Prisoner exchange with Russia one year ago (August 1)

“Germany must do more than it has done so far to secure the release of political prisoners in Russia,” demands Sarah Reinke of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) in Göttingen, one year after the exchange of 16 prisoners from Russia and Belarus on August 1, 2024.
According to the human rights organization OVD-Info, more than 1,500 people are currently in prison in Russia for political reasons. Reinke points out that members of minorities and indigenous peoples are among the groups that are being severely persecuted by the Russian government. Tens of thousands of members of the indigenous population of Crimea have fled their homes since the Russian occupation in 2014 for fear of persecution. There are still 134 Crimean Tatars in Russian custody for ethnic, religious, or political reasons: Many have been given extremely long prison sentences of over ten years and have been transferred from Crimea to distant regions so that their relatives and lawyers cannot keep in touch with them.
“They must not be forgotten!” Reinke urges. “On the contrary, Germany must continue to follow the many individual cases and do everything in its power to secure the release of political prisoners from the inhumane Russian prison system.”
In Russia itself, human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, and people who are critical of the war against Ukraine or the Kremlin's policies are being persecuted. A few days ago, the Duma passed a package of laws that further lowers the barriers to criminal prosecution. “This development is another reason why it is completely wrong for Federal Interior Minister Dobrindt to have recently stopped the humanitarian admission programs. They were a way for human rights defenders from Russia to escape prison, sometimes at the last minute,” Reinke criticizes.
A year ago, on August 1, 2024, Russia and Belarus released 16 prisoners as part of a prisoner exchange, including Russian human rights defender Oleg Orlov, whose release the STP had advocated for along with many other human rights organizations.
“I cannot rejoice in the freedom that has been unexpectedly granted to me without constantly thinking about the many political prisoners in Russian camps and prisons. Among them are my friends and comrades-in-arms, people I know and people I don't know. They were deprived of their freedom because they spoke the truth, because they exercised their rights, which are guaranteed to them by international covenants and by the Russian constitution,” Orlov said in a speech during the STP's annual general meeting in December 2024.

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at presse@gfbv.de. The original version can be found here.