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Press Release

Following careful evaluation Amnesty International has decided to re-designate Alexei Navalny as a “Prisoner of Conscience”. In February, Amnesty took an internal decision to stop using the “Prisoner of Conscience” term for Navalny, due to concerns relating to discriminatory statements he made in 2007 and 2008 which may have constituted advocacy of hatred. The Russian government and its supporters used that internal decision, which we had not intended to make public, to further violate Navalny’s rights. That was the height of hypocrisy, coming from a government that not only attempted to kill Navalny by poisoning, but has carried out unconscionable…

May 7, 2021

Press Release

Amnesty International defines a prisoner of conscience (POC) as a person who has been deprived of their liberty solely because of their conscientiously held beliefs, or for discriminatory reasons relating to their ethnicity, sexuality, gender, or other identity, who has not used violence or advocated violence or hatred. Claims that Amnesty's decision on Aleksei Navalny was a response to external pressure are untrue and ignore our longstanding and detailed internal policy.

February 25, 2021

Press Release

Abusive policing and excessive reliance on law enforcement to implement COVID-19 response measures have violated human rights and in some instances made the health crisis worse, Amnesty International said today.

December 16, 2020

Press Release

Amnesty International USA released the following statement from Board Chair Dr. Reza Fakhari following the death of human rights trailblazer and icon Yuri Orlov.

September 29, 2020

Press Release

Amnesty International demands that the Russian authorities fully investigate the circumstances of the unexpected and critical deterioration of the health of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and allow him to immediately be diagnosed by and receive treatment from doctors that his family trusts. The politician was hospitalized and placed in intensive care in Omsk (Siberia) on his way from Tomsk to Moscow. “The administration of the hospital must provide full access to information about his treatment to his family and doctors of his or their choice. There have already been reports that his chosen doctor was not allowed to see the…

August 20, 2020

Press Release

A new Amnesty International report, 'Nowhere is safe for us': Unlawful attacks and mass displacement in north-west Syria, details 18 cases – the majority in January and February 2020 – where Syrian and/or Russian government forces targeted medical facilities and schools in Idlib, western Aleppo and north-western Hama governorates.

May 10, 2020

Press Release

Amnesty International is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all the prisoners of conscience it is campaigning for worldwide, who are now at heightened risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

May 4, 2020

Press Release

Following today’s decision by Moscow City Court to uphold the conviction of human rights defender Konstantin Kotov and sentence him to a year-and-a-half in a penal colony, Amnesty International Russia’s Director Natalia Zviagina said: “This decision is a profound injustice. Konstantin Kotov has spent more than eight months behind bars simply for taking part in peaceful protests, after being convicted under the notoriously repressive Article 212.1. “Although the court reduced his sentence from four years, the fact remains that he should never have been detained at all. Konstantin Kotov is a prisoner of conscience, he must be acquitted and freed.…

April 20, 2020

Report

People’s rights are being violated by governments in Europe and Central Asia, who are cracking down on protests and seeking to erode the independence of the judiciary to avoid accountability, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual review of human rights in the region. The organization praised those brave people who took to the streets to defend their own and others’ rights but warned that governments continue to perpetrate human rights violations with impunity across the region. “In 2019, people in Europe and Central Asia were threatened, intimidated, prosecuted, subjected to excessive use of force by police, and…

April 16, 2020

Report

Russian authorities should take urgent measures to address the potentially devastating consequences should COVID-19 begin spreading among prisoners and detainees, Amnesty International said in a letter to Russian government agencies. At least 9,000 of Russia’s 519,600-strong prison population are over 60-years-old and many more in poor health.

March 31, 2020

Press Release

Reacting to news of a mob attack late last night, in the Chechen capital Grozny, on two visiting human rights activists –one of whom is investigative journalist Elena Milashina, who uncovered a vicious campaign of abduction, torture and killings against gay men in Chechnya two years ago, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director, said:

February 7, 2020

Press Release

Climate change leads as one of the most important issues facing the world, according to a major new survey of young people published by Amnesty International today to mark Human Rights Day.

December 9, 2019