The assumptions that executives of Moscow's detention facility put pressure on opposition figure Alexey Navalny and hamper his communication with human rights advocates are false, as members of the Russian capital's Public Monitoring Commission have paid already five visits, commission chairman Georgiy Volkov told Sputnik on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2021) The assumptions that executives of Moscow's detention facility put pressure on opposition figure Alexey Navalny and hamper his communication with human rights advocates are false, as members of the Russian capital's Public Monitoring Commission have paid already five visits, commission chairman Georgiy Volkov told Sputnik on Wednesday.
On February 20, the Moscow City Court reaffirmed Navalny's prison sentence in the Yves Rocher case. Lawyers said their client could be convoyed to prison from the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center in the coming days.
"Today, Marina Litvinovich, a member of Moscow's Public Monitoring Commission, expressed the belief, while being broadcast on Echo of Moscow radio station, that Alexey Navalny rejected meetings with the commission because of possible pressure from the 1st detention center's administration. The news piece suggests Navalny does not come to talk with the commission because of pressure, but I can note that commission members paid at least five visits to Alexey and communicated with him for 30-40 minutes each time," Volkov said.
Human rights advocates do not prioritize some PR campaigns, the commission chairman stressed.
"We believe that our colleague Litvinovich made an inappropriate comment that undermines trust in public monitoring. Members of Moscow's Public Monitoring Commission visit Navalny every week. If he wants us to disclose some information about conditions he is kept in, we will do it," Volkov assured.
