12/07/2011
Please advocate for the release of the courageous protesters!
Human rights activist Oleg Orlov was arrested in Moscow.
Dear Mrs. Federal Chancellor,
yesterday evening, 569 peaceful protesters were arrested in Moscow - among them Oleg Orlov, head of the human rights organization “Memorial” and winner of the Victor-Gollancz-Human Rights Prize 2009 of the Society for Threatened Peoples. On behalf of our human rights organization, I urge you to advocate for his release - as well as for the other demonstrators. I would also like to ask you to urge the Russian government to withdraw the military troops from Moscow and to stop violent oppression against the demonstrators.
Do not let the Russian democracy- and human rights activists down. They need support from Europe and especially from Germany. It is of no help to just express concern and then continue to negotiate about a “strategic partnership” with a Russian government that tries to stay in power by electoral fraud.
Dear Mrs. Chancellor - from your own experience and biography you will know how much courage it takes to protest in a dictatorship and try to overturn it. With this background, I ask you to get in touch with the Russian leadership.
Sincerely,
Tilman Zülch, Secretary General
