PACE Committee appointed a rapporteur on the problem of political prisoners in Russia

June 30, 2020

Important news from the Council of Europe. At Monday’s meeting, PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights appointed a rapporteur on the problem of political prisoners in Russia. The rapporteur is the Icelandic Parliament member Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir, Vice-Chairperson of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens group, former head of the legal committee.

The rapporteur on this topic was appointed per Resolution Doc. 15049 introduced at PACE’s winter session by 43 members from 16 countries, approved by the Assembly’s presidential committee and the Bureau.

The Russian delegation demanded the issue be stricken from the agenda as “there are no political prisoners in Russia.” Nikita Khrushchev said the same thing in 1959 (“there are no political prisoners in the USSR, just criminals and the insane”).

According to Memorial Human Rights Centre data, there are 333 political prisoners in Russia today (including those persecuted for religious reasons). Jailing a person on political or religious motives is an egregious violation of Russia’s obligations as a Council of Europe member state. It’s important that PACE is finally starting to pay attention to this situation.

Source: Facebook, Vladimir Kara-Murza, June 30, 2020