Don’t lose sight of the other Navalnys
Russia holds a three-day presidential election starting Friday, and the result is not in doubt: President Vladimir Putin has rigged the process to ensure he holds power for another six years, at least. This farce thus extends Russia’s tragedy, the most heartbreaking recent manifestation of which was the death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident, in an Arctic prison after nearly three years under increasingly harsh physical and mental torment, including long periods in cramped solitary confinement. The best way to mark Putin’s reelection is by remembering Navalny – along with the fact that, as a political prisoner, he was far from alone, either in Russia, or around the world.
These are the other Navalnys. Among them is Post Opinions contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza, arrested two years ago for his strong criticism of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. A journalist, historian and political activist, Kara-Murza was absurdly accused of treason and sentenced to 25 years. Another principled prisoner in Russia is Ilya Yashin, a political activist, unjustly sentenced to 8 ½ years in December 2022 on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military. Since February 2022, Russian authorities have detained 19,855 people at protests against the war and opened criminal cases against 909 antiwar dissidents, according to the watchdog group OVD-Info.
In Cuba, dissident José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, has been repeatedly punished for imaginary offenses – with real prison sentences. Detained in 2021 amid a national uprising against the Communist regime, he is currently serving a four-year term at the Mar Verde prison in Santiago de Cuba. His family said they have not had contact with him for a year and reported he is in poor health.
Cuban authorities arrested Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a founder of the San Isidro artists’ movement in Havana, about the same time they took Ferrer into custody. He is serving five years on charges of “insulting national symbols.” Equally wrongful is the incarceration of Maykel Castillo Pérez, known as Maykel Osorbo, a Cuban musician, rapper and
San Isidro movement leader. He shared in two Latin Grammy awards for “Patria y Vida,” the anthem of the protest movement. He was arrested in May 2021.
A voice for the same ideals that motivated Navalny is Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, founder of Viasna, a group that since 1996 has fought for civil society and against human rights violations under the erratic autocrat, President Alexander Lukashenko. Bialiatski, a winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, was arrested in July 2021 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for purportedly bringing money into the country to support mass demonstrations against Lukashenko’s theft of the 2020 presidential election. Other Viasna leaders are also in prison. Lukashenko has tormented political prisoners by denying them any family contact for long periods. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has not heard from her husband, Sergei – who was imprisoned by the authorities in Belarus when he declared he would run against Lukashenko – for more than a year. Maria Kolesnikova, who ran on a ticket with Tikhanovskaya, was also imprisoned and has been held incommunicado for a year, according to her family.