Amnesty strips Alexei Navalny of 'prisoner of conscience' status

Rights group has been under pressure to condemn past statements by Kremlin critic

Amnesty International has said it will cease calling Alexei Navalny a prisoner of conscience", following pressure to condemn anti-migrant statements he made in the 2000s as hate speech.

Employees of Amnesty International said the organisation had received messages about Navalny's past remarks that they felt were part of a coordinated campaign to discredit him abroad", but nonetheless felt compelled to change his designation.