No Justice For Alexei Navalny And More Lives At Risk In Russia, Warns UN Special Rapporteur

GENEVA (17 February 2025) – One year after the death of Alexei Navalny in one of Russia’s harshest detention facilities, beyond the Arctic Circle, the lives of over 2000 political prisoners in Russia remain at grave risk unless they are immediately released, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, warned today.

“These detainees must be freed before another political prisoner loses their life in Russian custody, just like Navalny did a year ago,” Katzarova said.

The Special Rapporteur said Russian authorities have failed to conduct a credible investigation into Navalny’s death in custody and bear sole responsibility for his death.

The expert said Alexei Navalny’s fate exposes the systematic and widespread repression against peaceful dissenters to the Russian government’s ongoing erosion of human rights and rule of law, and its foreign policy of aggression against Ukraine.

“The sad anniversary of Alexei Navalny’s death is a stark reminder about more than 2000 political prisoners in Russia, many of whom face life-threatening conditions. Eight political prisoners died in prison in 2024, including Pavel Kushnir, a pianist from Birobidzhan who spoke out against the war on Ukraine,” Katzarova said.

She identified a priority list of at least 120 political prisoners in imminent danger due to critical health conditions, age and disability who require immediate release.

Among them Alexei Gorinov, a former Moscow municipal deputy in a critical state of health, and human rights activist Igor Baryshnikov and lawyer Bakhrom Khamroyev, imprisoned for their anti-war stance.

The Special Rapporteur highlighted the case of Arseny Turbin, the youngest of 12 children imprisoned on charges of “terrorism” and “extremism.” At least 76 political prisoners are older persons, including 69-year-old Yuri Dmitriev, a historian and human rights defender from Nobel Peace Prize laureate, “Memorial.” The worsening health of Zarema Musaeva, the mother of two opposition activists and lawyers from Chechnya, is a grim example of how Chechen authorities use family persecution as a tool of repression, the expert said.

Katzarova said Navalny’s lawyers and others were imprisoned for real or perceived affiliation with the former opposition leader, including insulin-dependent journalist Olga Komleva. Journalist Maria Ponomarenko, imprisoned for anti-war statements, was subjected to forced psychiatric treatment and placed in torturous conditions of detention.

Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, at least 219 Ukrainians from occupied Crimea have been arbitrarily detained in Russia, including 133 Crimean Tatars. At least 40 urgently need medical care, which they are being denied — among them human rights defenders Tofik Abdulhaziiev and Enver Ametov. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Ukrainians have been deported to Russia, subjected to enforced disappearance and experienced systematic torture, including rape and sexual violence. Among them are at least 20 Ukrainian women detainees with severe health conditions, including human rights activist and nurse Irina Danilovich.

“The basis for meaningful peace negotiations to end the war against Ukraine, should be at the minimum, the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Russia, and the return of all Ukrainian detainees held in Russian prisons,” Katzarova said.

“Instead, Russian authorities have threatened to initiate new purges against human rights defenders,” she said. “Vyacheslav Volodin, Chair of the State Duma has called on the US Government to release the names of Russian civil society members who received US Foreign Aid grants so the Federal Security Services (FSB) can investigate them.”

In her 2024 report to the Human Rights Council and her first thematic report to the General Assembly, Katzarova documented Russia’s widespread and systematic human rights violations, including arbitrary detention and torture, as part of a government strategy to quash peaceful domestic dissent and suppress opposition to its aggressive war against Ukraine.

The Special Rapporteur has shared concerns with the Russian Federation on these cases.

Mariana Katzarova is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation

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