The upcoming 10th anniversary of the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky was marked with an event held on Capitol Hill yesterday, featuring speakers from the NGO community and a photo exhibit of Russian activists persecuted for their fight on behalf of democracy, freedom and the rule of law.

The event, titled “A Decade of Injustice,” was organised by the Institute for Modern Russia, and featured a presentation of a diverse number of contemporary human rights cases in Russia, including those of Sergei Magnitsky, Alexei Navalny, the Bolotnaya protesters, Pussy Riot, Anna Politkovskaya, and the “Arctic 30” of the recently detained Greenpeace activists.

In a special appearance, the Lithuanian Ambassador to the United States Žygimantas Pavilionis addressed the attendees, sharing his memories of the earliest days of the country’s independence from the Soviet Union, pledging to give his support to the struggle for freedom and democracy in Russia during Lithuania’s presidency of the European Union.

David Kramer, the president of the human rights monitor Freedom House, described the past 18 months alone as one of the worst periods of human rights repression since the fall of the Soviet Union. Citing the cases of the Bolotnaya protesters, Pussy Riot, the posthumous conviction of Sergei Magnitsky, the conviction of Alexei Navalny, the arrest of Greenpeace activists, and the banning of adoptions, Kramer said that there has been an insufficient reaction on behalf of the international community to the rights abuses taking place under Vladimir Putin.

“In terms of what to do in the future, there are two big developments coming up – of course the Sochi Olympics in February, where there is an opportunity to really bring attention to human rights and the problems of civil society in the country, and the chairing of the G8 next year, which poses all sorts of problems for the members of the G8 that are industrialised democracies,” Kramer said. “There are things we can do and should do; we need to hold our leaders to account to make sure that they uphold the principles of democracy and human rights.”

Speaking on behalf of the Lantos Foundation, the non-governmental organisation set up to honour the memory of the late Sen. Tom Lantos, Katrina Lantos-Swett recalled some of her last memories of Mikhail Khodorkovsky before he returned to Russia shortly before his arrest.

“Ten long years of imprisonment for a man whose only crime was believing passionately, sacrificially, that Russia could change, that Russia could be better,” Lantos Swett said, “and he has paid for these principles ever since.”

The Decade of Injustice event is just one of many events taking place around the world to mark the 10th anniversary. Learn more about the other planned events here.