Kara-Murza: 'I know I will be back in my home country.'
Kara-Murza: "I didn’t sign a petition for pardon, but I was still pardoned. We never gave our consent [to be expelled from Russia], yet we are here. ... Each of us was accompanied by our personal FSB officer on the plane. My FSB officer, the moment our plane took off, said: 'Look out the window, it’s the last time you see your motherland.' I said: 'Look, I am a historian by profession. ... I feel and I know I will be back in my home country, and it will be much quicker than you believe.'"
He added: "I was certain I was going to die in Putin’s prison. ... None of us knew until the last moment [that we were being freed]. What I do know is that this would never have happened without the passionate and sustained commitment, both public and private, of governments, organizations and individuals, who made it possible."
Kara-Murza: "What Russia is doing is moral and psychological torture. A tradition since the times of Stalin, the KGB commander, who also called families enemies of the people. This is still happening today. ... For more than two years I have only been able to make one phone call to my wife and my lawyer."
Ilya Yashin expressed his regret that a murderer [Vadim Krasikov] now walks free in exchange for him and that he didn’t want to be included in the prisoner exchange: "I said: I will not ask to be freed, I will not admit any guilt, I will not ask a person I consider a tyrant, a murderer, an enemy of his own country for a favor." He added that "Russia is where my place is."
Yashin: "I sat in prison in order to fight for my right to speak out. My right to live and work in my own country. ... I hereby declare: I do not give my consent, I insist on my constitutional right to live in the country where I was born. This is my document that says they forced me to leave the country against my will. It is an expatriation of my person against my will. I want to return.... I can’t tolerate these feelings, this manipulation, this intrigue of the Kremlin. This is a sign that they are mocking the whole world."
Working towards a free and democratic Russia
All three expressed their regret that many political prisoners remain behind bars in Russia. Yashin: "Over 1,000 people are still in prison for political reasons, according to Memorial. ... They should have chosen others who might die in prison today or tomorrow."
Pivovarov called on the international community to "talk to the people in Russia." He said simple things like education and visas for young Russians can help "so that Russians are not enemies outside the country." He said that "all of us who are now freed and those freed before us — we must support those who need our assistance."
"We should not wait," he said. "I think this is what we're going to do today. We are going to work towards a Russia that is free and democratic."
Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin and Andrei Pivovarov are three of the 16 political prisoners released from Russian custody yesterday as part of the historic prisoner exchange between Russia and several Western countries, particularly the USA. The Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by Alexei Navalny, had invited the press to the event at DW.
DW's commitment to supporting independent voices in Russia
In June, DW honored Yulia Navalnaya and the Anti-Corruption Foundation with the Freedom of Speech Award, recognizing their tireless efforts against corruption in Russia.
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