UN Special Rapporteur: Repression in Russia has intensified since the attack on Ukraine

The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Russian Federation states that since the onset of Moscow's military invasion of Ukraine, repression in Russia has intensified, warning of the dangers faced by over a thousand political prisoners. Mariana Katzarova, on Tuesday, October 3, in part of her report to the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, said, "Russia is now governed by a system of fear and punishment by the government, including the use of torture, and operates with absolute impunity." Katzarova, who has previously been an inspector and researcher for Amnesty International, further added in her report on the human rights situation in the Russian Federation that since the beginning of the military invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, repression and oppression in Russia have intensified, with the number of political prisoners increasing to over 1,300. She noted that many of these individuals have been arrested, tried, and imprisoned on fabricated charges, citing the example of a priest who was sentenced to seven years in prison simply for praying against the war. The UN Special Rapporteur stated on the Monday before the Human Rights Council session that these prisoners face every conceivable danger from death (such as Alexei Navalny, the Kremlin's opposition politician) to losing their health. She particularly emphasized the increased use of torture and the detention of prisoners in solitary confinement. Katzarova pointed out that the Russian government has not responded to her requests for investigations in the country. A court in Moscow sentenced two individuals to imprisonment for reciting poetry in opposition to the war. The Russian representative was absent from the Human Rights Council session on Tuesday, and the country's mission office in UN bodies in Geneva did not respond to international news agencies' requests for comments on the Special Rapporteur's remarks. Russian officials claim that the West always exaggerates the dimensions of repression in the country. The Russian government stated that Alexei Navalny, the most prominent Kremlin critic, died of natural causes in prison in the polar regions of the country on February 15. However, Yulia Navalnaya, Mr. Navalny's widow, has accused Vladimir Putin of ordering her husband's killing. The Russian government has denied this accusation. Several Russian political prisoners who were released earlier this August in the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War are scheduled to speak on Tuesday afternoon during the continuation of the UN Human Rights Council session. Mariana Katzarova is one of dozens of independent human rights experts appointed by the UN to investigate and report on critical cases. The Russian Federation is the only permanent member of the Security Council for which the UN has appointed a special rapporteur to investigate its human rights situation.