Responding to news of the release of 16 people - including Russian human rights defenders - from Russian and Belarusian prisons today as part of an international prisoner swap deal, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:

“Today, we share the relief and joy for the release of detained human rights defenders, activists and journalists who will soon be finally able to hug their loved ones.

“They should never have been behind bars - their prosecution was a grave injustice.

“We are grateful that the voices of the global and Russian human rights communities have been heard, and that the freedom of these individuals has been brokered.

“While their release is an important step, it should not remain an isolated episode. The right way forward is the dismantling of Russia’s system of political repression, not bartering human beings.

“The Russian authorities must free unconditionally all other individuals arbitrarily detained on political grounds, such as Natalia Filonova, Aleksei Gorinov, Maria Ponomarenko, Vladimir Rumyantsev and many more, and provide remedy for their unjust detention.

“The repressive legislation that enables these prosecutions must also be abolished.”

Complex prisoner swap deal

In a prisoner swap deal brokered between Russia and Belarus on the one hand and Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and the USA on the other, the authorities in Moscow and Minsk pardoned, released and exiled 16 prisoners, including Russian activists and human rights defenders Oleg Orlov, Aleksandra (Sasha) Skochilenko, Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Andrei Pivovarov and Ilya Yashin, as well as journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, among others. These and some of the others released had been imprisoned following unfair trials on politically-motivated charges relating to criticism of the authorities, anti-war activism and journalistic work. In return, eight people convicted or detained in Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and the USA on espionage and other charges have been handed over to the Russia authorities.