OREANDA-NEWS. A group of civil society activists and international human rights organizations has launched a petition demanding an end to political repression in Russia. This is stated in an open letter to the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the European Union, the UN Human Rights Council and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, published on the portal Change.org on Thursday, January 28.

In addition to the prosecution of Alexei Navalny and his colleagues from the Anti-Corruption Foundation, the initiators of the petition call for «paying attention to the case of Azat Miftakhov, who was recently sentenced to six years in prison, as well as to the cases of 63 convicts recognized as political prisoners by Memorial, and 285 people convicted for religious beliefs».

If the international community does not react quickly to a new wave of repression in Russia, according to the authors of the appeal, this «may give a green light to the Russian authorities on the path to total terror». «We urge you not to limit yourself to the usual declarations of a diplomatic nature in such situations», the letter says.

It is proposed to create an international committee to coordinate actions and jointly call on the Russian authorities to «comply with their commitments» on behalf of the UN, the Council of Europe and the OSCE.