Lawyer: Simultaneous transfer of five political prisoners to Russia may be connected with exchange attempt
The phasing out of five political prisoners in Russia, known in the West, within a few days may be related to an attempt to exchange them.
This was stated in a commentary to Ukrinform by Russian lawyer in exile Nikolai Polozov.
"The phasing out of 5 political prisoners within a few days does not seem to be accidental. There are two possible options here: positive and negative. The positive one is that some kind of exchange with the West is being prepared. The negative one is the Belarusian option with the disappearance of prisoners," - Polozov reflects.
According to the lawyer, given the fact that the stage is mainly involving political prisoners known to the general public and the West, he is inclined to the first option.
As reported, over the past two days, five well-known Russian political prisoners have been unexpectedly transferred. These are oppositionist Ilya Yashin, Memorial co-chairman Oleg Orlov, artist Sasha Skochilenko (all three were convicted in cases for "fakes" against the Russian Armed Forces and condemnation of Russian aggression against Ukraine), as well as heads of Navalny's regional headquarters Lilia Chanysheva and Ksenia Fadeeva.
Nikolai Polozov is a Russian lawyer who has defended many political prisoners in Russia, including Ukrainians - Akhtem Chiygoz, Ilmi Umerov and others.
As Ukrinform previously reported, Russia has blocked the platform for supporting political prisoners 'Zaodno' on the Internet.
Photo for illustration purposes