John Peder Egenæs

⚡️ Oleg Orlov is free! We demand the release of all other political prisoners in Russia and Belarus. Russian human rights defender and co-founder of Memorial, Oleg Orlov was released from prison and transferred to Köln (Germany) today, in a historic political prisoner swap. Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, Sasha Skochilenko, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Kevin Lik, Demuri (Dieter) Voronin, Andrei Pivovarov and Vadim Ostanin are also now free as a result of this exchange. These people were prosecuted under articles that should not exist. Lilia Chanysheva and Ksenia Fadeeva coordinated Alexei Navalny’s offices. Navalny was murdered in prison by the authorities, and his projects were declared «extremist». They were prosecuted for participation. Artist and activist Sasha Skochienko was accused of «discrediting the army» for posting anti-war stickers in a shop. Opposition politicians Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin consistently criticized Putin and the full-scale war Russia waged against Ukraine. Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was convicted for «spreading fakes about the Russian army». Kevin Lik was charged with “treason” when he was 16. Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist, was accused of “espionage”. In exchange, Russia got criminals who have been imprisoned in different countries on charges of murder, hacking, money laundering, and smuggling. The only person exchanged from Belarus is German citizen Rico Krieger. No Belarusian political prisoners have been exchanged. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski is still imprisoned. We cannot forget the political prisoners still incarcerated in Russia, whose rights are violated daily. There are still 764 political prisoners in Russia recognised by @pzk_memo_eng. They need us to support and fight for them even more than before. Write letters to political prisoners, and donate to support them. Let us continue our fight for the freedom of all political prisoners and the end of the criminal war against Ukraine. Photo collage: Oleg Orlov wearing the hat of former political prisoner and ex-Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky. The hat was given to Bukovsky by KGB employees along with a set of civilian clothes before his exchange for the leader of the Communist Party of Chile, Luis Corvalán, in 1976. The hat is currently held in the Memorial Museum collection. #OlegOrlov #SetThemFree #FreedomtoPoliticalPrisoners

Aleksandra (Sasha) Skochilenko fikk 7 år i fengsel fordi hun byttet ut prislapper med info om Russlands krigføring i en matbutikk i St. Petersburg. Amnesty har aksjonert for henne siden hun ble arrestert. Tusen takk til alle som har engasjert seg for Sasha!