Senator Wicker: Over 300 political in Russia today
July 29, 2020
“Russia has over 300 political prisoners today. The system that Putin has engineered over the past years is founded on abuse and legal manipulation to secure power and wealth for the elite,” said Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) on July 28 at the “Nemtsov’s Assassination and the Rule of Law in Russia” event organized by the British think tank Chatham House. Voice of America reported on this event.
The senator noted there is no government in Russia committed to the rule of law and human rights, and so it is up to the international community to do whatever it can to draw attention to the Kremlin’s violations of its international obligations.
Senator Wicker also co-sponsored and signed Senate draft resolution No. 524 regarding Alexei Pichugin.
You can watch Roger Wicker’s speech here.
The full Voice of America story:
July 29, 2020
US Lawmaker: Opposition figures in Putin’s Russia are persecuted while the system the RF president has engineered is intended to secure power and wealth of the elite
There is no government in Russia committed to the rule of law and respect for human rights, said Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), and so it’s up to the international community to do what it can to draw attention to the Kremlin’s violations of its international obligations.
“In today’s Russia, crimes against opposition leaders, journalists and anyone else who seriously questions the power of the state create a chilling effect and a climate of fear that discourages citizens from speaking out,” said the Republican senator on Tuesday, July 28, during the “Nemtsov’s Assassination and the Rule of Law in Russia” event organized by the British think tank Chatham House. “Since the Nemtsov assassination, Russia’s state apparatus has honed other techniques, such as fabricating cases, engaging in legal warfare, using deliberately vague foreign agent and anti-extremism laws to punish dissidents.”
“Russia has over 300 political prisoners today. The system that Putin has engineered over the past years is founded on abuse and legal manipulation to secure power and wealth for the elite,” he added.
Senator Wicker, who co-chairs the U.S. Helsinki Commission, the U.S. Congressional Delegation to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), also stressed that five years have passed since the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, but the circumstances surrounding the crime are still unclear. “What is clear, however, and what was clear from the very beginning, is that Russian authorities had no interest in conducting a full and impartial investigation to uncover who actually organized and carried out this assassination.” On the contrary, Russian authorities withheld crucial information and held a show trial, the Senator added.
Senator Wicker points out that OSCE’s investigation concluded that the obstacle to uncovering the truth of Boris Nemtsov’s assassination was the Russian authorities’ lack of political will: “The disturbing reality is that Russian authorities are involved in a large-scale coverup that may implicate even Kremlin leadership itself. Prospects appear dim that the perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice by authorities within Russia.”
Since there is no rule of law in Russia today, the West must continue to take steps to put pressure on Moscow. Thus, the United States continues to sanction human rights abusers.
In particular, targeted sanctions under the Magnitsky Act were imposed last year on Ruslan Geremeyev, former company commander of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ domestic forces’ Chechen battalion for his alleged role in organizing Boris Nemtsov’s murder. “Geremeyev is a close associate of the leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, whom the U.S. State Department sanctioned last week for his involvement in human rights abuses,” the senator said.
“Harassment and violation against opposition figures are nothing new in Putin’s Russia. Boris Nemtsov was murdered for his ideals that he represented,” he added.
Senator Wicker also noted that after first meeting Boris Nemtsov in the late 1990s during American lawmakers’ visit to Moscow, he hoped that “this young democrat might be the new face of Russian leadership” and the country itself would embark on a democratic path of development.
“As Vladimir Putin came to power and began to tighten his grip on the Russian people, Boris Nemtsov realized that his country was headed back in the direction of the dark past, and he spoke out, consistently and forcibly and courageously; he confronted Putin and his cronies and demanded a better, more accountable government for the Russian people,” Senator Wicker said.
Speaking at the event, Margareta Cederfelt, vice-president of the OSCE Assembly, who authored the report presented to OSCE in February investigating the assassination of Boris Nemtsov, noted that the Russian authorities had not conducted even a superficial investigation of the crime. The Russian justice system not only was unable to determine who contracted the murder, it also interfered with finding out the motives and establishing those who organized and contracted the assassination.
“Possible motives and the answer to who organized the murder were not investigated by the authorities,” said the OSCE rapporteur, noting that as she worked on compiling the report, the Russian authorities did not provide her with information she requested. “I have used public information that I have been able to find,” she said.
At the event, Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza who chairs the Boris Nemtsov Foundation’s Board and is Vice Chairman of the Free Russia Foundation, noted that Boris Nemtsov not only openly opposed Putin, but also was a person who could unite the opposition and organizing a protest movement.
Source: Voice of America, Senator Wicker: Over 300 political prisoners in Russia today, July 29, 2020
