Condemning the killing of Alexei Navalny and calling for the release of all political prisoners in the Russian Federation.

Bill: 118-hres-1084
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Wild, Susan [D-PA-7]
Introduced: 2024-03-15
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Detention of persons

Europe

Human rights

Protest and dissent

Russia

Sanctions

Violent crime
Latest action: action_date: 2024-03-21
text: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 50 - 0.

Summaries:

tv_txt: IV 118th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1084 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 15, 2024 Ms. Wild (for herself and Mrs. Wagner ) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Condemning the killing of Alexei Navalny and calling for the release of all political prisoners in the Russian Federation.

Whereas Alexei Navalny (referred to in this preamble as Mr. Navalny ) dedicated himself to building a future of democracy and rule of law for the people of the Russian Federation; Whereas Mr. Navalny worked to expose systemic corruption and abuse at the highest levels of the Kremlin and to call for democratic reforms over the course of his work as an independent journalist, advocate, attorney, and opposition candidate for elected office; Whereas Russian state authorities led by President Vladimir Putin retaliated against Mr. Navalny for his activism, including multiple politically motivated arrests, convictions, and an assassination attempt with the Novichok nerve agent on August 20, 2020; Whereas investigations conducted by Bellingcat, the Insider, Der Spiegel, and multiple governments found that the same unit of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation responsible for poisoning Mr. Navalny was responsible for poisoning Russian activists Vladimir Kara-Murza, Timur Kuashev, Ruslan Magomedragimov, and Nikita Isayev; Whereas upon his decision to return to the Russian Federation in 2021 after recovering abroad from the FSB assassination attempt, Mr. Navalny was sentenced and imprisoned on politically motivated charges; Whereas Mr. Navalny’s 2021 arrest and imprisonment led to mass demonstrations in support of Mr. Navalny, in which authorities detained an estimated 11,000 protestors; Whereas, on February 17, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling finding that Mr. Navalny’s rights had been violated and demanding his immediate release; Whereas after a meeting with President Putin in June 2021, President Biden vowed that Russia would face devastating consequences if Mr. Navalny were to die in prison; Whereas Mr. Navalny condemned Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked, unjustified, and illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, 2022; Whereas President Putin has further repressed Russian citizens who have expressed opposition to his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including a March 2022 law signed by President Putin criminalizing the distribution of information contradicting the Russian government’s claims about the invasion of Ukraine and mandating up to 15 years in prison for such so-called offenses ; Whereas, during a court proceeding in Moscow on May 24, 2022, Mr. Navalny declared Russia’s war on Ukraine as built on lies ; Whereas Mr. Navalny was imprisoned in the IK–6 prison colony in the Vladimir region, a facility widely and credibly documented by former prisoners and watchdog organizations for its systemic mistreatment of prisoners and the widespread use of inhumane practices including torture; Whereas, in late 2023, Mr. Navalny was transferred from IK–6 prison colony to the remote Artic IK–3 prison colony of Kharp in grossly inhumane conditions in the Yamalo-Nenets region; Whereas throughout his detention period, credible media sources reported that Mr. Navalny was subjected to dangerous practices and systematic abuse by Russian prison authorities, including the denial of medical care and torture; Whereas, on February 16, 2024, Russian authorities announced the death of Mr. Navalny in IK–3 prison colony; and Whereas, on February 16, 2024, President Biden affirmed that Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death : Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1) condemns the politically motivated killing of Alexei Navalny by the Russian Federation; (2) establishes that the Government of the Russian Federation is fully responsible for Mr. Navalny’s death given its documented attempt to assassinate him on August 20, 2020, and systemic abuse and negligence of his health and safety throughout his imprisonment; (3) expresses solidarity with Mr. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, his family, attorneys, and colleagues of Mr. Navalny, as well as all prisoners of conscience in the Russian Federation imprisoned and subjected to state-sponsored violence and intimidation for exercising their fundamental freedoms of speech, assembly, and belief; (4) condemns the Russian Federation’s continued imprisonment of thousands of prisoners on politically motivated charges, including numerous United States citizens such as Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Alsu Kurmasheva; (5) urges the United States Government and other allied governments to work to secure the immediate release of all political prisoners in the Russian Federation; and (6) calls on the Secretaries of State and Treasury to impose additional sanctions on Russian authorities who played a role in the killing of Mr. Navalny in coordination with United States allies and partners.