October 28, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 170 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1349-E1350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONDEMNING VLADIMIR PUTIN'S HUMAN RIGHT ABUSES

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                          HON. GEORGE HOLDING

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 28, 2019

  Mr. HOLDING. Madam Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the 
plight of political prisoners in the Russian Federation, and to 
commemorate an important anniversary.

[[Page E1350]]

  Sixteen years ago last week, on October 25, 2003, Mikhail 
Khodorkovsky was arrested at gunpoint by special forces of the Kremlin. 
At the time, Mr. Khodorkovsky was head of a successful Russian company, 
Yukos, which had adopted Western standards of governance. His crime was 
to have called publicly on the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to 
address the problem of state corruption--and to have suggested that 
such corruption had reached the very highest levels of government. Mr. 
Khodorkovsky would spend a decade in a Siberian labor camp.
  Today, Russia is holding more than 230 political prisoners behind 
bars. Various reports leave no doubt as to the gravity and urgency of 
the problem and make clear that the situation is only becoming worse. 
The Kremlin is engaging in a crackdown on political opponents in order 
to suppress critical voices they see as a threat.
  Russia's longest held political prisoner is Alexey Pichugin. He is 
still in jail after more than 16 years because he refuses to sign false 
testimony against his former colleague, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. It would 
be difficult to imagine a more egregious violation of the rule of law 
and human decency.
  I urge Congress to use the numerous political and economic tools at 
its disposal--starting with the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law 
Accountability Act, which the House of Representatives adopted in 
2012--to bring greater pressure on the lawless regime of Vladimir 
Putin. We owe it to the courageous Russian men and women fighting for 
their God-given human rights and freedoms.

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