On Thursday 8 January, the European Parliament called for the immediate release of Oyub Titiev, the director of the Memorial Human Rights Centre in the Chechen Republic – an organisation that was awarded the Sakharov Prize in 2009. Titiev was arrested on 9 January 2018, on the basis of false accusations of the acquisition and illicit possession of drugs.
The Russian authorities should ensure the full respect of Titiev's human and legal rights, the MEPS state in the joint resolution of the Greens/EFA, ECR, EPP, ALDE, S&D and GUE/NGL groups that they adopted. According to the European Parliament, Titiev's arrest comes against a worrying backdrop where independent journalists and human rights defenders in Chechnya have been the target of a series of arrests, attacks, intimidation and acts aiming to discredit them, and the Russian authorities should put an immediate stop to this and conduct objective and in-depth investigations into the events. Moscow should promote a normal working atmosphere for these people in Chechnya and in other Russian regions, the MEPs add, underlining their very real concern at the worsening situation for voices that are critical of civil society in Russia.
The joint resolution also calls on the EU to address the situation of all people prosecuted for political reasons, when it holds human rights consultations with Russia (once these have been resumed). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)