Novosti.

Russian Foreign Ministry’s human rights czar Konstantin Dolgov told the press on Saturday that the US promised to clarify Mingazov’s case status as soon as possible. Mingazov was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, but no charges have been filed against him to date.

Since it was established in 2002, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp has been the target of criticism by human rights activists and many international government officials, who have condemned its controversial interrogation methods and the dubious legality of holding prisoners indefinitely without charging them with crimes.

The US has defended the prison as a necessary measure for dangerous prisoners who pose a serious threat to American and international security.

President Barack Obama promised to close down the camp while campaigning for his seat in 2008, but ran into opposition from the US Congress in negotiating the transfer of prisoners to other prisons in the US and abroad.

As of December 2013, 158 prisoners remain in Guantanamo Bay, the US Defense Department said.