Update from Freedom House CEO Jamie Fly: Two Political Prisoners Released, More Successes in the Fight for Global Freedom

July 2026 brought real, tangible wins for those on the frontlines of freedom.

Pastor Jin is Free
On July 4, Pastor Ezra Jin—who founded and led Zion Church, one of China’s largest underground house churches—arrived in the United States and was reunited with his family after spending nine months in a Chinese prison for practicing and sharing his Christian faith. Freedom House was deeply involved in the advocacy effort to free him. President Trump raised the case directly with Xi Jinping at the May summit in Beijing. Weeks later, Pastor Jin was released and flown to Los Angeles where he was greeted by his family, including his one-month-old grandson Ezra, named after him. We continue to press for the release of fellow Zion Church members and others still detained by the Chinese Communist Party, including media publisher and prodemocracy advocate Jimmy Lai, scholar and US citizen U Min Zin, and prodemocracy activist and politician Joshua Wong.

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is Free
In late July, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who was arbitrarily detained in 2021 and unfairly sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment for his activism and art, was released and permitted to travel to Miami. Luis Manuel also had co-founded the San Isidro Movement, which fought back against the Cuban regime’s increasing restrictions on freedom of expression. Our Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners and Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) programs team advocated for his freedom for years. With Pastor Jin's and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara's releases, the Fred Hiatt Program has now helped to free six political prisoners.

Cuba: Five Years Later
Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the 2021 antigovernment protests in Cuba—known as the J11 protests—Freedom House released a video series featuring poetry by Cuba’s imprisoned artists. These colorful, moving videos include appearances by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and UN Special Rapporteur Gina Romero, among others. A new policy brief, “Cuba at a Breaking Point: Why This Moment Requires Holding the Line On Human Rights,” offered guidance for governments reassessing their policies toward Cuba. Freedom House also brought two delegations of exiled Cuban rights defenders to meetings on Capitol Hill and with the administration, and held a roundtable at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, DC, on the role of artistic expression in documenting repression.

Venezuela's Democratic Voices
This past month, we continued elevating Venezuelan democratic voices in Washington, DC, through both congressional advocacy and public engagement. A key milestone was a July hearing before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission that brought renewed congressional attention to Venezuela's ongoing human rights and democracy challenges. On July 20 we hosted Leopoldo López, Venezuelan opposition leader and co-founder of the World Liberty Congress, and moderator Dasha Burns of Politico, for the event "Venezuela's Transition: From Stabilization to Democracy.”

Countering Transnational Repression
Freedom House Director of Research Yana Gorokhovskaia testified before the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights on July 15 on combating transnational repression—a month after the parliament had adopted a resolution explicitly citing Freedom House's research and transnational repression database, which is world’s most comprehensive database of physical transnational repression incidents. The report named Russia, Iran, China, and Belarus as leading perpetrators of transnational repression.

On the tech side, our team convened a staff-only bipartisan House briefing on July 14 on the threat of commercial spyware, connecting it directly to our TNR research.

New Research: Circumventing Presidential Term Limits 
In our latest report, released in July, we examined the global rise of term-limit evasion, the consequences for democratic governance, and the institutions that can stop power-hungry leaders from staying in office for life. In at least 36 countries worldwide, current heads of state have altered presidential term limits, or benefited from such changes, to remain in power. These efforts take a toll on a country's democracy and undermine its democratic path.

A New Partnership: Rutgers Democracy Lab
In July, we announced a new strategic partnership with Rutgers Democracy Lab, connecting Rutgers students with Freedom House's leading experts on media and technology. Together, we'll produce new research examining how human rights and democratic principles are being tested in the United States today, drawing on Freedom House's global expertise to bring comparative context to the analysis. We're excited to confront the democratic challenges of our time together, and to help learn from and equip the next generation of democracy’s defenders with the tools they need to carry the fight for freedom forward.

In The Economist
The Economist recently profiled Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko as "The Man Who Would Change Russia." My response leads the letters section in the July 23 edition: “While brave Russians protested the war, Melnichenko expanded his wealth in Putin's war economy. The principle that Russia’s future can be determined only inside Russia would be sound if it meant deference to the preferences of Russians. Instead it is deference to a single person. Mr. Melnichenko says the question of Russia’s direction belongs to Russians alone. We agree. We disagree that Mr. Putin represents them. Russia's future belongs to its people, and Freedom House will keep standing with them.”

On the Road
I recently traveled to Budapest, Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn. In Budapest, I met with the new Foreign Minister Anita Orbán, along with Hungarian NGOs, independent media, and civil society leaders—many of whom I worked with during my time at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Sixty days into the new government, the atmosphere was remarkable: broad public support for the reform agenda, rapid movement against corruption and constitutional abuses, and a government that is committed to reversing the democratic backsliding of the past 16 years, which caused Hungary’s score to fall 26 points during that time and resulted in its status dropping from Free to Partly Free in 2018.

In Vilnius, I met with Foreign Minister Budrys and other senior Lithuanian officials as well as partner organizations of Freedom House’s Vilnius office. In Riga and Tallinn, we met with senior government officials, NATO's Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, and exiled Russian media.

Stay Engaged with Freedom House

We're gearing up for a busy fall of events to continue celebrating our 85th anniversary and our Investing in Freedom's Future campaign, and hope to see you soon.

In the meantime, I wish you and your family a relaxing summer.

Thank you, as always, for standing with us in support of our vision of a world where all people are free.

With best regards,

Jamie Fly
CEO
Freedom House

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