The President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Marc Coolsa, made the following statement:
“On behalf of the Congress, I wholeheartedly welcome the release of Tomsk city councilor Ksenia Fadeeva and Moscow Krasnoselsky district councilor Ilya Yashin, opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza and other political opponents in Russia and Belarus, imprisoned for opposing Russia’s war against Ukraine, who were freed in a recent prisoner exchange.
“I reiterate the call made by Congress in its Resolution 494 of October 2023 for the immediate and unconditional release of all anti-war political activists and prisoners of conscience in Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, imprisoned for expressing their opinions.
“We stand in solidarity with all war critics who remain unlawfully deprived of their liberty or face persecution – such as city councilors Alexei Gorinov, Oleg Nepein, Anatoly Arseev and many other local and regional elected officials, human rights defenders, journalists, youth activists and political opponents. Today, we must continue to pressure the Russian authorities to secure their immediate release.
“The imprisonment of politicians, journalists and ordinary citizens in the Russian Federation and Belarus for peacefully expressing their opposition to the ruling dictatorial regimes or for criticizing the aggressive war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine is unacceptable. Just like the Russian Federation taking Western citizens hostage as a bargaining chip for the release of criminals.”
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