AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL APOLOGIZES TO NAVALNY

Amnesty International apologized Friday to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny for stripping him of its “prisoner of conscience” status and said it would restore the designation.

Amnesty said on Feb. 24 it would stop referring to Navalny as a prisoner of conscience because his past comments qualified as advocacy of hatred. The Russian government and its supporters, Amnesty said, had used that decision to further violate the rights of the 44-year-old opposition politician, a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin.

“Amnesty International made a wrong decision … and apologizes for the negative impacts this has had on Alexei Navalny personally, and the activists in Russia and around the world who tirelessly campaign for his freedom,” it said.