Press Release, 23.11.2022

Photo: Drawings by artist Ad’u

On 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, an action of writing letters to women political prisoners will be held at the Yabloko office in Novgorod.

In Russia, violence on behalf of the state has taken on a monstrous scale: women are beaten at rallies, humiliated during interrogations, arrested and kept under torture, subjected to punitive psychiatric methods for their beliefs, political activities, and having the courage to disagree with the state policies.

Putin’s Russia continues the Stalinist tradition of total suppression of dissent, when one has to pay for freedom with life and health. Women political prisoners, such as Alexandra Skochilenko (the Anti-war case), Lilia Chanysheva (the FBK case), Olga Smirnova (the Anti-war case), Viktoria Petrova (the Anti-war case), Zarema Musayeva (Chechnya, the Yangulbayevs case), Zarifa Sautiyeva (the Ingush case) and others are in a particularly vulnerable situation.

We can express our support and admiration to political prisoners with our postcards and letters, give them positive emotions and make it clear that they are not left alone. It is well-known that letters protect prisoners, they serve as a kind of guarantee for prisoners from ill-treatment.

This action is carried out by the Novgorod branch of the Yabloko party together with the Soft Power community.

Yabloko invites all the citizens who would like to participate in the action to come to the Yabloko office in Novgorod (at the address: Veliky Novgorod, Bolshaya Moskovskaya 20/4) on 25 November from 17:30 to 20:00.