The independent expert of the UN on human rights, Mariana Katsarova, welcomed the landmark exchange of prisoners carried out yesterday, in which the USA, Russia and five other countries participated, informed the media of the world organization UN News (UN News), quoted from BTA.
More than 20 people, including journalists and dissidents, are reported to have been released, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia, Mariana Katsarova, has repeatedly advocated for their release.
Good news in dark times
„I can't even believe it”, said Katsarova in an exclusive interview with UN News. “In the dark times we live in, when every day new people are detained in Russia, there are new trials, and every day in the news there is information about shocking violations of human rights, suddenly this is such good news,” Katsarova said. Katsarova reported that many people in Russia – human rights defenders, representatives of civil society, yesterday “were just crying for joy” .
„This is truly an unprecedented diplomatic act. And this may be the largest group of political prisoners exchanged since the Cold War, Katsarova also told UN News. “Of course, today we are glad that in the end people were released who should not have been convicted, such as Vladimir Kara-Murza, Evan Gershkovich, Alsou Kurmasheva, Oleg Orlov, Sasha Skolichenko, the members of the Anti-Corruption Fund Liliya Chanisheva and Ksenia Fadeeva and others“, noted the UN special rapporteur.
All political prisoners must be released
And while she is happy, the human rights specialist urged the international community not to forget the political prisoners who remain behind bars, numbering at least 700, although some estimates put them at more than 1,000.
„Today we must once again call for their immediate and unconditional release from prisons in Russia”, Katsarova said. “They shouldn't be there. They are there on charges that they expressed a position against the war against Ukraine”. According to Katsarova, at least 33 journalists are in prison, “precisely because they wrote information and more extensive materials” against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Let's remember Alexei Navalny
„Today we must remember that this exchange and this release of political prisoners was carried out without Alexei Navalny,”, noted Katsarova, referring to the opposition politician who died earlier this year in a Siberian prison. “If he had survived, he would have been part of this exchange”, Katsarova emphasized.
Special rapporteurs like Mariana Katsarova are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. They are empowered to monitor and report on the situation in individual countries and on specific issues. These experts work on a voluntary basis and are independent of governments and organizations. They are not UN employees and receive no remuneration for their work, UN News states.