Amnesty International redesignates Navalny a ‘prisoner of conscience’
OTTAWA: Amnesty International on Friday apologised to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny for stripping him of its “prisoner of conscience” status and said it would restore the designation.
Amnesty announced on February 24 that it would stop referring to Navalny as a prisoner of conscience on the grounds that in the past he had made comments that qualified as advocacy of hatred.
“Following careful evaluation Amnesty International has decided to re-designate Alexei Navalny as a ‘Prisoner of Conscience’,” it said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
Amnesty said the Russian government and its supporters had used the February 24 decision to further violate the rights of Navalny, a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin.
The 44-year-old Russian opposition politician was arrested in January and sentenced to jail for parole violations he called trumped up.
“Amnesty International made a wrong decision ... and apologises 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,” the statement said.
Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief of staff, said on Twitter that “the ability to recognise mistakes and move on is the most important thing that distinguishes normal people from Putin’s”.
Navalny has been criticised for past nationalist statements against illegal immigration and for attending an annual nationalist march several years ago.