PACE’s General Rapporteur for political prisoners, Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), today issued a statement concerning the recent disappearance of Alexey Navalny from the Russian penal colony in which he was imprisoned:
“According to recent reports, Alexey Navalny is no longer imprisoned in a penal colony located in Melekhovo, 235 km east of Moscow. His lawyers have been denied access to him, and there is no information about his current whereabouts or condition.
I demand that the Russian authorities immediately disclose Alexey Navalny’s current location, allow his lawyers to contact him and provide him with proper and independent medical care. Above all, I reiterate PACE call on the Russian authorities to immediately release all political prisoners, whose continued incarceration is an insult to fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, and does not belong in any civilised order. Russia must also comply with the binding judgments of the European Court of Human Rights concerning political prisoners such as Mr Navalny, in accordance with its international legal obligations.
I also urge those members of the international community who still maintain close diplomatic ties with Russia, including some Council of Europe member States, to continue to exert pressure on the Putin regime and do their utmost to ensure that political prisoners in Russia are released and troops withdrawn from Ukrainian sovereign territory.
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This comes at a time when the number of casualties of the Russian criminal aggression against Ukraine is approaching one million and the number of political prisoners – including Alexey Navalny, his lawyers (Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser) and Vladimir Kara-Murza – is reaching new hights. On top of that, Vladimir Putin has just announced his intention to seek another re-election. PACE has already called for Council of Europe member States not to recognise the legitimacy of his rule as president beyond 2024, given that his term limit waiver violates both the Russian constitution and international legal principles.”
