Navalny calls for immediate release

Navalny: calls for immediate release

On the second anniversary of the poisoning of Alexej Navalny, EU Chief Diplomat Josep Borrell, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recalled the fate of the Kremlin opponent who was arrested in Russia.

Anti-Kremlin Alexei Navalny arrested in Russia

AP/Russian Federal Prison Service/Alexander Zemlianichenko

“We regret the banning of Mr Navalny’s organization,” said an EU broadcast today. Schallenberg tweeted: “The crackdown on dissenting voices in #Russia must stop.”

Two years after the heinous poisoning attack on Navalny, the foreign minister lamented that he was still in prison. “We ask for his immediate and unconditional release and for those responsible to be held accountable.”

EU warns Russia

The EU also criticized “the ongoing persecution and detention of Navalny and members of his staff” and “the recent unwarranted disciplinary measures taken by prison authorities” against the Kremlin critic. “We hold the Russian authorities responsible for the safety and health of Mr. Navalny in the strict regime colony.”

The European Union again asks Russia “to fulfill its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and also to comply with the injunction of the European Court of Human Rights asking for the immediate release of Navalny from prison”.

According to dpa, Scholz said in a published video message that Navalny was “an unchanging courageous man” and upheld principles “that show good prospects for many Russian citizens. That is, that it is better to live in a democracy and a constitutional state.” That’s why it’s so important to think about Navalny these days, Scholz emphasized.