GINEBRA.- More than 40 countries made a joint call on Monday to demand an independent international investigation into the death of the Russian opposition leader. Alexei Navalny and stated that the ultimate responsibility rested with the president Vladimir Putin.
The members of the European Union, USAthe United Kingdom, Ukraine, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Australia are among the countries that condemned the death of the opponent in a remote Russian prison in the Arctic and urged an end to the “climate of impunity” in Russia.
Navalny was buried in Moscow on Friday, at a funeral attended by thousands of people under penalty of arrest.
“We are outraged by the death of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, whose ultimate responsibility lies with President Putin and the Russian authorities,” said EU Ambassador Lotte Knudsen before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, in name of the 43 countries.
“Russia must allow an independent and transparent international investigation into the circumstances of his sudden death,” he added.
“The unexpected and shocking death of Navalny is another sign of accelerated and systematic repression in Russia,” he added.
Navalny, Putin’s staunchest critic for more than a decade, died at the age of 47 in an Arctic prison colony on February 16, where he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of “extremism”, in conditions that have yet to be clarified. .
The opponent’s death took place a month before the Russian presidential elections, in which, in all likelihood, Putin will remain in power with a new six-year term.
The signatory countries regretted “the systematic heavy hand against civil society” and the repression against political opposition inside and outside Russia.
They also called on Moscow to unconditionally and immediately release all political prisoners, human rights defenders, journalists and anti-war activists arbitrarily detained for having expressed their opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We call on the Russian Federation to end this climate of impunity and create a safe environment for political opposition and critical voices,” the statement said.
Source: With information from AFP
