Tag Archives: European parliament

Joint Call of Parliamentarians on the condition of Alexei Navalny in prison

April 8, 2021

We, the undersigned, are shocked and troubled by the most recent news of Alexei Navalny’s condition in prison. 

Russia’s leading opposition figure is reported to suffer severe back pain with losing sensitivity in parts of his legs. It is no more than six months since he survived a vicious poisoning attack with a nerve agent that has long-term crippling effects on his health. In prison, he is systematically denied any medical treatment. On top, prison guards wake him up every hour at night, a practice amounting to torture by sleep deprivation according to his lawyers. This is why medical experts called on the Russian authorities to allow Mr. Navalny’s treatment and why he himself now resorted to a hunger strike. Let’s not forget: Mr. Navalny’s incarceration itself is a travesty of justice – he was formally sent to prison for not checking in with Russian authorities on a fabricated case (as confirmed by European Court of Human Rights) when he was recuperating in Germany from poisoning and subsequent coma.

Russian authorities with its secret services tried to kill Alexei Navalny last August, they may now be attempting the same, in a slower, even more cynical way. 

Europe has offered Alexei Navalny a place to recover from the attempt at his life. Specialized labs in Germany, France and Sweden confirmed the assassination attempt used Novichok, an internationally banned chemical weapon. Angela Merkel personally met Mr Navalny in hospital and many other Western leaders expressed their solidarity after the poisoning attack. We need to intervene again. 

We urge Russia to immediately allow medical treatment of Alexei Navalny and release him from prison. We call on the EU Council as well as EU member states’ leaders to reach out to Russian authorities to request the immediate release of Alexei Navalny, which was mandated by European Court of Human Rights’ decision in February 2021. In addition, we demand the EU Council task EU ambassador to Russia to conduct, together partners from the UK, Canada and the US, a visit of the prison facility and meet Alexei Navalny. It is critical now that Alexei Navalny’s fate became the symbol of injustice many thousands face because of increasing brutality of Russian regime against its own citizens. 

In December 2020, the EU launched its Global Human Rights Sanction Regime modelled on so-called Magnitsky Act. This law has been inspired by one Sergei Magnitsky, a brave Russian lawyer who was tortured to death in prison in 2009 – he was systematically denied treatment when he developed a serious medical condition. We still can act now in case of Alexei Navalny so we avoid commemorating later.

