UN rights chief calls for quick end to ‘repression of independent voices’ in Russia after Navalny death

The United Nations human rights chief on Monday sounded the alarm over what he called Russia’s “repression of independent voices” following the abrupt death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. 

“The death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny adds to my serious concerns about his persecution,” Volker Türk said in a speech Monday to the Human Rights Council. “Since the onset of Russia’s war on Ukraine, thousands of politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers and people who have simply spoken their minds on social media have faced administrative and criminal charges and this trend appears to have worsened in recent months with many cultural figures being targeted.” 

Türk pointed to a bill passed into law in Russia last month that “further punishes” those convicted of distributing information deemed to be false about Russia’s Armed Forces and those who try to implement change through international organizations that do not include the Russian Federation.

Türk called for a “swift and comprehensive review” of those detained for exercising their fundamental freedoms, in addition to an “immediate end to the repression of independent voices and the legal professionals who represent them.” 

“The future of the country depends on an open space,” he added. 

Navalny, the nation’s most famous internal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in a remote Arctic penal colony last month. He was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism and was recently moved from a different prison to the highest-security facility in Russia. 

Russian authorities have yet to announce Navalny’s cause of death, though prison officials said the opposition leader died from “sudden death syndrome,” a general term used to describe various cardiac syndromes that can prompt sudden cardiac arrest and death. Western leaders, including President Biden, were quick to point the blame on Putin, whose administration has a history of exiling or detaining critics.

Other critical voices remain after Navalny’s death, including those through his Anti-Corruption Foundation, where several of his allies work and continue to speak out against Putin. Several of these allies, however, have faced similar prosecution in recent years, with all leaving the Eastern European country to work abroad. 

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, also immediately blamed Putin and vowed to continue her late husband’s work.

In less than two weeks Russia holds its presidential election, in which Putin is seeking a fifth term in an almost assured victory. His expected victory will solidify his place as the nation’s leader until at least 2030. 

Türk’s speech also addressed a series of other global conflicts, including those in the Middle East, Sudan, Horn of Africa and ongoing tensions in the Red Sea.