The Moscow Times: Veteran Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina has been sentenced to one year of “restricted freedom” for promoting January protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the Apologia of Protest legal aid group reported Friday.
Human Rights in Ukraine: Refat Chubarov, Chair of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, or Representative Assembly, wrote on 9 September that Ukraine’s international partners should be in no doubt that Russia is testing the ability of the international Crimea Platform and the willingness of all its participants to uphold the values they affirmed at the inaugural meeting of the Platform.
The Moscow Times: A Russian court has sentenced a self-described anarchist couple to prison for hanging a banner likening the country’s security services to terrorists, human rights activist and lawyer Pavel Chikov tweeted Friday.
The Moscow Times: Russia’s parliamentary elections next week are set to be some of the least competitive in years after a number of independent and opposition candidates were barred from running.
The Moscow Times: Russia said Friday that its counter-terror forces had killed two militants and discovered a cache of weapons during a raid in the volatile region of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.
RFE/RL: Russia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by would-be State Duma candidate and businessman Dmitry Potapenko against his removal as a candidate for allegedly owning “foreign financial instruments.”
Amnesty International: Responding to the arrest on “extremism” charges of Rostov-on-Don journalist, Igor Khoroshilov, who appealed in a post on Facebook for “smart voting” against the ruling United Russia party, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director, said: “This is a blatant violation of the right to freedom of expression. Anyone should be able to express their views about the upcoming parliamentary election and candidates. The Russian authorities’ attempts to silence any dissent – be it on the streets, in the independent media or social media – have reached the point of absurdity. This arrest shows the authorities are determined to shut down public support for prisoner of conscience Aleksei Navalny and his “smart voting” campaign. Igor Khoroshilov must be released immediately and unconditionally. The authorities must stop their shameless persecution of Aleksei Navalny’s supporters and other dissenters.”
