Person of the Week: Prisoner of conscience Aleksei Navalny
Week-ending 17 September 2021 This week, on 13 September in a social media post written from prison, Aleksei Navalny called on Russians to vote tactically to maximise the vote against…
Person of the Week: Artist Ilya Pershin given three-year sentence for alleged assault on a police officer at a peaceful protest in support of Navalny
Week-ending 10 September 2021 Ilya Pershin. Photo by David Frenkel / Mediazona On 6 September 2021 a court in St. Petersburg sentenced artist Ilya Pershin to three years in a…
Person of the Week: Comedian Idrak Mirzalizade banned from Russia for life
Week-ending 3 September 2021 Idrak Mirzalizade, June 2021. © Idrak Mirzalizade/YouTube via Human Rights Watch This week Russia banned stand-up comedian, Idrak Mirzalizade, from Russia for life on account of a…
Person of the Week: Aleksandr Gabyshev confined to psychiatric hospital
Week-ending 30 July 2021 On 26 July 2021 Yakutsk city court ruled that Aleksandr Gabyshev, a shaman who has been stopped several times by police as he walked to Moscow…
Person of the Week: Pussy Riot member Rita Flores jailed for 15 days
Week-ending 23 July 2021 On 22 July 2021 the authorities jailed Pussy Riot member Rita Flores for 15 days on charges of disobeying police. This week two other members of…
Person of the Week: Ilya Yashin steps down as chair of local assembly as a result of pressure from the authorities
Week-ending 16 July 2021 Photo: Facebook On 12 July 2021 Moscow opposition municipal deputy Ilya Yashin said he was stepping down as chair of the municipal assembly on account of…
Person of the Week: Ravil Mingazov, facing forced repatriation to Russia and a ‘substantial risk of torture’
Week-ending 9 July 2021 Photo source: The Guardian Ravil Mingazov, a Muslim Tartar who spent 15 years without charge in Guantánamo Bay prison camp before being transferred to the United Arab…
Person of the Week: Ernest Mezak, human rights lawyer from Syktyvkar
Week-ending 2 July 2021 On 26 June 2021 police officers searched the home of Ernest Mezak, a prominent human rights defender and lawyer from Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic, and…
Person of the Week: Andrei Pivovarov fined for violating ‘foreign agent’ law
Week-ending 25 June 2021 On 23 June 2021 Andrei Pivovarov, former head of the Open Russia movement, was fined 50,000 roubles for violation of the 'foreign agent' law. He remains…
Person of the Week: Khalimat Taramova, forcibly taken by Chechen police from a women’s shelter in Dagestan
Week-ending 18 June 2021 On 10 June Khalimat Taramova, the daughter of an associate of Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was forcibly taken by police from a shelter for battered women…