World Leaders Fail to Rescue Jailed Russian Leader Alexei Navalny

World Leaders Fail to Rescue Jailed Russian Leader Alexei Navalny

Navalny is currently serving a harsh prison sentence after recovering from the assassination attempt, which was allegedly made with orders from Putin. 

By Rakesh Raman

The jail term of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been extended to 19 years. With fabricated allegations the Russian regime of President Vladimir Putin held Navalny guilty of extremism. He has denied charges.

According to a BBC report of August 5, 2023, Navalny’s trial was held in a remote penal colony, where he has been jailed since 2021. Kremlin critic Navalny, 46, is a fierce political opponent of Putin. 

He was arrested in Moscow by the Russian authorities in January 2021 immediately after his return from Germany where he was recovering from a failed poisoning attempt.

Navalny is currently serving a harsh prison sentence after recovering from the assassination attempt, which was allegedly made with orders from Putin. 

The UN bureaucrats, human rights organizations, and the world leaders have failed miserably to get Navalny released and punish the Russian dictator Putin for the continuous human rights violations.

In particular, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has been issuing perfunctory statements about Navalny, but incompetent Turk has not taken any concrete steps to get the Russian dissident released from Putin’s prison.

It is shocking to note that UN Human Rights chief Türk has repeatedly failed in his responsibility to protect rights and lives of people in different autocratic nations, but he has not resigned from his position despite repeated failures. 

The hostile action against Navalny has been taken despite a slew of sanctions and censure statements by the U.S. and European leaders against Russia. It is alleged that after sending him to jail under frivolous charges, the Russian regime is slowly trying to murder Navalny, who is serving a torturous prison sentence.

He is not being provided proper medical treatment as Navalny continues to be sick in solitary confinement where he is kept by the Russian authorities. On January 10, 2023, over 400 doctors in Russia signed an open letter to President Putin demanding that prison authorities stop abusing Navalny. But Putin has no respect for such humanitarian appeals.

As Navalny is perhaps the only leader who can challenge Putin’s attempt to rule forever, it is believed that the Russian regime is trying to kill him slowly in jail. 

Putin has signed a new legislation that will allow him to stay in power until 2036, while his second consecutive and fourth overall presidential term ends in 2024.

With the aim to thwart Navalny’s political challenge to Putin, in 2021 a new law in Russia banned Navalny from running for any elected post for a period of 5 years.

The European and the U.S. leaders have been imposing sanctions on various states and their functionaries over human rights violations, crimes against humanity, and other criminal activities. 

But such sanctions are simply ignored by the rogue states and their leaders who continue to commit crimes against their citizens with full impunity. Obviously, the imposition of sanctions is an ineffective measure to stop state crimes. 

Meanwhile, on January 17, 2023, the Council of Europe called on the Russian authorities to honour the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment on Navalny case so that he could be released from jail. But the Russian authorities have simply ignored the appeal from the Council of Europe.

In the given situation when all the civil appeals are being rejected by Putin, the UN and the international community must take some joint military actions against Russia.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He has also been publishing The Unrest news magazine that covers economic and political upheavals in the world.