Marek HILSER, Senator, Czech Republic

Andrius KUBILIUS, MEP, EPP, Lithuania

Lukas WAGENKNECHT, Senator, Czech Republic

Žygimantas PAVILIONIS, MP, Lithuania

Miroslav BALATKA, Senator, Czech Republic

André GATTOLIN, Senator, France

Mikulas BEK, Senator, Czech Republic 

Nicolae ŞTEFĂNUȚĂ, MEP, Renew, Romania

David SMOLJAK, Senator, Czech Republic 

Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, MEP, Renew, Lithuania

Tomas FIALA, Senator, Czech Republic 

Liudas MAŽYLIS, MEP, EPP Lithuania

Zdenek NYTRA, Senator, Czech Republic 

Dace MELBĀRDE, MEP, ECR, Latvia

Jan SOBOTKA, Senator, Czech Republic 

Matas MALDEIKIS, MP, Lithuania

Jiri RUZICKA, Senator, Czech Republic 

Bernard GUETTA, MEP, Renew, France

Jaromira VITKOVA, Senator, Czech Republic 

Rasa JUKNEVIČIENĖ, MEP, EPP, Lithuania

Petr OREL, Senator, Czech Republic 

Tomasz FRANKOWSKI, MEP, EPP, Poland 

Miroslava NEMCOVA, Senator, Czech Republic

Hermann TERTSCH, MEP, ECR, Spain

Premysl RABAS, Senator, Czech Republic 

Aušra MALDEIKIENĖ, MEP, EPP, Lithuania

Ladislav KOS, Senator, Czech Republic 

Attila ARA-KOVÁCS, MEP, S&D, Hungary

Sarka JELINKOVA, Senator, Czech Republic

Erik MARQUARDT, MEP, Greens, Germany

Pavel FISCHER, Senator, Czech Republic

Pernille WEISS, MEP, EPP, Denmark

Helena LANGSADLOVA, MP, Czech Republic

Roberts ZĪLE, MEP, ECR, Latvia

Jan LIPAVSKY, MP, Czech Republic

Klemen GROŠELJ, MEP, Renew, Slovenia

Pavel ZACEK, MP, Czech Republic

Riho TERRAS, MEP, EPP, Estonia

Ondrej BENESIK, MP, Czech Republic 

Miriam LEXMANN, MEP, EPP, Slovakia

Frantisek KOPRIVA, MP, Czech Republic 

Sandra KALNIETE, MEP, EPP, Latvia

Petr GAZDIK, MP, Czech Republic 

Jerzy BUZEK, MEP, EPP, Poland

Tomas MARTINEK, MP, Czech Republic 

Janina OCHOJSKA, MEP, EPP, Poland

Jan BARTOSEK, MP, Czech Republic

Eugen TOMAC, MEP, EPP, Romania

Jan FARSKY, MP, Czech Republic

Ivan ŠTEFANEC, MEP, EPP, Slovakia

Roman SKLENAK, MP, Czech Republic

Krzysztof HETMAN, MEP, EPP, Poland

Frantisek VACHA, MP, Czech Republic

Ivars IJABS, MEP, Renew, Latvia

Marek VYBORNY, MP, Czech Republic

Franc BOGOVIČ, MEP, EPP, Slovenia

Zbynek STANJURA, MP, Czech Republic

Radvilė MORKŪNAITĖ-MIKULĖNIENĖ, MP, Lithuania

Petr FIALA, MP, Czech Republic

Raphaël GLUCKSMANN, MEP, S&D, France

Vít RAKUSAN, MP, Czech Republic

Juozas OLEKAS, MEP, S&D, Lithuania

Jaroslav VYMAZAL, MP, Czech Republic

Assita KANKO, MEP, ECR, Belgium

Adela SIPOVA, Senator, Czech Republic

Radosław SIKORSKI, MEP, EPP, Poland

Róża THUN UND HOHENSTEIN, MEP, EPP, Poland

Javier NART, MEP, Renew, Spain

Andrzej HALICKI, MEP, EPP, Poland

Alexander ALEXANDROV YORDANOV, MEP, EPP, Bulgaria

Ondřej KOVAŘÍK, MEP, Renew, Czech Republic

Andreas SCHIEDER, MEP, S&D, Austria

Leopoldo LÓPEZ GIL, MEP, EPP, Spain

Sergey LAGODINSKY, MEP, Greens, Germany

Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE, MEP, EPP, Spain

Marketa GREGOROVA, MEP, Greens, Czech Republic

Lolita ČIGĀNE, MP, Latvia

Marko MIHKELSON, MP, Estonia

Renata CHMELOVA, Czech Republic

Bogdan KLICH, Senator, Republic of Poland

Transatlantic Interparliamentary Statement on Unprecedented Mass Arrest of Russian Pro-Democracy Leaders on March 13, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 25, 2021

Contacts:
Honourable Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, OQ, Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights
+1 514.735.8778
Natalia Arno, Free Russia Foundation
+1 202.549.2417

TRANSATLANTIC INTERPARLIAMENTARY STATEMENT
On unprecedented mass arrest of Russian pro-democracy leaders on March 13, 2021

“We, the undersigned members of the foreign affairs committees of legislatures around the world – the duly elected democratic voices of our constituents and countries – unreservedly condemn the unprecedented mass arrest of Russian pro-democracy leaders. 

A violation of the Russian constitution and of the country’s international legal obligations, these unjust and arbitrary arrests are an assault on the last bastion of the Russian democratic movement. United in common cause, we call for an end to Putin’s punitive persecution and prosecutions of Russian civil society leaders, the release of all political prisoners, and the imposition of targeted Magnitsky sanctions against Russia’s architects of repression.

The crimes perpetrated by Putin’s regime against the Russian people and against the international community have been deadly and are well-documented. Left unchecked, its internal repression has often morphed into external aggression. Wars, murders, theft, embezzlement, nuclear blackmail, disinformation, election interference — they are so numerous and now so well-known, that we feel no need to enumerate all of them in this letter. Under the cover of Covid restrictions, we have seen a further intensification of these trends.

Last year, Putin’s regime illegally amended the Russian constitution, executing a constitutional coup, allowing Putin to stay in power indefinitely and thereby formalizing the Russian transition to authoritarianism. 

In January, he arrested Aleksey Navalny, who was punished with a nearly three-year prison term for not meeting his parole obligations because he was out of the country convalescing from a state-sponsored assassination attempt. Putin then brutally suppressed the nation-wide protests that emerged in Navalny’s support, arbitrarily arresting thousands, and launching criminal prosecutions against them.

On March 13th, security services entered a perfectly lawful Congress of elected municipal deputies and detained nearly 200 people for not adhering to the Kremlin’s command of how to interact with local constituents. In today’s Russia, disagreeing with Putin is not tolerated, and those who do find themselves in jail or worse.

