“I Am Inviting Anyone Who Cares to Join in the Conversation”

Mikhail Khodorkovsky on the “Political Prisoners” forum

October 29 the Open Russia website is to host an online forum titled “Political prisoners 2.0: are there legal ways of being a dissident?”

On the eve of the Remembrance Day for Victims of Political Oppression, October 22, I addressed the Freedom Forum in Oslo. One cannot possibly fit a story of all political cases in Russia into a 20 minute presentation. So, I focused instead on those convicted in the Bolotnaya Square case, on the stories of individuals who many have already begun to forget since, over the last 12 months, a great many things have changed in Russia, while the Bolotnaya convicts are still serving their sentences.

I would like to note the important work that has been consistently carried out recently by members of such NGOs as Memorial, Agora, Rus’ Behind Bars, May 6 Committee, RusConvict, the International Expert Commission for Evaluating the May 6, 2012 Events, the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, and other human rights groups. Without the assistance of many people, those who appeared in the Bolotnaya case would be in a much graver situation. Thus, the May 6 Committee has focused not on legal assistance but on directly helping the convicts and their family members. After all, prison, first and foremost, involves expenses on necessities and food; it means temporary, albeit frequently very lengthy, loss of the breadwinner. Without the efforts and support of such individuals as Lyudmila Alekseeva, Lev Ponomarev, Olga Romanova, Ilya Ponomarev, Maria Arkhipova, Sergei Sharov-Delone, Yelena Tikhonova, Tamara Lezhnina, Sergei Davidis, and many other activists, that help and assistance would simply have never come.

I invite all those who care to join in the conversation.

Sincerely,

MBK

Open Russia’s online forum “Political prisoners 2.0: are there any legal ways to disagree?” (in Russian) will take place at 12:00 PM (Moscow time) on October 29, 2014 – the eve of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions in Russia. You can participate by joining the event and asking the forum expert guests questions on Facebook here.

Unfortunately there will be no simultaneous English translation – the event will be broadcast in Russian only.