Ad in UK Guardian: On his 56th Birthday, Former Ministers of Justice Call on Amnesty International to Recognize Alexey Pichugin as a “Political Prisoner” and “Prisoner of Conscience”
July, 25, 2018
With July 25, 2018 marking Alexey Pichugin’s 56th birthday, Irwin Cotler, Former Minister of Justice of Canada, David Libai, Former Minister of Justice of Israel, and Herta Däubler-Gmelin, former Minister of Justice of Germany, are calling on human rights organization Amnesty International to recognize Mr. Pichugin as a “political prisoner” and “prisoner of conscience” via an advertisement in the United Kingdom’s daily newspaper The Guardian.
Arrested in 2003, Mr. Pichugin was the first victim in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drawn-out and personal vendetta to destroy Yukos Oil Company and its shareholders.
In spite of the fact that the European Court of Human Rights has issued two judgments declaring his trials unfair and in violation of international human rights standards, today marks the fifteenth birthday Mr. Pichugin has to spend behind bars and without his family.
Drawing attention to the injustices Mr. Pichugin has had to endure at the hands of the Russian regime, Mr. Cotler, Mr. Libai and Ms. Däubler-Gmelin are asking that Amnesty International “add its voice to Freedom House, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and the Memorial Human Rights Center, all of which have recognized Mr. Pichugin as a political prisoner. Mr. Pichugin is that and his continued imprisonment is a siren declaring the breakdown of the Rule of Law in Mr. Putin’s Russia.”
Click on the image to view a full-size pdf of the letter.
Source: Print Edition of The Guardian, July 25, 2018.
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