Yesterday, on February 27, a memorial evening for the victims of political assassinations was held at the Rathausbrücke in Zurich. We thank all who came and thus prevent Putin's regime from erasing the memory of real freedom fighters.
We remembered Boris Nemtsov's speech about war, which he delivered at the Peace March 10 years ago. We read one of Alexei Navalny's letters from prison. Their words and appeals do not lose relevance, because the ruling powers in Russia have not changed for many years, and neither have the ways of dealing with dissenters - murder or prison.
One of the names that was heard yesterday was Natalia Estemirova. A journalist and employee of the Memorial Human Rights Center in Grozny, she collected information during and after the war, led the fight against the falsification of criminal cases, and combated the practice of torture and extrajudicial executions. She was kidnapped in Chechnya and killed in 2009.
Then, in 2009, Oleg Orlov, chairman of the Council of the Memorial Human Rights Center, placed political responsibility for Estemirova's murder on Ramzan Kadyrov. "Ramzan had already threatened Natalya, insulted her, considered her his personal enemy. We do not know whether he gave the order himself or whether his closest associates did it to please their superior. And President Medvedev is apparently satisfied with the murderer as the head of one of the Russian regions," Orlov said.
Yesterday, 70-year-old Oleg Orlov was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for an article he wrote and was taken into custody right in the courtroom.
Here's what Orlov said in his closing statement:
"Navalny said 'don't give up,' and I will add 'don't lose heart and don't lose optimism.' The truth is on our side. They represent the old, the decrepit, the obsolete. They have no image of the future, only a false image of past imperial grandeur. We have the image of the future behind us, and that is our victory."
The regime may kill its opponents. But heroes don't die. Their ideas do not die. They live in millions of hearts and lead us into the future.
Yorumlar