24/04/2023 Session | President
"Although the 4th Summit will be by and large an intergovernmental event, a parliamentary dimension will also be ensured. Our Standing Committee will hold an extraordinary meeting on 15 May in Reykjavik and an Assembly delegation will attend the Summit itself", PACE President Tiny Kox today said at the opening of the Spring Session 2023 of the Parliamentary Assembly.
"Understandably, the Russian aggression against Ukraine and its implication for Europe and the wider world will be in the focus of the Summit’s debates. They also remain at the centre of our Assembly’s debates. The war continues and so do the sufferings of Ukrainian people", he underlined.
The Russian authorities "wage war against Ukraine, but they also fight those people inside Russia who are not afraid to publicly voice their opposition to this ongoing aggression against Ukraine continue and exactly one week ago they sentenced the Vaclav Havel Prize winner Vladimir Kara-Murza to 25 years of prison for telling the truth about this horrible war", the PACE President added.
"Earlier today, myself and the leaders of the political groups of this Assembly in the presence of wife of Mr Kara-Murza – Yevgenia, made a public statement expressing, on behalf of the Assembly, our strong condemnation of this this outrageous verdict and demand to release Mr Kara-Murza immediately", Mr Kox stressed.