Amnesty redesignates Russia’s Navalny as prisoner of conscience

Amnesty had stripped Navalny of the designation in February, arguing his past comments qualified as an advocacy of hatred.

Amnesty International has apologised to jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny for stripping him of its “prisoner of conscience” status and said it would restore the designation. Amnesty announced on February 24 that it would stop referring to Navalny as a prisoner of conscience on the grounds that in the past he had made comments that qualified as an advocacy of hatred. “Following careful evaluation Amnesty International has decided to re-designate Alexei Navalny as a ‘Prisoner of Conscience,'” the rights group said in a statement on its website on Friday.