On the occasion of the Human Rights Day, Amnesty International launched the global Letter Writing Marathon. The campaign is staged annually with the aim of making common cause with the victims of human rights violations, IPN reports.

Within the campaign that will last until December 17, persons from all over the world will send letters, emails, SMS messages, faxes and messages through the Twitter social networking service to ask the authorities to free jailed activists who peacefully supported victims of torture or who criticized the authorities for human rights violations.

“The Letter Writing Marathon, which is the 15th this year, manages to save human lives namely by solidarity. The cases selected by researchers involve human rights defenders from countries where the laws are ignored and the human rights are in anonymity. The healthy reactions of this marathon usually result in the initiation of investigations into suspended cases, stimulation of a fair trial and accentuation of the presumption of innocence of victims of state abuses,” said Cristina Pereteatcu, executive director of Amnesty International Moldova. 

Amnesty International Moldova this year selected six cases of human rights violations from six countries. Eighty local groups of Amnesty International Moldova announced their readiness to stage the Letter Writing Marathon in their communities. These will collect signatures in support of persons whose rights were infringed.

According to Amnesty International, among the most often human rights violations in 2015 were the use of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, the limitation of the freedom of expression, unfair trials, mass murders, forced disappearances and illegal evacuations.