Remembering those unjustly deprived of their freedom

On the occasion of the International Day of Political Prisoners (30 October), PACE’s General Rapporteur on Political Prisoners, Azadeh Rojhan (Sweden, SOC), and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on Political Prisoners, Steve Cohen (United States of America), made the following statement:

“On 30 October 1974 political prisoners across the Soviet Union staged a one-day hunger strike to protest against their treatment and to draw the world’s attention to their plight. The protest gave rise to a day of remembrance that remains deeply relevant today.

More than five decades later, Russian prisons and penal colonies are again holding innocent people whose only ‘crime’ is to peacefully oppose tyranny and aggression, defend human rights or stand up for the truth. 

Political prisoners’ freedom is inseparable from our own. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a former political prisoner, has described internal oppression and external aggression as two sides of the same coin. When fear is imposed on society and independent voices are silenced, the foundations of peaceful coexistence begin to crumble. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has made it painfully clear that unchecked authoritarianism does not stop at a country’s border.

Remembering those who are unjustly imprisoned helps ensure that their courage and suffering are not hidden, their names are not forgotten, and that those responsible cannot count on the world’s indifference. Today, we remember some of those unjustly deprived of their freedom for their opinions or simply because of who they are:

• Yuri Dmitriev in Russia, a historian whose work documenting the truth about Soviet terror and repression made him a target of persecution; and Zarema Musaeva, whose arbitrary detention in Chechnya, in retaliation for her exiled sons’ opposition to the Chechen authorities, was confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights; 
• Vadym Golda, Maxim Petrov, and Dmytro Shabanov, former OSCE officials arbitrarily convicted by Russian-controlled courts in occupied Ukraine, as well as the thousands of other Ukrainian civilians arbitrarily imprisoned in Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine because of their nationality;
• Dmitri Laevski in Belarus, a lawyer removed from the Bar for defending opponents of the regime and recently sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on politically motivated charges;
• Mzia Amaglobeli in Georgia, an independent journalist imprisoned amid anti-government protests and a broader crackdown on media freedom; 
• “Anar Mammadli and Ali Karimli in Azerbaijan, whose cases, alongside that of Ulvi Hasanli, Farid Mehralizada and Ulviyya Ali, reflect the level of suppression of freedom of expression and independent civic and political activity;”
• Osman Kavala in Türkiye, who remains behind bars despite three judgments of the European Court of Human Rights ordering his immediate release.

Every release is welcome. But arbitrary detention must not become a means of extracting political or economic concessions; it brings shame on the authorities and individuals responsible. The release of those unjustly detained is an obligation, not a bargaining chip that rewards the very practices that made their imprisonment possible.

On this International Day of Political Prisoners, we pledge to continue advocating for the release of all those imprisoned for exercising their fundamental rights. Their names must be kept on the international agenda until they can return home, free to live without fear of persecution for what they peacefully stand for.”

# # #