Week-ending 21 March 2025
“Today I will be asked whether I plead guilty. Well, I am the one making the accusation here! I accuse the stinking corpse of a regime and the ruling Putin clique of preparing, unleashing, and waging an aggressive war, of committing war crimes in Ukraine, of political terror in Russia, and of the moral corruption of my people. […] I ask the regime’s henchmen present here: do you admit your guilt in being complicit in Putin’s crimes?”
– Aleksandr Skobov at his trial on 21 March 2025
‘As the judge read out the sentence, Skobov – seated inside a locked metal cage and guarded by security officers – was heard shouting: “Glory to Ukraine.”’
Source: Pjotr Sauer, ‘Soviet-era dissident given ‘draconian’ jail sentence in Russia for anti-war views,’ The Guardian, 21 March 2025
Background from The Guardian: Alexander Skobov, a 67-year-old lifelong dissident, was sentenced on Friday by a military court in St Petersburg over a social media post supporting Ukraine’s 2022 strike on the Crimea Bridge, as well as his alleged involvement with the foreign-based opposition group the Free Russia Forum. A self-described leftwing pacifist, Skobov published the dissident Soviet journal Perspektivy in what was then Leningrad, and spoke out against the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and later Russia’s the wars in Chechnya, and, more recently, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2014. In the Soviet Union, Skobov was repeatedly charged with “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda” and was twice forcibly confined to psychiatric institutions. He spent a total of six years in Soviet psychiatric wards that functioned as prisons.
“By shutting down USAGM and its media outlets, the Trump administration is sending a chilling signal: authoritarian regimes such as Beijing and Moscow now have free rein to spread their propaganda unchecked. This decision is all the more alarming as it betrays the nine journalists currently imprisoned for their work with the agency and leaves thousands more jobless and in danger – because of their past collaboration with USAGM media – worldwide. We urge the US authorities and the international diplomatic community to ensure journalists’ safety. Those detained must be released and granted full freedom without delay.
– Thibaut Bruttin, RSF Director General
Source: ‘US Agency for Global Media shutdown: RSF warns of the dangers facing nine journalists detained abroad,’ RFS, 17 March 2025
Background from RSF: Following the Trump administration’s orders to dismantle the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is sounding the alarm over the risks facing USAGM staffers around the world, including nine journalists currently imprisoned abroad for their work. RSF calls on the international diplomatic community to immediately mobilise to obtain the release of these journalists and ensure the safety of all USAGM journalists worldwide.
“Russia has obligations under international human rights law to protect the rights of everyone within their territory without discrimination, including on grounds of national or ethnic origin. Those rights include the rights to life and to security, freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment and arbitrary detention, freedom of movement, privacy, education, and equality before the law. Russian authorities should adopt and enforce a zero-tolerance policy for anti-migrant hate speech, effectively address xenophobic violence experienced by migrants, and retract abusive legislation that significantly curtails migrant rights, Human Rights Watch said. The United Nations and its member-states should work with governments in Central Asia to make a strong call on Russia to protect migrants’ rights.”
– Human Rights Watch
Source: Russia: Xenophobic Crackdown on Central Asian Migrants,’ Human Rights Watch, 18 March 2025
Background from Human Rights Watch: Central Asian labor migrants in Russia have been experiencing increased xenophobic harassment, hate speech, and violence since the deadly attack attributed to Central Asians on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall on March 22, 2024, Human Rights Watch said in a report, ‘Living in Fear and Humiliation: Rising Xenophobic Harassment and Violence towards Central Asian Migrants in Russia.’ released today [18 March 2025].
“Any discussions about ending the war in Ukraine should address releasing detained civilians and opening pathways to securing justice for war crimes. Unfortunately, there has been no indication so far that the discussion of ongoing abuses will be on the table. […] Trump has succeeded in the past in persuading Putin to free people wrongfully detained. The administration’s current engagement with Putin and the Russian government provides an opportunity to do so again.”
– Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch
Source: ‘US-Russia Engagement Should Address Rights Abuses,’ Human Rights Watch, 18 March 2025
Background from Human Rights Watch: The Trump administration’s engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin should prioritize the release of detained Ukrainian civilians and Russians unjustly held for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and religion, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to US President Donald Trump.
“The Russian authorities must act immediately to protect Maria Ponomarenko from further harm and ensure she urgently receives any healthcare she requires. The reports that she has already self-harmed and is on a dry hunger strike raise serious concerns about her wellbeing. While Maria Ponomarenko is in the Russian authorities’ custody – unjustly imprisoned to be exact – they are responsible for protecting her physical and mental health. We call on them to urgently grant access to an independent medical expert and an independent human rights expert to assess her conditions and treatment in detention. Maria Ponomarenko should have never been imprisoned in the first place and must be immediately and unconditionally released, along with all others detained under repressive ‘war censorship’ laws. For as long as she remains in detention the authorities must ensure that Maria Ponomarenko is not subjected to any further ill-treatment or harassment. She has been subjected to arbitrary arrest, unjust imprisonment and ill-treatment in custody and those suspected of responsibility for these violations should be held accountable.”
– Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director
Source: ‘Russia: Authorities must urgently protect and release journalist Maria Ponomarenko,’ Amnesty International, 19 March 2025
Background from Amnesty International: Maria Ponomarenko, a journalist with online media RusNews, was sentenced on 15 February 2023 to six years’ imprisonment under Article 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code for a social media post condemning the Russian strike on the drama theatre in Mariupol, where hundreds of civilians were reportedly sheltering. She is serving her sentence in penal colony IK-6 in Shipunovo, 175 km from Barnaul, southern Siberia, where she has faced ill-treatment, including multiple placements in a disciplinary cell (SHIZO), solitary confinement and denial of adequate healthcare. In November 2023, authorities initiated a second criminal case against Maria Ponomarenko under Article 321(2) for allegedly attacking two male penal colony officers, a charge she denies. This follows a pattern of additional punishments for political prisoners, as seen in the case of Aleksei Gorinov. The verdict in this case is expected on 27 March.
