Marek Migalski, Member of the European Parliament, has launched a campaign for a political boycott of the Sochi Olympics called Olympic Shames with a website promoting the campaign and a petition on Change.org.

In a letter to EU leaders Migalski draws attention to the frequent cases of human rights violations in Russia including the continued imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the criminal case against opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, and the recent government crackdown on NGOs.

He writes: “As human rights defenders report, the situation with civil society and human rights in Russia is in the worst condition it has ever been during the post-Soviet history of the Russian Federation. Our goal is not the boycott of the Winter Olympic Games, but political protest against Putin’s regime, who uses the Winter Olympics for propaganda purposes.

The most striking examples of human rights violations in Russia are the cases of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has been sentenced to over 10 years in a penal colony for political reasons, Alexei Navalny, the leader of the opposition, the object of mass proceedings instituted by the regime, as well as Sergei Magnitsky, who unveiled corruption on an unprecedented scale and was tortured to death in a prison.”

Read the letter in full and sign the petition HERE.

Petition is available in English, Polish and Russian languages.