Russian Democratic Party YABLOKOLev Shlosberg participated in international conference in memory of Boris Nemtsov in European Parliament

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Lev Shlosberg participated in international conference in memory of Boris Nemtsov in European Parliament

Press release, 03.03.2016
An international conference in memory of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov took place in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Lev Shlosberg

The conference dedicated to Nemtsov’s life, his activity, the situation with democracy and human rights in Russia was organised by the leader of the ALDE Group in the EP, former Prime Minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt together with the Boris Nemtsov Foundation represented by the politician’s daughter Zhanna Nemtsova, in cooperation with the representatives of the Russian opposition parties (ALDE members).

Member of YABLOKO Federal Political Committee Lev Shlosberg and Deputy Chairperson Nikolai Rybakov (via Skype) represented YABLOKO at the conference.

Commenting on the conference dedicated to Boris Nemtsov, Lev Shlosberg said:

“The Interrelation between the European Union and Russia are at the worst state since the beginning of 1990s. In essence, a cold war is on, this was confirmed by the President and Prime Minister of Russia in public. The murder of Boris Nemtsov has become the first purely political murder in the modern history of Russia. Nemtsov was murdered for his political views. Nemtsov was a Russian European politician. Today the European liberals and democrats have established a tradition of a European public discussions in memory of Nemtsov, it is the right thing to do. Memory binds to actions. We want to identify those those who ordered Nemtsov’s murder, we want to bring Russia back to Europe, we need a democratic Russia. It is important to talk about it openly, at the European level as well. Publicity helps to disperse the darkness”.

Before the beginning of the conference Boris Nemtsov was awarded the Jean Rey International Prize 2016 posthumously. Zhanna Nemtsova received the prize.

According to Guy Verhofstadt, who opened the conference, “Boris devoted his life to a struggle for a democratic and prosperous Russia. He fought for a Russia in which human dignity, a single human life would matter. A Russia in which the governing elite would be accountable to citizens. A Russia which would be at peace with neighbours, a fully-fledged Member of the European family. A different Russia”. Verhofstadt claims that the investigation of Nemtsov’s murder is not only a Russian but an international problem.

Several discussions on the problems of humans rights defence and the rule of law setting, challenges to the property rights and corruption struggle in defence of social marker economy, architecture of the world and security in Europe were conducted at the conference, which was attended by about 400 people including the European PMs.

Lev Shlosberg also spoke about the fight against corruption. In his report he named the reasons of the emergence of corrution in Russia, including corruption at the regional level, mechanisms of corruption processes and the ways how the society can fight them giving the situation in the Pskov Region as an example.

This session was moderated by ALDE Group Vice President Pavel Telička MEP. Marc Franco, Former EU Ambassador to Russia, also made a report on the issue.

ALDE Group Vice President Petras Austrevicius MEP, Louis Michel MEP, former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Anne Brasseur, ALDE Party Vice President Alexander Graf Lambsdorff MEP, Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Right, OSCE, Michael Georg Link, ALDE Party President Hans van Baalen MEP and numerous other political leaders participated in the conference.

The event was followed by a Rock concert in memory of Boris Nemtsov.