During its 2024 Autumn session in Strasbourg, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe invited two of its most famous political prisoners. One was Russian opposition figure Mr Vladimir Kara-Murza; the other WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Amongst those who welcomed both of them, was Mr Andrej Hunko, co-president of the UEL group. Mr Hunko paid tribute to the incredible courage of Mr Kara-Murza, who was sentenced illegally by Russian authorities for 25 years in prison, and equally to Mr Assange, who was imprisoned unjustified and shamefully, in the United Kingdom, at the request of the U.S. authorities which asked for Mr. Assange’s extradition, to be followed by a 147-year imprisonment.
The Russian authorities convicted Mr Kara-Murza for speaking about the illegal war by the Russian Federation against Ukraine; the American authorities asked Mr Assange’s imprisonment for publishing multiple war crimes by the USA. In an outspoken clear reaction, PACE rewarded Mr Kara-Murza in October 2022 with the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize. Furthermore, during its Autumn session PACE adopted a crystal clear resolution, recognizing Mr Assange as a political prisoner in the terms of Europe’s oldest and broadest human rights organisation.
UEL co-Chair Mr Hunko recalls that UEL has been and will be in the front row of demanding freedom for politicians, journalists and human rights defenders. Thousands of them are still imprisoned or on trial. First and foremost in countries as the Russian Federation and Türkiye, but also in many other European States. The Council of Europe has to continue to stand firm for all of them, according to UEL.
One of its top priorities is the immediate release of Mr Osman Kavala and Mr Selahattin Demirtas, both already for years illegally imprisoned in Türkiye. “The Council of Europe demands Türkiye to act in line with binding verdicts of the European Court of Human Rights in both cases. Not implementing these verdicts will put membership of Türkiye seriously at stake”, says Mr Hunko.
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speech Mr Kara-Murza
hearing with Mr Assange