Amnesty Norway on the prisoner exchange: – Should never have been imprisoned in the first place

Communications manager at Amnesty Norway, Sindre Stranden Tollefsen, believes the prisoner exchange is good news. The agreement involves Russia releasing 16 prisoners from its prisons and sending them to the West, while Western countries release eight prisoners who are sent to Russia.

– We are very happy that those who have been imprisoned in Russia are being released and can meet their families again. It is very good news and a great relief, says Tollefsen to NTB.

Amnesty Norway is pleased that the human rights community in Russia has been heard internationally and that a way has been found to return freedom to these activists.

– They should never have been imprisoned in the first place, the pretext and the imprisonments have been very unfair processes, says Tollefsen.

Against Russian laws

– We hope that this can be the first step in the right direction and not just an isolated episode. There is a vastly unfair system in Russia. Amnesty has a list of names that should have been released immediately.

Tollefsen mentions activists Natalia Filonova and Aleksei Gorinov, journalist Maria Ponomarenko and radio channel owner Vladimir Rumyantsev among those the organization believes have been unjustly imprisoned.

He points out that since 2011, Russian President Vladimir Putin has introduced dozens of laws that place strong restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, assembly and organisation.

Among these are the Act on “Unwanted Organisations” and the “Foreign Agent Act”. These laws limit people’s right and opportunity to be able to participate in public debate and to be able to exercise political influence, explains Tollefsen.

– It is important that these new laws in Russia are reversed and removed, says Tollefsen.

Focuses on Russian prisoners

In the prisoner exchange, eight Russian citizens were handed over to Russia from Western countries. These were received by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday evening.

One of them is Mikhail Valerijevicj Mikusjin, who worked as a visiting researcher at the University of Tromsø before he was arrested and charged with espionage by PST in October 2022. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says that the Russian authorities have accepted Mikusjin’s return.

Amnesty Norway will not comment on the releases from Western countries.

– We have not taken a position on the Russian citizens who were released by Western countries. Our focus is on the Russian prisoners, where several of them are only political oppositionists who should not have been imprisoned in the first place, says Tollefsen.