Two years ago shortly after Boris Nemtsov's assassination,
I moved to Germany due to security concerns
and my speech today is devoted to my father, Boris Nemtsov
who became the victim of Putin's Russia,
to all people in Russia who are prosecuted
for political reasons and to the 115 political prisoners
we now have in our country.
But if you travel to Moscow, the capital of Russia,
you will see modern airports,
good infrastructure, fancy restaurants and bars.
It looks like a normal European capital, really,
but what hides actually behind this glowing facade.
My father was a Russian liberal politician
who entered politics when he was young,
as young as me right now, in the early nineties.
He said that he was able to become a politician
only because there was a democratic revolution
in Russia back in the early nineties.
And this democratic revolution
brought young people from academic backgrounds,
and my father was a physicist
to top positions.
If you go to the library and try to get newspapers
of this period, you will find a lot of articles
about my father as he was the lead reformer in Russia
and represented the new face of Russia.
When Putin was elected president in 2000,
my father was in Parliament.
Unfortunately my father's party lost elections in 2003
and he became the leader of the Russian opposition
and an important anti-corruption crusader.
For more than a decade, he tried to counter
the dramatic reversal of the Russian political regime
that moved from being flawed, but a democracy
to a perfect autocracy.
Few people listened to him
because the boost in the economy
was fueled by high oil prices.
In 2011 and in 2012, we had massive protests in Russia.
My father was one of the leaders.
Almost five years ago on the sixth of May,
hundreds of people were arrested
and later sentenced to prison
for protesting against Putin's inauguration
for his third term as president
and this marked the start of political repression in Russia.
The subsequent annexation of Crimea
buried hopes for rapid change
and made Russia an authoritarian country.
My father Boris Nemtsov was assassinated
more than two years ago on the 27th of February 2015,
in front of the Kremlin walls
when he was walking across Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge
on his way home.
This was the most high profile
political murder in modern Russia
but to date no proper investigation has been conducted.
The people's memorial at the site of the murder
has been constantly destroyed either by
bridge maintenance services
or by pro-Kremlin youth organizations.
It has been dismantled and rebuilt more than 70 times.
People in Russia were shocked with the brutal murder
of my father and they took to the streets across Russia
in 2015, 2016, and 2017 to join the marches of grief
in honor of my father.
And today I want to use this opportunity
to say thank you to all people who maintained
the bridge for more than two years.
It's an unprecedented case for Russia.
(applause)
And to thousands of Russians,
not only within Russia but across the world,
who joined the marches of grief.
Putin's Russia continues to silence independent voices.
There has been recently adopted a number of laws
that intend to fight extremism
and terrorism but in reality are designed
to target political dissenters.
These repressive practices are really dangerous
for political dissenters.
They're very dangerous in the direct sense
of the word, physically dangerous.
We established the Boris Nemtsov Foundation
to preserve my father's liberal political legacy
and to continue activities
which are in line with his political views.
Each year the foundation awards one person
the Boris Nemtsov Prize who shows exceptional courage
in fighting for democratic rights in Russia.
And today I would like to introduce
five finalists to you.
Alexei Navalny is the founder
of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.
The main opponent to Putin, and a presidential candidate
though Putin doesn't want him to run for the president
in 2018 of course.
Ildar Dadin is a civic activist
who was the first one to receive
a prison sentence for one man protests.
Zoya Svetova, journalist and human rights activist.
Maxim Losev, he's a student from Bryansk.
I don't have his photo unfortunately,
but I know him.
He's, he didn't send it to me.
He is 15 years old, and he was one of the organizers
of anti-corruption protests in his home city of Bryansk.
And Sergey Mokhnatkin is a political prisoner
and a long-time civic activist.
Alexei Navalny, Ildar Dadin, Sergey Mokhnatkin,
Zoya Svetova, Maxim Losev.
These people represent what resistance looks like in Russia.
They are truly idealistic
(applause) because
they devote their lives to building a rule based country
and because of these people,
we still have legal assistance against human rights abuses.
We still have the understanding of human rights
and freedoms within our society,
and ultimately we still have hope.
In an interview with Yahoo News,
Maria Zakharova, the official representative
of the Russian minister of foreign affairs
gave the official response to the alleged
extrajudicial corporal punishment
of LGBT people in Chechnya.
She said "that's not my topic to discuss it."
But despite this growing intimidation
and this vocal indifference of the Russian authorities,
thousands of people have not given up in Russia
and are continuing to fight for a better Russia.
And it's our responsibility to use our voices
to support political prisoners in Russia,
to support political dissenters
and civil rights, and civil activists.
And I ask you very strongly today to do this.
Because it was said here earlier,
only publicity can guarantee them at least
some degree of security.
My father's main mission was to unveil the truth
about Russian political regime,
but as the leader of the opposition
he found it also very important
to support and to help those people
who stand up for our rights and freedoms.
He strongly believed that solidarity,
not only currently in this difficult environment
but always as a part of personal ambitions.
And today I have to mention an awful situation.
The news came only yesterday from Russia.
A prominent Russian theater director,
Kirill Serebrennikov, yesterday experienced police raids
at the theater where he works and at his apartment
and later, he was questioned
at the central investigative committee.
I want to express my solidarity with him
and express my support to Kirill Serebrennikov
and I ask you very strongly to spread the news
about the scale of political repression in Russia
because it's not only about political dissenters
but about people who are involved in art.
Thank you very much.
(applause)