JK Rowling, Jude Law, Orhan Pamuk and 100 other cultural figures demand Putin to release Navalny
128 world-renowned cultural figures have asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide incarcerated politician Alexei Navalny with medical care and release him.
Source: Russian independent online publication Meduza, which published the text of the open letter in Russian
Details: Amongst the cultural figures who signed the letter were Nobel Prize laureates Svetlana Alexievich, Mario Vargas Llosa, Herta Müller, Orhan Pamuk, Olga Tokarczuk, author of the "Harry Potter" series JK Rowling, historian Timothy Snyder, actors David Duchovny, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jude Law, Jean Reno, as well as ex-soccer player of the Manchester United club Eric Cantona and others.
Quote: "As we write and you are well aware, Alexei Navalny is being held in IK-6, one of the harshest penal colonies in your country. He has been consistently returned to solitary confinement, squeezed into a concrete cell the size of a dog kennel, with no ventilation. Visits from relatives and phone calls are forbidden, his attorney-client privileges have been cancelled. Despite running a fever, he is required to stand all day.
We add our voices to those of the 600 Russian doctors requesting urgent and immediate independent medical help. A further 100 Russian lawyers and 100 regional deputies are demanding that the torture of Navalny cease and again that medical assistance be provided.
Navalny is serving prison sentences based on charges which would never have been upheld under any independent legal system. We support the call of the German government, the U.S. authorities, and the European Union demanding his immediate release. It is in your power."
Earlier: Cultural figures had already sent letters to Putin in the past with demand to provide Navalny with medical care.
Background:
- In 2014, following Russia's occupation of Crimea, Navalny, answering a question regarding the peninsula, said: "Is Crimea a sandwich with sausage or what? To turn it back and forth..."
- In 2016, Navalny said that he intended to hold a "normal" referendum in Russian-occupied Crimea if he won the Russian presidential election.
- In 2021, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, urged Ukrainians not to be too enamoured by Navalny and said that "the sandwich will have to be given back, unbitten and fresh, in good condition".
- In March 2022, Putin’s regime sentenced Navalny to nine years in prison for fraud and contempt of court. In October 2022. Navalny was accused of promoting terrorism and calling for it.
- In February 2023, Navalny published the agenda of his political platform, which included respect for Ukraine's internationally recognised 1991 borders and compensation for damage caused by the Russian war of aggression.
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