Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

MEP Donskis: “Sooner or later Russia will start thinking about life without Putin”

Leonidas Donskis

On Tuesday, a hearing on Russia was held during the Subcommittee on Human Rights meeting. Several representatives of civil society and human rights defenders from Russia attended the Subcommittee meeting in order to share information about elections, and problems relating to violations of the freedom of association, discrimination and the rule of law.

The European Parliament has adopted more than one resolution concerning Russia which stressed the importance of Russia`s efforts to promote human rights protection, which is important for the development of the EU-Russia relations. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that after the Russian Duma elections and before the upcoming presidential elections the situation in Russia is not improving, as the long-standing problems are not addressed. Furthermore, worrying cases, like that of Sergei Magnitski`s, are not moving forward, and facts brought to light by human rights defenders still frequently remind about the methods used by Russia for the fight against “inconvenient” citizens.