Call on Russia to free political prisoners, son of Natalya Gorbanevskaya tells Zeman

The son of a Russian woman who protested the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 says the Czech president, Miloš Zeman, must call on Russia to release political prisoners. Yaroslav Gorbanevsky made the comment on Wednesday, after a ceremony at Prague Castle on Tuesday in which his poet mother Natalya Gorbanevskaya, who died last year, received a high state award in memoriam. Mr. Gorbanevsky said his mother had asked Mr. Zeman not to attend the Winter Olympics in Sochi, a call he had not heeded. Two others who also protested on Red Square in 1968, Viktor Fajnberg and Pavel Litvinov, have criticised what they describe as Mr. Zeman’s pro-Russian position on Ukraine.

Author: Ian Willoughby