“By conferring the M100 Media Award on Alexei Navalny, we are appealing to the EU and the democratic world not to forget him – as well as all the other imprisoned democratic opposition leaders worldwide – and not to abandon them. Russia is both a member of the Council of Europe and a co-signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights. Not insisting on compliance with this obligation and thus on Navalny’s release would be a fatal sign and further weaken democracy.”