Week-ending 10 October 2025
“RSF welcomes the swift opening of a war crime investigation by France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office and the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Ukraine, following the drone attack that killed Antoni Lallican and seriously injured his Ukrainian colleague Georgiy Ivanchenko on 3 October in eastern Ukraine. RSF calls for close and effective co-operation between the French and Ukrainian authorities to establish the exact circumstances of the attack, which are necessary to determine who was responsible.
– Thibaut Bruttin, RSF Director General
Source: ‘RSF welcomes preliminary investigations into death of French photojournalist Antoni Lallican in Ukraine,’ RSF, 5 October 2025
Background from RSF: French and Ukrainian judicial authorities have announced preliminary investigations into the death of French photojournalist Antoni Lallican, who was killed on 3 October in eastern Ukraine by a Russian drone strike. Fellow Ukrainian photojournalist, Georgiy Ivanchenko was seriously injured in the attack. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomes this swift judicial response, which is essential to fight impunity.
“Killing journalists — who are protected under international law — is a war crime. Based on RSF information, this was a deliberate attack that took the life of Antoni Lallican, an accomplished independent photojournalist, and left his colleague Georgiy Ivanchenko with irreversible injuries. The investigations opened in France and Ukraine must establish full accountability and identify those responsible for this strike. Since the Kremlin’s full‑scale offensive in 2022, fourteen reporters have been killed in Ukraine. These crimes must end.
– Thibaut Bruttin, RSF Director General
Source: ‘Ukraine: RSF publishes initial findings on targeted Russian strike that killed French photojournalist Antoni Lallican,’ RSF, 9 October 2025
Background from RSF: French freelance photojournalist Antoni Lallican was killed near Kramatorsk in a deliberate strike by a Russian drone on 3 October. His Ukrainian colleague Georgiy Ivanchenko was critically wounded. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is releasing the first elements of its investigation into this targeted attack on journalists.
‘The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on October 7 extended the mandate of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, for another year. The UNHRC’s renewed commitment to closely monitor the human rights situation in Russia, a Security Council veto-wielding state, is a lifeline for the country’s besieged civil society. This dedicated, independent monitoring tool, as exemplified in the rapporteur’s latest September report, shines a spotlight on how the Kremlin is increasingly battling dissent on its own soil in parallel to its abusive war against Ukraine. […] Despite Russian authorities’ efforts to target the country’s human rights defenders for bringing records of abuses to the attention of the UN and other international bodies, the mandate will remain a vital focus point for engagement with Russia’s civil society. With the strong international focus rightly on Russia’s actions in Ukraine, it is only fitting that the global rights body keeps the spotlight on what’s happening within Russia too.’
– Aleks Lokhmutov, Research Assistant, Europe and Central Asia Division
Source: ‘UN Special Rapporteur on Russia Extended for Another Year,’ HRW, 8 October 2025
Background from HRW: The list of political prisoners maintained by Memorial, a prominent Russian human rights organization, now stands at 1,129, compared to 771 a year ago. In January-October 2025, the authorities added 74 groups to their register of “undesirable organizations,” the highest number since 2015, when the register was set up. Two hundred and sixty-nine organizations are now outlawed as “undesirable.” This year is also on track to have the highest number of individuals and groups designated as “foreign agents.” There are 853 active entries on that list, all of them subjected to burdensome and discriminatory regulations and stigmatizing labeling requirements. Russian authorities also added dozens of repressive laws to their already vast toolkit of repression. They have worked relentlessly to eradicate all forms of political dissent, targeted lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as “extremists,” channeled xenophobia, expanded their censorship and surveillance infrastructure, and weaponized their broad and vague anti-extremism, anti-terrorism, and state security legislation. They are unrelenting in their efforts to suppress any expression of civic activism, human rights work, and independent reporting. To this end, just this year, prosecutors banned Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and exiled Russian media outlet Echo.
“Putin should be in The Hague to face the charges against him, not attending summits hosted by an ICC member. If it welcomes Putin, Tajikistan will be showing utter disregard for the suffering of victims of Russian forces’ crimes in Ukraine and for its own obligations as an ICC member.”
– Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.
Source: ‘Tajikistan: Arrest Putin. ICC Members Should Not Welcome Fugitives,’ HRW, 8 October 2025
Background from HRW: Tajikistan should deny entry to Russian President Vladimir Putin or arrest him if he enters the country, based on an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for him, Human Rights Watch said today. The Kremlin announced that Putin is planning to travel to Tajikistan on October 9, 2025, to attend a Russia-Central Asia summit and a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
