AI denounces ruthless persecution of Navalni supporters

Amnesty International (AI) denounced that the Kremlin has unleashed a ruthless persecution against the structures and followers of the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalni, who was arrested a year ago today upon returning to Moscow from Berlin and who has been in prison ever since.

“In the last twelve months, the Russian authorities launched an unprecedented campaign of repression and persecution against the illegally imprisoned Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, and his supporters, destroying what remained of the right to freedom of expression and association.”, underlined AI in a statement.

In the year that has elapsed since Navalni’s arrest at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, “the politician, his supporters and Russian civil society organizations have been subjected to ruthless harassment by the authorities”, said Marie Struthers, director of AI for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

He added that dozens of companions and supporters of Navalni have been brought to justice with false accusations and a “larger number is already in prison.”

“Some of Alexei Navalni’s colleagues managed to flee the country, but now they fear that their relatives in Russia will be persecuted and could go to jail. In the year since his arrest, the life of Navalni and the political activists linked to him has become hellStruthers added.

He demanded an immediate end to the “ruthless persecution unleashed by the Kremlin, which is obsessed with the idea of ​​silencing and smearing Alexei Navalni and his supporters.”

Last Friday, the Russian authorities included the exiled Russian oppositionists Leonid Vólkov and Iván Zhdánov, close collaborators of Navalni, in a list of people linked to extremist and terrorist activities.

In June of last year, the Russian Justice outlawed several organizations created by Navalni, which he declared extremists, for which all their members were prevented from standing as candidates in any type of election.

Navalni was arrested on his return from Germany, where he recovered from an assassination attempt perpetrated in Siberia with a chemical substance for military use, and days later he was sent to prison, where he is serving a sentence of two and a half for failing to comply while convalescing the conditions of his parole for an old criminal case.