20/05/2020 (Agence Europe) – In an open letter published on Tuesday 19 May, 58 MEPs and 14 Sakharov Prize winners called for the release of all prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “We strongly call upon all governments to release urgently every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including human rights defenders and others detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views”, they said, recalling that people deprived of their liberty are among the most vulnerable to contagion. “Human rights cannot be an afterthought in times of crisis. [...] We are deeply concerned that many governments abuse the crisis to increase repression against opposition and human rights defenders”, they added. See the letter: https://bit.ly/2LGElv9 (CG)