“The claims that Amnesty’s decision regarding Alexei Navalny was a response to external pressure are untrue and do not take into account our long-standing and well-defined internal policies,” the organization's website said in a statement.
Amnesty International recalled that they called Navalny a prisoner of conscience after his arrest, which they still consider illegal.
Nevertheless, within the movement, doubts were then expressed about the applicability of this definition to Navalny, given his statements in the past, which "could be regarded as propaganda of hatred, incitement to discrimination, violence or enmity."
“Amnesty decided to reconsider this case and conducted a thorough analysis of the evidence base ... We concluded that we were mistaken in our original definition,” the organization noted.
They added that the past statements of Navalny "run counter" to the definition of "prisoner of conscience", which will no longer be used in relation to him.
Earlier it became known that Amnesty International stopped considering Navalny a prisoner of conscience.