16 Released in Prisoner Exchange

Aug 29 2024 The Washington Post - Vladimir Kara-Murza

‘My first thought was that I was going to be led out to be executed’

It is one thing to speak about freedom and human rights — many Western leaders say the words. It’s quite another to actually do something to protect them. Few things should be more important for a democracy than human life; and with this exchange, the U.S. and German governments have saved 16 lives from the hell of Putin’s Gulag. Whatever else President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be remembered for years from now, they will be remembered for this.

But so many others are still left behind. Today’s Russia holds more than 1,000 political prisoners, many of them for opposing the war in Ukraine. They still fold their bunks at 5 a.m.; still walk around in a circle in small roof-covered prison courtyards; still cannot speak to their loved ones. Many are in dire health condition, and their plight is becoming urgent.

The exchange on Aug. 1 has shown that the free world cares and that, contrary to stereotype, there is still room for decency and values in international politics. We must not let this become an exception — and we must not rest until the others who are unjustly imprisoned by Putin’s dictatorship are home and reunited with their families, too.