IV 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 843 
Supporting the designation of October 30 as the ‘‘International Day of 
Political Prisoners’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 31, 2025 
Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
MCGOVERN, Ms. GOODLANDER, Mr. CROW, and Mr. CARSON) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Supporting the designation of October 30 as the 
‘‘International Day of Political Prisoners’’. 
Whereas there are an estimated 1,000,000 political prisoners 
across the world, including cases of journalists, aca-
demics, political opposition activists, dissidents, antiwar 
campaigners, and human rights defenders being detained, 
arrested, imprisoned, convicted, and otherwise punished 
for political motives without connection to any credible 
offense; 
Whereas authoritarian and repressive regimes around the 
world, including the Republic of Belarus, the People’s Re-
public of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Arab Republic 
of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of 
the Union of Burma, the Russian Federation, and the 
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•HRES 843 IH 
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, have engaged in sys-
tematic imprisonment of independent voices; 
Whereas, in 2024 and 2025, the United States Government, 
through bilateral and multilateral negotiations, secured 
the release of several dozen political prisoners from the 
Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and the 
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; 
Whereas, on October 30, 1974, Ukrainian and Russian pris-
oners of conscience in the Soviet Gulag initiated the tra-
dition of marking the annual Day of Political Prisoners 
in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to 
draw public attention to the plight of those imprisoned 
for their political or religious beliefs and to express soli-
darity with them; and 
Whereas, in subsequent years, the Day of Political Prisoners 
on October 30 was marked by hunger strikes by pris-
oners inside the Soviet Gulag and by public demonstra-
tions of solidarity in cities across the USSR: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) deplores all forms of political repression and 
imprisonment and conveys its unwavering solidarity 
with all those imprisoned around the world for 
peacefully expressing their political or religious be-
liefs; 
(2) supports efforts by the United States Gov-
ernment to condemn political imprisonment, hold ac-
countable those regimes responsible for persecuting 
and imprisoning dissenters, raise international 
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•HRES 843 IH 
awareness of political prisoners, and secure their re-
lease through bilateral and multilateral negotiations 
with other states, and urges it to continue such ef-
forts in the future; and 
(3) supports the designation of an ‘‘Inter-
national Day of Political Prisoners’’ in the United 
States. 
Æ 
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