Brussels – On Wednesday, Feb. 28, Alexei Navalny’s wife will speak during the European Parliament in Strasbourg’s plenary session. “I am grateful that the courageous and brilliant Yulia Navalnaya has accepted my invitation to speak and address the world,” announced today (Feb. 21) the chairwoman of the Euro Chamber, Roberta Metsola.
After announcing in a video on Navalny’s YouTube channel her intention to continue her husband’s efforts and opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, Julia Navalnaya has already met with EU foreign ministers and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in Brussels on Monday, Feb. 19. On that occasion the EU announced to want to name the human rights sanctions regime after Alexei Navalny, just two days after news broke of the death of Navalny, who had been detained in Russia since January 2021.
“Together, we will honour Alexei Navalny’s legacy,” Metsola wrote in a post on X. Just today, in her meeting with the chairmen of the political groups in the European Parliament, she emphasised “the outrage at the assassination” of the Russian opposition leader and wished to express “our heartfelt condolences to his wife Yulia Navalnaya and their children, his mother, family and friends, his associates and countless supporters in Russia.”
In the statement of the Conference of Presidents, reportedly accepted without objection, the European Parliament attributes “full responsibility for this murder to the Russian state and its President Vladimir Putin in particular.” From the European Parliament, the call for an international and independent investigation into the circumstances of Nalvalny’s death and for his body to be returned to his family immediately.
“We the leaders of the Political Groups stay united in our condemnation of this crime of the Russian regime and its imperialist and neo-colonial policies,” the statement continued. The parliament promised to stand by Russia’s independent civil society and democratic opposition, “continuously calling for the release of all political prisoners.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