Some of those detained included elected leaders like Ilya Yashin and Maxim Reznik, pro-democracy reformers Andrey Pivovarov and Anastasia Burakova, and popular politician Vladimir Kara-Murza. Mr. Kara-Murza is a top public intellectual and opposition leader whose transformative work on behalf of the Russian people has had a global resonance. His vision and values – eloquently conveyed with a uniquely compelling moral clarity and commitment, often before our respective legislatures – led to his earlier being targeted by the regime for assassination, attempts on his life that he survived twice. The work of such courageous leaders continues to be a source of inspiration in our pursuit of collective peace, security, and dignity for all.

For a society to succeed it must have a set of principles and values that guides it. Most notably, this includes a legal system that honors the rights of all its people and not solely for those who deem themselves leaders and the sycophants who profit from them.

Sadly, these recent developments demonstrate yet again that only Putin’s criminality and impunity prevail in Russia today. The way the regime runs its politics is indistinguishable from the way it runs its foreign policy and its business dealings. To indulge such malign behavior by the Kremlin toward those it disagrees with is to encourage its corrosive behavior in all these other areas.

The democracies of the world have a choice: maintain a normal relationship with a rogue state, continuing to send the message that its treatment of its own citizens is to be overlooked, and its malicious activities are to be condoned. Or, sending a clear and compelling message: that until the Kremlin reverses its troubling trajectory, the current status quo will be unacceptable. This includes targeted sanctions against Putin and his corrupt and criminal cronies – such as canceling access to our banking system, business ties, and safe harbor in our best neighborhoods and schools – ensuring that they cannot enjoy the liberties in our countries that they deny their compatriots in theirs. 

For the sake of a free Russia and a free world, we trust democracies will make the right choice.”

Rasa Jukneviciene, Member of the European Parliament

Andrius Kubilius, Member of the European Parliament

Miriam Lexmann, Member of the European Parliament

Pavel Fischer, Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security of the Senate of the Czech Republic

Marko Mihkelson, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Estonia

Richards Kols, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Seimas of the Republic of Latvia

Žygimantas Pavilions, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania

Bogdan Klich, Senator, Chairman of the Foreign and European Union Committee of the Senate of the Republic of Poland

Eerik Niiles Kross, Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Estonia

Emanuelis Zingeris, Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania

Benjamin L. Cardin, Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation; Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission)

Bill Keating, Member of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Relations and Chair of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment

Brian Fitzpatrick, Member of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Relations

Kimberley Kitching, Senator, Chair of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, Deputy Chair of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, Parliament of Australia

Chris Bryant, Member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the UK Parliament

Bob Seely, Member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the UK Parliament

Full list of Members of the European Parliament who voted against the resolution on political prisoners in Russia

On 14 June this year, the European Parliament adopted a resolution that, in particular, demanded: “that the Russian authorities immediately and unconditionally release Oleg Sentsov and all other illegally detained Ukrainian citizens in Russia and on the Crimean Peninsula”.

Oleg Sentsov is a Ukrainian filmmaker who lived in Crimea. He stayed there after Russia had annexed the Crimean Peninsula; shortly after the annexation, Sentsov was arrested, forcibly “granted” a Russian citizenship, falsely charged with terrorist activities and sentenced to 20 years.

On 14 May 2018, Sentsov went on an indefinite hunger strike demanding to release all Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia and Crimea – there are more than 70 of them. Sentsov is dying right now.

Out of 627 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), 485 voted for the resolution, 76 voted against, and 66 abstained. Here is a full list of MEPs voted against the resolution on political prisoners in Russia and Crimea. It is hardly a coincidence that almost all the MEPs listed here represent the pro-Putin “red-brown alliance”.

 

NAME PARTY IDEOLOGY GROUP
 

Bulgaria
Georgi PIRINSKI Bulgarian Socialist Party Centre-left S&D
 

Czech Republic
Kateřina KONEČNÁ Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy Far-left GUE-NGL
 

