October 29, 2025
Mr. Wicker (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mrs. Shaheen) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
Supporting the designation of October 30 as the
International Day of Political Prisoners
.
Whereas there are an estimated 1,000,000 political prisoners throughout the world, including journalists, academics, political opposition activists, dissidents, anti-war campaigners, and human rights defenders, who have been detained, arrested, imprisoned, convicted, and otherwise punished for political motives without connection to any credible offense;
Whereas authoritarian and repressive regimes around the world, including the Republic of Belarus, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Turkey, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, have engaged in systematic imprisonment of independent voices;
Whereas, in 2024 and 2025, the United States Government, through bilateral and multilateral negotiations, secured the release of several dozen political prisoners from the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;
Whereas, on October 30, 1974, Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of conscience in the Soviet Gulag initiated the tradition of marking an annual Day of Political Prisoners
in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (referred to in this Preamble as USSR
) to draw public attention to the plight of those imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs and to express solidarity with them; and
Whereas, in subsequent years, the Day of Political Prisoners, was marked on October 30 by hunger strikes by prisoners inside the Soviet Gulag and by public demonstrations of solidarity in cities across the USSR: Now, therefore, be it
That the Senate—
(1)
deplores all forms of political repression and imprisonment;
(2)
conveys its unwavering solidarity with all those who are imprisoned around the world for peacefully expressing their political or religious beliefs;
(3)
supports efforts by the United States Government—
(A)
to condemn political imprisonment;
(B)
to hold accountable any regime that is responsible for persecuting and imprisoning dissenters;
(C)
to raise international awareness of political prisoners; and
(D)
to secure the release of such political prisoners through bilateral and multilateral negotiations with other countries;
(4)
urges the United States Government to continue such efforts in the future; and
(5)
supports the annual designation of October 30 in the United States as the International Day of Political Prisoners
.