6,000 Days and Counting – Picket Held in Strasbourg to Protest Imprisonment of Alexey Pichugin, Russia’s Longest-Serving Political Prisoner
November 22, 2019
Marking the 6,000th day of Alexey Pichugin’s prison term, civil activist Madina Magomedova held a one-person picket in Strasbourg in front of the European Parliament building in support of Russia’s longest-serving political prisoner. Her signs read: “Putin-Oil for Europe = Prison Term for Pichugin. 6000 Days. Freedom for Aleksey Pichugin,” [translated from German] and “Alexey Pichugin 6000 Days in Custody. The longest-serving political prisoner in Russia.”
Here’s a video clip from the protest (in Russian).
Though merely a mid-level manager within the security department of Yukos Oil Company, Alexey Pichugin was the first victim of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drawn out and personal vendetta to expropriate Yukos and destroy the company’s leadership. He has been imprisoned since 2003, held at the notorious “Black Dolphin” prison in the remote Orenburg Region. The European Court of Human Rights has issued two judgments finding his treatment in violation of his basic rights – both of which have been ignored by Russia.
A number of international organizations have spoken out on Mr. Pichugin’s behalf, and the Memorial Human Rights Center has acknowledged him as a political prisoner.
Earlier this summer, marking the 16th anniversary of Mr. Pichugin’s arrest, Ms. Magomedova held a one-person protest outside of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office in Berlin.
Shining the light on Mr. Pichugin’s fate is critical because, in the words of Irwin Cotler, founder and chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada:
“We must not forget those arrested by tyrannies around the world who remain imprisoned based on their fidelity to conscience.
We may not know all of their names, but we must speak for these heroes in the war for freedom and the rule of law — to let them know we stand in solidarity with them, and that we will not relent until their freedom is secured.”
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