17/09/2025 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Reacting to Yuliya Navalnaya‘s announcement today revealing that independent laboratory tests confirm Alexei Navalny was poisoned while detained in a remote Russian penal colony, Azadeh Rojhan (Sweden, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur for political prisoners, issued the following statement:
“More than a year since Alexei Navalny’s death, our long-held suspicions have been confirmed: Vladimir Putin’s regime assassinated him. This poisoning is another chilling example in a long list of targeted killings of Russians who dare to challenge Putin’s totalitarian grip, both at home and abroad.
The Parliamentary Assembly has consistently condemned the systemic persecution, torture, and ill-treatment of political prisoners in the Russian Federation. The use of such practices to eliminate political opponents is a grave violation of international human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture by a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Russia must be held accountable for these violations.
I urge all governments, international organisations and civil society to exert immediate and co-ordinated pressure on the Russian Federation to ensure the safety and release of all political prisoners. In line with PACE Resolution 2540 (2024) on Alexei Navalny’s death and the need to counter Vladimir Putin’s totalitarian regime and its war on democracy, we demand an independent international investigation into Alexei Navalny’s death and that all those responsible are properly sanctioned and punished.
My thoughts today are with the family and friends of Mr Navalny, and with all those who have suffered at the hands of Putin’s regime and its war against democracy. I stand in solidarity with all political prisoners in Russia and will continue to work to ensure that the voices of those unjustly and unlawfully silenced are heard, and that justice is served.”