Cyprus
Neoklis SYLIKIOTIS Progressive Party of Working People Far-left GUE-NGL
 

France
Marie-Christine ARNAUTU Front national Far-right ENF
Nicolas BAY Front national Far-right ENF
Joëlle BERGERON Independent [Front national] Far-right EFDD
Dominique BILDE Front national Far-right ENF
Marie-Christine BOUTONNET Front national Far-right ENF
Steeve BRIOIS Front national Far-right ENF
Aymeric CHAUPRADE Les Français Libres [Front national] Far-right EFDD
Jacques COLOMBIER Front national Far-right ENF
Mireille D’ORNANO Les Patriotes [Front national] Far-right EFDD
Sylvie GODDYN Front national Far-right ENF
Bruno GOLLNISCH Front national Far-right NI
Jean-François JALKH Front national Far-right ENF
France JAMET Front national Far-right ENF
Patrick LE HYARIC Front de Gauche Far-left GUE-NGL
Gilles LEBRETON Front national Far-right ENF
Dominique MARTIN Front national Far-right ENF
Bernard MONOT Front national Far-right ENF
Sophie MONTEL Les Patriotes [Front national] Far-right EFDD
Joëlle MÉLIN Front national Far-right ENF
Younous OMARJEE L’union pour les Outremer Far-left GUE-NGL
Jean-Luc SCHAFFHAUSER Rassemblement bleu Marine Far-right ENF
Mylène TROSZCZYNSKI Front national Far-right ENF
Marie-Christine VERGIAT Front de Gauche Far-left GUE-NGL
Marie-Pierre VIEU Front de Gauche Far-left GUE-NGL
 

Germany
Stefan ECK Independent [Partei Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz] Far-left GUE-NGL
Cornelia ERNST Die Linke Far-left GUE-NGL
Sabine LÖSING Die Linke Far-left GUE-NGL
Jörg MEUTHEN Alternative für Deutschland Far-right EFDD
Martina MICHELS Die Linke Far-left GUE-NGL
Martin SCHIRDEWAN Die Linke Far-left GUE-NGL
Helmut SCHOLZ Die Linke Far-left GUE-NGL
Gabriele ZIMMER Die Linke Far-left GUE-NGL
 

Greece
Nikolaos CHOUNTIS Popular Unity [Syriza] Far-left GUE-NGL
Georgios EPITIDEIOS Golden Dawn Far-right NI
Lampros FOUNTOULIS Golden Dawn Far-right NI
Stelios KOULOGLOU Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) Far-left GUE-NGL
Kostadinka KUNEVA Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) Far-left GUE-NGL
Konstantinos PAPADAKIS Communist Party of Greece Far-left NI
Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) Far-left GUE-NGL
Sofia SAKORAFA Independent [Syriza] Far-left GUE-NGL
Eleftherios SYNADINOS Independent [Golden Dawn] Far-right NI
Sotirios ZARIANOPOULOS Communist Party of Greece Far-left NI
 

Ireland
Luke Ming FLANAGAN Independent Far-left GUE-NGL
 

Italy
Mara BIZZOTTO Lega Nord Far-right ENF
Mario BORGHEZIO Lega Nord Far-right ENF
Angelo CIOCCA Lega Nord Far-right ENF
Eleonora FORENZA Lista Tsipras-L’Altra Europa Far-left GUE-NGL
Danilo Oscar LANCINI Lega Nord Far-right ENF
Curzio MALTESE Lista Tsipras-L’Altra Europa Far-left GUE-NGL
Giancarlo SCOTTA’ Lega Nord Far-right ENF
Barbara SPINELLI Independent [Lista Tsipras-L’Altra Europa] Far-left GUE-NGL
Marco ZANNI Independent [Movimento 5 Stelle] Far-right ENF
 

Latvia
Andrejs MAMIKINS “Saskaņa” sociāldemokrātiskā partija Centre-left S&D
 

Netherlands
Marcel de GRAAFF Partij voor de Vrijheid Far-right ENF
André ELISSEN Partij voor de Vrijheid Far-right ENF
Olaf STUGER Partij voor de Vrijheid Far-right ENF
Auke ZIJLSTRA Partij voor de Vrijheid Far-right ENF
 

Portugal
João FERREIRA Partido Comunista Português Far-left GUE-NGL
António MARINHO E PINTO Partido Democrático Republicano Centre-right ALDE/ADLE
Marisa MATIAS Bloco de Esquerda Far-left GUE-NGL
João PIMENTA LOPES Partido Comunista Português Far-left GUE-NGL
Miguel VIEGAS Partido Comunista Português Far-left GUE-NGL
 

Spain
Xabier BENITO ZILUAGA PODEMOS Far-left GUE-NGL
Javier COUSO PERMUY Izquierda Unida Far-left GUE-NGL
Tania GONZÁLEZ PEÑAS PODEMOS Far-left GUE-NGL
Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO Izquierda Unida Far-left GUE-NGL
Maria Lidia SENRA RODRÍGUEZ Alternativa galega de esquerda en Europa Far-left GUE-NGL
Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY PODEMOS Far-left GUE-NGL
Estefanía TORRES MARTÍNEZ PODEMOS Far-left GUE-NGL
Miguel URBÁN CRESPO PODEMOS Far-left GUE-NGL
 

United Kingdom
Janice ATKINSON Independent [UKIP] Far-right ENF
James CARVER UKIP Far-right EFDD
Steven WOOLFE Independent [UKIP] Far-right NI

This post first appeared at Tango Noir site.