On April 11, Russian opposition leader and Post contributing columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza was arrested outside his home in Moscow. He has since been charged with “spreading deliberately false information,” a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison under laws passed by the government of President Vladimir Putin after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24. He passed along the text below to his lawyer during one of their recent meetings.
The worst nightmare for political prisoners
“The prisoner’s worst nightmare is the thought of being forgotten.”
I would often quote this line passed on by Irwin Cotler — a towering figure in the human rights community, former justice minister of Canada, and international lawyer for prisoners of conscience, including Andrei Sakharov, Natan Sharansky and Nelson Mandela — at events and hearings we held around the world to draw attention to the plight of political prisoners in Russia.
The last time I recalled these words was in early April, as I spoke in Paris at a hearing on Russian political prisoners hosted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The assembly is preparing a report on this subject, to be considered at its upcoming session in June. Little did I know that, just a week after the hearing, I would myself join the ranks of political prisoners who are the subject of the report.
I always knew how true those words were — and how important were international campaigns of solidarity with prisoners of conscience. I now feel it with my own skin.
I want to thank everyone who, over these past few weeks, spoke out on my behalf and demanded my release. Lawmakers, ministers, diplomats, NGO leaders and human rights activists. Top parliamentarians from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe. The chairs of foreign affairs committees from 19 legislatures who made a joint statement, and more than 50 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe who proposed a resolution on my case. And Amnesty International, which has designated me as a prisoner of conscience. Thank you to each and every one of you. I might not hear all of your messages inside these prison walls, but I can feel your solidarity — and I am deeply grateful.
My biggest gratitude goes to my wife, my partner and my soul mate, Evgenia. Having already helped bring me back to life twice after Kremlin-organized poisonings, she now continues my work and leads this campaign — all while taking care of her own duties, our home and our three children.
The biggest happiness in life is to have by your side someone who breathes and sees the world the same way you do. And even though, for now, we are not side by side physically, I feel your love and your support every moment.
According to the (almost certainly incomplete) count by the Memorial Human Rights Center, there are hundreds of prisoners of conscience in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. People such as Alexei Navalny, Andrei Pivovarov, Lilia Chanysheva, Alexei Pichugin, Yuri Dmitriev, Pavel Zelensky and many, many others — whose only “crime” is to hold political or religious beliefs unwelcome in the Kremlin.
Please remember them. Please speak out on their behalf. Please advocate their release — which will come, I have no doubt.
Because the worst nightmare for a political prisoner is to be forgotten.
Source: WP
