U.S. Senators Introduce Resolution Calling on Russian Federation to Release Alexey Pichugin, Other Political Prisoners
March 04, 2020
Marking the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) on February 27, 2020 announced a resolution “condemning Russia’s practice of politically motivated imprisonment and calling for the release of political prisoners in Russia.”
Introduced and referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 2, 2020, S. Res 524 explicitly references Alexey Pichugin, Russia’s longest-serving political prisoner as a case-in-point in the “whereas” clause providing the rationale for the resolution, and expressly calls for his release (as well as the release of other prisoners held by the Russian Federation).
Aside from calling on the “Government of the Russian Federation to immediately release political prisoners including Alexey Pichugin, Konstantin Kotov, Anastasia Shevchenko, Yuri Dmitriev and Dennis Christensen,” the resolution further calls on the United States Government to take specific action with regards to Russia’s political prisoners.
Specifically, S. Res. 524 “urges the United States Government, in all its interactions with the Government of the Russian Federation, to raise individual cases of political prisoners held by the Russian Federation and to press for their release;” and calls for the U.S. administration to impose Magnitsky-style sanctions against Russian officials who have committed human rights abuses in the form of political imprisonment.
Additional cosponsors of the resolution include Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
Alexey Pichugin has been wrongfully imprisoned for more than 6,100 days. To learn more about his case, click here.
The full text of the resolution can be viewed here.
