“D“From the first day behind bars, I said I was not willing to be exchanged. I publicly asked not to include me in the exchange lists,” he said during a press conference in Germany, alongside Russian opposition figure Andrei Pivovarov, former director of the Open Russia movement, and Anglo-Russian opposition politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, also released on Thursday.
“This was a conscious position. I refused to leave Russia under threat of being arrested. I see myself as a Russian politician, a patriot, a Russian citizen whose place is in Russia, even if it is in prison, but in Russia,” he stressed.
Yashin, who was sentenced to eight and a half years for criticizing the invasion of Ukraine, stressed that he did not see his “stay in prison only as a fight against the war of aggression [do presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin”, but also as a fight for his right to live in his country, to engage in independent politics there and to be able to say what he thinks.
He explained that he fought until the last moment for his right to remain in the Russian Federation.
Before being transferred to Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, the day before the exchange, he wrote a letter to the head of the prison, in which he reminded him that the Russian Constitution prohibits the expulsion of Russians without their consent.
“It was illegal to expel me from Russia. The fact that I was expelled on August 1st does not see it as an exchange, but as an illegal expulsion from Russia, against my will. And, what is more, what I would like now is to return home,” he insisted.
This opponent reported that the Federal Security Service agent who accompanied him on the flight told him “of course you can return, as he did [o líder oposicionista, Alexei) Navalny, serás detido como Navalny e terminarás como Navalny”, que morreu em uma prisão russa.
“As pessoas que realmente precisam de ser retiradas [da prisão]who have health problems and who could die in prison, were held hostage,” he said, his voice breaking.
Read Also: Freed Russian prisoners say swap deal gives hope
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2609462/opositor-russo-ilya-yashin-diz-que-foi-expulso-ilegalmente-do-seu-pais
