On Historic Date, Round Table at Sakharov Center in Moscow Discusses Case of Alexey Pichugin, Other Political Prisoners
November 12, 2019
Marking October 30th, the annual Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repressions – a historic date commemorating the 1974 hunger strike by political prisoners protesting political persecution in Soviet Russia – the Sakharov Center in Moscow held a round table discussion on “Political Prisoners in Russia in 2019: Practices of Repression, Methods of Defense, International Solidarity.”
Present at the event was Alla Pichugina, mother of Alexey Pichugin, Russia’s longest-serving political prisoner. While she did not address the conference – instead, his attorney discussed his case – her attendance was symbolic of the pain and suffering the families of now more than 300 political prisoners, according to the Memorial Human Rights Center, have been subjected to in today’s Russia.
Select coverage of the event can be found here (in Russian):
- https://mbk-news.appspot.com/suzhet/nravstvennyj-protest/
- https://primechaniya.ru/moskva/stati/politzaklyuchennyy-nas-mnogo-i-eto-ne-ostanovit
Video coverage of the entire conference can be found here.
And, for more context, read CBC’s recent discussion of Alexey Pichugin’s case here.
Summing up the event, Vladimir-Kara Murza, chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, which, along with the Memorial Human Rights Center had joined the Sakharov Center in organizing the round table, said:
“Forming a public opinion that refuses to accept political persecution is just about the only way we have left to engage in civil opposition, (…) but it’s also the most effective way. Even with all its punitive power, the state will not be able to withstand it. We still have a long way to go.”
