France's "Green" Party demands from Russian authorities to stop pressure on activists of "EcoWatch"

The France's "Europe Ecology-Green" Party has demanded from the Russian authorities to stop pressure on activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch) and review the court's decision in the case against ecologist Evgeny Vitishko.

Members of the "Europe Ecology-Green" (Europe Écologie Les Verts, EELV) Party believe that the persecution of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" takes place as "repression of political opponents and civil society organizations."

The "EcoWatch" takes an active part in protecting the environment in the Krasnodar Territory and Sochi, and it warned the Russian and international community about the damage inflicted to the environment, in particular, to the Caucasus Nature Reserve, included in the UNESCO list, as a result of the construction of the Olympic facilities," the EELV's website notes.

According to Andrei Rudomakha, the coordinator of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", "only international resonance" can help Evgeny Vitishko, since his supporters "have already exhausted Russian domestic resources."

On November 28, in Tallinn, activists held a picket near the Russian Embassy in Estonia in support of ecologist Evgeny Vitishko, who was serving his sentence in a penal colony in the Tambov Region.

Ecologist Evgenia Chirikova, the leader of the movement "In Defence of Khimki Forest", took part in the civil society forum "European Union-Russia". The main purpose of the forum was to initiate a dialogue between NGOs, "encourage the development of intergovernmental relations and strengthen cooperation between the organizations."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.