By the beginning of the World Cup, the international human rights organization Amnesty International launched a campaign in support of Russian human rights defenders. The Team Brave campaign will take place in several cities of the World Cup, including in Kaliningrad, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and St. Petersburg.
"The World Cup will unite people from all over the world, and we want some of this energy to be used for fighting for freedom and justice for human rights defenders in Russia. At the events of the campaign, we will call for international solidarity with those who put their well-being, security and freedom at stake in order to protect human dignity and the rights of Russians," said Inga Kelekhsayeva, coordinator of Amnesty International campaigns in Russia. "These brave women and men defend the rights of all people in Russia, they fight torture in prisons and abuses in police stations, protect the environment and provide assistance and support to victims of domestic violence, LGBTI, sex workers, detainees and prisoners. At the same time, they are faced with widespread harassment, intimidation, physical attacks and denigration campaigns. Some of them are in prison.
Also, Amnesty International launches the online project Team Brave represents stories of 11 human rights defenders who live and work in the regions hosting World Cup matches. «7x7» will publish stories in the Human Rights section.
The visitors of the project, which is presented in Russian and English, can support a petition to President Vladimir Putin demanding immediate and unconditional release of leader of the office of the Human Rights Centre “Memorial” in Chechnya Oyub Titiev and Volgograd human rights activist Igor Nagavkin. Moreover, Amnesty International calls on its supporters to ask Putin for investigation of the brutal attack on the Krasnodar environmental activist Andrey Rudomakh.