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Mister President of the French Republic, dear Emmanuel Macron,

As you know, the Russian opponent and anti-corruption militant, Alexeï Navalny, was arrested at Cheremetievo airport at Moscow the 17th of January 2021, while coming back from Berlin, where he was in convalescence since he has been poisoned with Novitchok and plunged into coma in August 2020. A poisoning that France has condemned as a “criminal offence”.

The 18th  of January, Alexeï Navalny was judged in an expeditious and arbitrary way, mainly for facts that are reproached to him due to the case initiated by the French society Yves Rocher.

Sentenced to two and and half years of jail, Alexeï Navalny was placed in the penal colony of Pokrov, where he reports very difficult prison conditions that could be considered as acts of torture: sleep deprivation, daily threats, refusals of access to health care. Navalny reports to have lost his sensitivity of the lower limbs, and to not be able to stand up anymore. He began a hunger strike the 31 mars 2021, in sign of protest.

Well known political militant, former candidate declared in the presidential Russian election, Alexeï Navalny is at the initiative of the anti-corruption foundation which has realized numerous investigations on the corruption reigning among the highest echelons of power in Russia. Several of his videos, which the latest describe the personal enrichment of Vladimir Putin, have been watched by dozens of millions of people.

Alexeï Navalny is once again deprived of his freedom due to his pacific political activities because he exercises his right of freedom of expression, which must be guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federation of Russia. By recognizing the political nature of his arrests, the European Court of Human Rights has indeed condemned Russia about this subject. His close relatives and his organization are also subject to persistent pressures from Russian authorities.

An international initiative #FreeNavalny was launched to support Alexeï Navalny and yet more than forty parliamentarians from different countries, political groups and parties, have answered the call: http://russie-libertes.org/index.php/2021/03/04/des-parlementaires-sengagent-pour-la-liberation-dalexei-navalny/

Academics, journalists, representatives of NGOs or civil society, public figures or political leaders, oppose this insistence of the Russian authorities against Alexeï Navalny and demand his release.

Mister President of the Republic, we ask you to express yourself publicly in order to demand immediate access to satisfactory health care for Alexeï Navalny, and the obtention of his release to the Russian authorities.

We also ask you to request an independent investigation on the attempted murder of Alexeï Navalny, and to take personal penalties against all individuals involved in this political attempted murder, in France and in Europe.

Mister President, make the voice of France and Europe heard, in order to end injustices and human rights violations perpetuated in Russia !