Moscow
03/04/2012
The head of the Russian branch of Amnesty International Sergei Nikitin announced on Tuesday, April 3, that Amnesty International has recognized the three arrested women, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samucevich, as prisoners of conscience and demands their immediate release.
"Even if the three arrested women did take part in the protest, the severity of the response of the Russian authorities – detention on the serious criminal charge of hooliganism – would not be a justifiable response to the peaceful and, to many, offensive expression of their political beliefs. They would therefore be prisoners of conscience," the human rights activists wrote.
Article: http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120404/172605332.html
Read Amnesty International Press-Release: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/014/2012/en/c9edb950-30b6-4b90-a4d3-ddf8b97bc4c3/eur460142012en.html