Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov and Filipino journalist, Rappler Editor-in-Chief Maria Ressa, winners of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, have urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to intervene and protect Russian politician Alexey Navalny, the letter is published on Novaya Gazeta’s website.
The journalists note that Navalny has “changed beyond recognition” since he was detained in January 2021 and over his time in prison.
“To the point that judging by video screenshots he looks more washed out than straight after coma and ICU,” the appeal reads.
At the same time, out of two years of imprisonment in total Navalny spent 100 days in a solitary confinement cell, the letter reads. “He has been placed in solitary confinement, which even compared to usual Russian imprisonment realities seem torture-like, 10 times: for instance, for washing himself 25 minutes earlier than scheduled. As a ‘notorious regime breacher’, he is deprived of meetings with families or the right to receive letters,” the Nobel Prize laureates stressed.
The journalists also underline that lawyers are unable to get medicine to Navalny.
Muratov and Ressa are convinced that independent humanitarian organisations need to intervene, primarily the ICRC.
On 18 January, Russian politicians of various levels of power urged President Vladimir Putin, Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, as well as the national Human Rights Council to provide medical care to Alexey Navalny. Russian doctors and lawyers earlier also appealed to Putin about it.
17 January marked exactly two years since Navalny returned to Russia after receiving treatment for poisoning in Berlin and was promptly arrested in a Moscow airport. The opposition politician is currently serving a prison term in the Vladimir region.
