From top left to right: Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, corporate security executive and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Lilia Chanysheva, former coordinator of regional offices of the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny,  former head of Open Russia movement Andrei Pivovarov, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gerskhovich, co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Memorial Human Rights Centre Oleg Orlov, government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service Alsu Kurmasheva, Russian opposition activist and former municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky district Ilya Yashin,  artist and musician Sasha Skochilenko.

Special Mission Accomplished to Save Lives of Dissidents in Russian Prison

Fearing for the lives of Vladimir Kara-Murza and others wrongfully kept in prison in Russia and Belarus – especially after the death of Alexei Navalny – Cinema for Peace founder Jaka Bizilj initiated a prisoners' exchange of Kara-Murza, Evan Gershkovic, Paul Whelan and others by sending former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder‘s confidant Detlef Prinz to the German chancellory, to Moscow and to Istanbul in order to strike a deal, after all official negotiations had failed for more than a year. While bureaucrats endangered the objectives of this mission again, which involved several governments, courageous heads of state like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with Minister of Justice Dr. Marco Buschmann, and particularly President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proved effective. Two weeks later US President Joe Biden and Chancellor Scholz announced the exchange of prisoners. We thank Detlef Prinz for masterfully executing a ‘‘mission impossible“ for Cinema for Peace and The World Forum in a rare and small window of opportunity.