No political prisoners in Russia: Putin

Boston Star (IANS) Monday 6th February, 2012

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has dismissed the idea of a political amnesty because he said there were no political prisoners in the country.

"I don't quite understand what is meant by political amnesty. I don't think we have any political prisoners, thank God," Putin said Monday.

He said there was talk about political prisoners but no names were provided.

"They (the opposition) should have shown at least one person who is in prison for political reasons," Putin said.

Opposition activists said at an anti-Putin rally during the weekend that they had prepared a list of around 40 political prisoners and would shortly present it to the Kremlin.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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