One Thousand Signatures Calling for the Release of Daria Egereva and Natalia Leongardt Delivered to Germany’s Foreign Ministry

On September 24, Sarah Reinke, a representative of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV), delivered one thousand signatures to Germany’s Federal Foreign Office in Berlin in support of an appeal calling for action to secure the release of Daria Egereva and Natalia Leongardt. The campaign account December 17 Case reported the handover.

Daria Egereva and Natalia Leongardt have been detained in Moscow since December 17, 2025. They have been charged in connection with alleged participation in a terrorist organization. The appeal calls on the German authorities to defend the rights of the two human rights defenders and use diplomatic channels to help secure their release.

The delivery of the signatures marked a continuation of the international solidarity campaign in support of Egereva and Leongardt. On August 1, the anniversary of a major prisoner exchange between Russia, Belarus, and Western countries, the Society for Threatened Peoples had already called on the German government to work for the release of the two Indigenous rights defenders and consider the possibility of including them in future prisoner exchanges.

“The German government and other Western countries must work for their release. The prisoner exchange two years ago showed that tough negotiations can succeed. But this requires public pressure and political will,” Sarah Reinke said at the time.

GfbV emphasized that the release of Egereva and Leongardt should become one of the priorities of international diplomacy. The organization called on German authorities to explore the possibility of using prisoner-exchange mechanisms, noting that the August 1, 2024 exchange resulted in the release of 16 political prisoners and foreign nationals held in Russia and Belarus.

Thus, the one thousand signatures delivered to Germany’s Foreign Ministry on September 24 represent a new practical step in the solidarity campaign, which has been working for several months to keep the cases of Daria Egereva and Natalia Leongardt on the agenda of German authorities and international diplomacy.

IR