Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the 147th meeting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
This is a special session on the issue of political prisoners in Russia. Today we are holding a hearing on the human rights situation in Russia following the release of the Perseus Strategies report on the Kremlin's political prisoners. The issue of political prisoners and the continuously deteriorating human rights situation in Russia is one that unites members of this committee from across party lines. A number of us are members of the all-party Raoul Wallenberg caucus on international political prisoners advocacy project, spearheaded by Professor Cotler, who is here with us today. Today's report is close to our hearts, especially after this committee's report and unanimous adoption of Canada's Magnitsky legislation.
Before us today are Vladimir Kara-Murza, chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom; the Honourable Irwin Cotler, founding chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; Jared Genser, managing partner of Perseus Strategies; and Natalia Arno, president of the Free Russia Foundation.
Mr. Kara-Murza, welcome back to this committee. If you'd like to proceed with your opening statement, followed by short statements from your colleagues, we'll then move to rounds of questions from the committee members.