Mykyta Vorobiov, Senior Editor for Long Form Content at JURIST, is a Ukrainian-born political analyst, journalist, and political science student at Bard College, Berlin.
On a sunny Wednesday evening earlier this month, one of the most famous Russian opposition leaders, Ilya Yashin, who was locked in a Russian jail after April 2022 for his anti-war position, gathered several hundred people in the centre of Berlin for a meeting. Yashin, as well as 14 other political prisoners, was released and exchanged on August 1st during the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. While Russia welcomed back killers, spies, and scammers, the West got back not only their citizens, journalists, and civil rights activists but also several Russian opposition politicians. Alexey Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in February, was also initially supposed to be on this list for exchange. His brutal and unexpected death in February made Western countries speed up the negotiations and widen the list.
After greeting the people gathered on the lawn of Berlin`s Mauerpark, near the leftovers of the Berlin Wall, Yashin started his speech by expressing his gratitude to Germany, which made this exchange really large-scale. The decision to exchange Vadim Krasikov, a professional killer and Russian spy sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany after killing a former Chechen field commander in the centre of Berlin, sparked a large wave of controversy in German media and politics. However, only because of this decision did it become possible to get this many inmates out of Russian prisons. According to Yashin, by swapping Krasikov, the German government sacrificed its reputation but saved not only its citizens but Russian opposition politicians who were imprisoned for their anti-war position.
Die Zeit reported that the German side agreed to include Krasikov only after a personal plea from US President Joe Biden to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. A significant part of German politicians were against it, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but the Russian side explicitly refused to arrange any swaps without Krasikov on the list. Putin personally welcomed Krasikov in Russia, greeting and hugging him. Some sources reported the old links between the Russian President and a professional killer.
During his speech, Yashin pinpointed the importance of writing letters to political prisoners. Over his time in prison, he received more than 30,000 letters and wrote around 10,000 responses. «I can show you calluses on my fingers from writing responses. I did not have this much of them even at school,» he joked. Despite his humour, the topic could not be more serious. Many political prisoners who were jailed in Russia stated that the importance of letters can not be overestimated.
People are usually confused about writing their first letters to political prisoners because they feel it is unimportant for those in prison to read about all the mundane things in their lives. Ilya reckons that the reality is quite the opposite. When he was in jail, Yashin was delighted to read about the most basic things: how people walk with their dogs, how their lives look, etc. This correspondence keeps inmates connected with the outer world in an informational vacuum. Moreover, the large number of letters shows the prison workers that the detainee has not been forgotten, decreasing the chances of abuse and violations.
Two thousand seven hundred and two people are currently being persecuted for political reasons in Russia, according to one source. One thousand two hundred eighty-nine are in pre-trial detention centres and colonies. Recently, OVD Info launched a project allowing anyone to write a letter to a political prisoner. It can be done via the website and entirely remotely. The website chooses a political prisoner who has received the least letters so far and allows any person to start correspondence with the prisoner. Unfortunately, correspondence is permitted only in Russian.There is specific censorship that must be followed, but if you know the language, I strongly encourage you to give it a shot! The project aims to ensure that every Russian political prisoner will receive at least five letters. During the first week after the launch of the project more than 4,500 letters to political prisoners were sent.
The political prisoners in Russia are a cross-section of the whole society. Politicians, lawyers, soldiers who refused to go to war, academics and students, young and old, IT specialists and even one janitor, as well as many, many other people, ended up in prison after expressing their opinion on the corrupt war. All these people should not be forgotten, and each deserves to receive at least five letters.
Another important matter Yashin discussed in Berlin is the work of Russian independent attorneys inside the country. Ilya invited Vadim Prokhorov, who first represented Boris Nemtsov (the prominent Russian opposition politician killed in Moscow in 2015 for his anti-war activity) and later represented Yashin himself. «Over the past years, attorneys working with the cases of political prisoners had very few reasons for joy. However, now (after the exchange) I am happy» – Prokhorov said in his speech. According to him, over the past two years, jurists in Russia connected with the cases of political prisoners have been under enormous pressure. The most striking cases are the imprisonment of Alexey Navalny’s attorneys because of so-called «participation in the extremist organisation» and the detention of Dmitriy Talantov, a lawyer and President of the Bar Association of the Udmurt Republic who represented another political prisoner, Ivan Safronov. In Russia, attorney status no longer protects a person from unlawful persecution and has actually become dangerous.
Nevertheless, according to Prokhorov, some independent lawyers stay in Russia and keep up with their work despite the risks. «The only people who can provide the imprisoned Russian and Ukrainian political prisoners with real help are these people, who are bravely putting all the efforts into bailing out the inmates.» Prokhorov also flagged the necessity of attention to all cases of political imprisonment. In Prokhorov’s opinion, «attention = the chance to be saved.» It includes the support of detainees by independent attorneys and the above-mentioned pivotal role of the letters.
In his speech, Yashin also talked about the situation of political prisoners in Belarus. In Russia, jailed politicians at least have the right to receive letters and see their families once in a while. Alas, in Belarus, political prisoners are deprived even of these basic things, and no one practically knows if the most famous Belarusian political prisoners are still alive. During this prisoner exchange, Alexandr Lukashenko released a German citizen who had been sentenced to death in Belarus. Yashin said that Belarusian political prisoners were part of the exchange deal but, for some reason, did not get there. According to human rights reports, the conditions for Belarusian political prisoners are draconian; multiple inmates die in custody. Yashin stated that he considers it crucial to get Belarusian political detainees out and that he would do his best to help them.
The meeting ended on a positive note. Promises were made by Yashin, who refused to ask Putin to grant him clemency and who never wanted to emigrate, to find out how to make politics and represent people in emigration. He claimed that the prominent cases when Russian opposition members in exile were able to unite were around the issues which are commonly accepted (e.g., the support of political prisoners), so his work now will also be focused on finding which areas provide this opportunity to unite people around the actual projects. According to Oleg Orlov, one of the founders of Memorial (the most prominent organisation focusing on politics of memory and political prisoners in the USSR and Russia), who was also released during the last exchange, the freed political prisoners are planning to help their counterparts get out of Russian prisons. They actually started to talk about this on the plane carrying the released ex-inmates from Russia to Ankara.
