Thank you very much, Chairman and distinguished members of the committee, for taking the time to hear our testimony regarding a significant and concerning increase in the number of political prisoners held in Putin's Russia today.

We are grateful that you have offered us this hearing to talk about the astonishing, detailed and tragic report we've produced and that you are open to hearing how the Canadian Parliament and Canadian people can act with solidarity and help put an end to my country's national disgrace.

Out of the current 296 political prisoners in Russia, which is a very conservative estimate, more than 220 people were prosecuted for religious beliefs. A large number, more than 40 people, are Ukrainian hostages of the Kremlin. We have filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, torn up inside because he watched his homeland of Crimea be swallowed up by an all-powerful nation-state, reminiscent of the Soviet Union takeover. We have two groups, called “New Greatness” and “Network”, consisting of a dozen young people who would just get together and discuss political news. We have a single mom who just wanted to organize a debate. We have a professor who participated in a professional discussion. His colleague died in prison for the same charge. We have a historian devoted to exposing the truth about Russia's past. We have many others. We have people in jail for just simple tweets or Facebook posts.

The seemingly random use of prison sentences isn't really random at all; it's actually the point. If a mom or a filmmaker or a kid playing Pokémon can be jailed, then everyone has to figure that they too can be facing a prison sentence for crossing the Kremlin's world view. Are any of them guilty? It hardly matters. Fear and terror are the point. An atomized society of scared people is much more easily dominated. This is how the Kremlin wants to keep its more than 140 million people under control—by arbitrarily singling out a few hundred people, thus sowing fear in others.

I have an affinity with the prisoners that extends beyond the fact that I personally know many of them and their stories tear at my heart. I myself could have ended up on this list of political prisoners for my pro-democracy work and activity. I could be serving my seventh year in jail. I would be one more name and one more story in this report. My crime? I worked for an American democracy promotion organization. They sought free and fair elections and the same rules for candidates who had different ideas from the regime on how to better run a country. For that, I was given the sad choice of leaving my country and my heritage or facing 20 years in jail for state treason. It was a very easy choice, but the hardest decision of my life.

However, the Russian authorities miscalculated. I am still in the fight. That's why I am here talking to you today. I hope I don't look to you like a dangerous criminal who should be beaten and tortured in a Russian prison. The same for the others who have been politically persecuted; they are nothing more than people who believe in a better Russia. Our report catalogues the number who are in jail today, but behind each number there is a human life, a human story, a human tragedy. The report tells us not only about the categories of prisoners but also about concrete people.

Rather than talking about this report today, it would be much more pleasant to talk about the new documentaries produced by filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, or the new articles written by journalist Igor Rudnikov or the new research conducted by Professor Bobyshev. Instead, we are discussing people's lives and the cruelty of the regime that is destroying these lives. In a civilized world, we shouldn't tolerate that political prisoners exist in the 21st century. We shouldn't tolerate that fair trials are the exception and torture is common and widely spread. We shouldn't tolerate that people who want free and fair elections are in jail and those who falsify them are not. We shouldn't tolerate that those who speak out and want Russia to be free and democratic are in jail but those who impose censorship and conduct propaganda are not. We shouldn't tolerate that the people who dare to criticize the corrupt and criminal Putin regime are in jail but the corrupt officials engaged in criminal affairs inside Russia and beyond are not.

I think you all know that a confident leader such as Putin would see no reason to jail his opponents, and that a leader who claims great popularity should find no need to worry about a single mother, or about two young people who just made two posters and 30 flyers, and purchased a megaphone. They shouldn't be worried about people's tweets and Facebook posts, or those who catch Pokémons and blog about it.

These are the signs of a desperate dictator. I hope you view them the same way.

Again, my colleagues and I are very grateful for your listening to us, and we hope you will consider placing sanctions on those who are directly involved in such gross human rights violations.

Thank you.