MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, disagrees with Moscow City Court Chair Olga Yegorova's remark denying the existence of political prisoners in Russia.
"This is far from being so," Alexeyeva told Interfax on Wednesday.
"The list of political prisoners includes Pichugin, Izmestyev, Osipova. Unfortunately, there are a lot of other people on it. Moreover, the group of political prisoners was recently expanded. Eight people sentenced in the Bolotnaya Square case joined it," she said.
Independence of courts in Russia raises questions, she said.
Moscow City Court Chair Olga Yegorova had said earlier on Wednesday that there are no political prisoners in Russia, and all court rulings in the country are handed down by independent judges.
"There are no political prisoners in our country, and sentences are handed down exclusively based on existing criminal legislation," Yegorova said in an interview with Interfax.
"All those people who are serving their sentences are serving them based on judicial acts that have taken effect, and all of them have been handed down by independent judges," she said.