The withdrawal of the title ‘prisoner of conscience’ by the international organisation Amnesty International in relation to Alexei Navalny shows how the so-called culture of cancellation operates
Political analyst Aleksandr Asafov said this, commenting on the information that the organisation will no longer use the term.
“Obviously, the organisation knew who Navalny was before”, – Asafov said on Radio Sputnik, “but for political reasons it was necessary to support him on all fronts. Now – after he received a prison sentence for his offences – new circumstances are beginning to apply to him… It was decided that he was not worthy of such support.”
This, according to the expert, is a key development in contemporary attitudes and approaches, and “it can only be labelled in one sense – Navalny is no longer of interest to the Western political elite as a subject.”
“He is interesting as an object for which sanctions can be imposed, for which Russia can be blamed. But as a political figure, there is no interest in him anymore. That’s why his ‘honorary stripes’ can be removed”, – Alexander Asafov said.
The human rights organisation Amnesty International has refused to consider Navalny a “prisoner of conscience”. A letter to this effect from the organization’s British branch has been published by the American journalist Aaron Mate. Navalny “publicly advocated violence and discrimination” and “has not retracted such statements,” so he can no longer be considered a “prisoner of conscience,” the document said. Meanwhile, Amnesty continues to demand Navalny’s release.
The new US administration, notwithstanding Amnesty International’s assessment, has announced new sanctions against Russia in connection with the Alexei Navalny situation.
On 2 February, the Simonovsky Court in Moscow found to be granted the FSIN’s request to replace Alexei Navalny’s suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case with a real sentence of 3.5 years in a maximum-security penal colony. Navalny will be given credit for 12 months under house arrest, according to his defence, so he will spend less time in the penal colony.
On 20 February, the Moscow City Court ruled that it was legal to replace the suspended sentence with a real one. Thus, the relevant court ruling came into force.
According to the Federal Penitentiary Service, Navalny failed to report to the penitentiary inspectorate 60 times in the past three years, despite being required to do so twice a month.
Navalny has two convictions. The first, a suspended conviction in the Kirovles case, was for embezzlement in excess of 16 million rubles; the second, in the Yves Rocher case, was for the theft of over 30 million rubles.
In December, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case of large scale fraud against Navalny.