October 30: the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions
30 October, 2020
October 30 marks the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions, also known as Political Prisoner Day. On Friday, October 30, the Sakharov Center, the Memorial Human Rights Centre, and the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom held an online round table on the problem of politically motivated persecutions in modern Russia.
According to Memorial’s latest data, there are currently 362 political prisoners in Russia. Among them is former Yukos employee Alexei Pichugin, who became modern Russia’s first political prisoner. Boris Nemtsov Foundation Chairman Vladimir Kara-Murza noted that recent years saw a monstrous, hard to imagine rise in the number of political prisoners in Russia. He recalled that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe appointed a special rapporteur on the problem of political prisoners in Russia. “This is the first time a mandate devoted to this topic was issued,” Kara-Murza noted.
Political prisoners are people who are in the authorities’ way. Some, like Alexei Pichugin, are in prison for refusing to bear false witness against influential foes of the Kremlin. In this sense, Pichugin is also a hostage, Kara-Murza stressed.
“All these cases, these people have a very important characteristic – the very fact that these people were imprisoned on politically motivated charges is an egregious violation of the international obligations our country took on,” Kara-Murza noted in his presentation. Therefore, he says, international partners have not just a right, but an obligation to raise the issues of political prisoners and human rights violations in Russia.
“Alexei Pichugin is the last Yukos Affair hostage; he’s been in prison for 17 years and counting, and I can’t imagine the kind of courage he must have,” noted Novaya Gazeta’s judicial information department head Vera Chelischeva.
Journalist Vera Vasilieva recalled that on June 4, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution calling on Russian authorities to take, with regard to Alexei Pichugin, “individual measures necessary to erase as soon as possible the consequences of the applicant’s convictions resulting from the criminal trials found by the European Court to have been in violation of the Convention.” Pardoning Alexei Pichugin would enable Russia to fulfill these requirements. Russia has until November 30, 2020 to report on measures taken. Vera Vasilieva says Alexei asked for pardon three times, never admitting his guilt. A pardon request is usually a long multi-step process, but Alexei’s requests were denied by the Orenburg Region’s pardon commission. “It’s a big question mark whether or not the President himself, to whom the pardon request is addressed, actually saw the request, because once again Alexei received the denial from a regional entity. Such a system is flawed,” Vera Vasilieva noted. “Releasing Pichugin and other political prisoners depends on political changes in our country. But what we can do right now is offer emotional support, write letters to political prisoners,” the journalist added.
