A rally was held in Berlin in support of political prisoners in Russia

Today in the center of Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate, a rally was held in support of Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alexei Navalny and other political prisoners of Russia. It was organized by the organization “Sitting Russia” with the support of other Russian-speaking NGOs in Berlin.

On a cold July evening, more than two hundred people came to the rally. Among them are human rights defenders, journalists and representatives of the creative intelligentsia, both those who have long lived in Berlin and those who have recently arrived here. Olga Romanova, the founder and leader of “Sitting Russia”, told Radio Liberty:

“Every day in Russia, more and more prisoners are added. Moreover, we do not have time to remember their names, because these are activists from Khabarovsk and Vologda, Murmansk and Perm. We do not have time to remember these names, but Putin reminded us of something when he reported that it is not the 37th hour in Russia now. He does not know the names of Boris Kagarlitskyi or Zhenya Berkovich, but he firmly knows that they are guilty, and he firmly knows that people like them are “shot in Ukraine.” Very scary , that Russia is governed by a person with such a set of knowledge and such a set of convictions. It seems to me that we are here not only so that the political prisoners know that we remember them, but also to try to show the rest of the world that not all of Russia – Putin and what is possible in Russia, after all, there is a future. There are people in Russia who are against Putin. These are people who think the same way as we do.”

Kara-Murza’s lawyer Vadym Prokhorov, who was also present at the rally, emphasized that his client is in prison for his civil position. Prokhorov reminded the audience that today, according to the “Memorial” society, there are already more than five and a half hundred political prisoners in Russia. This is much more than it was in the last years of the Soviet regime.

At the rally, the address of Vladimir Kara-Murza was read, in which, in particular, it is said that today the place in this list is occupied by Russian citizens who publicly spoke out against the cruel, aggressive and unjust war that Putin’s regime unleashed against Ukraine.

“We are very different people of different professions, generations and views. Among us there are politicians and journalists, priests and soldiers, artists and lawyers, students and pensioners, leftists and rightists. We are united by our opposition to Putin’s criminal war, which the Kremlin is waging on behalf of Russia. Those , who think the same way as we do, there are millions in our country. Thank you for listening to us and for not believing the stories of Kremlin propaganda about the alleged universal support of these criminals. I know that the day will come when this darkness will dissipate and when another Russia will return to the family of civilized countries and we will finally be able to create a real, united and peaceful Europe”, – the words of the Russian politician, sentenced in Russia to 25 years of deprivation of liberty, sounded at the end of the evening rally in Berlin. On the same day, the appellate court in Moscow refused to review the Kara-Murze interview, which human rights activists consider a political prisoner.

One of the participants of the event told Radio Liberty that he considers it his duty to express his position of disagreement with Russia’s criminal full-scale war in Ukraine in any format and anywhere in the world. “The main thing is personal conscience, which does not allow you to calmly look at the crimes that Russia commits on behalf of its citizens,” said a participant of the rally.