Week-ending 4 September 2026
“The rate of enforced disappearances of journalists is increasing around the world. While there are currently at least 46 victims, there have been more than 100 over the past 20 years. The enforced disappearance of journalists is a serious violation of press freedom and human rights. States — whether they are actively involved in controlling information and intimidating journalists, or are passive bystanders — bear an immense responsibility for these acts. We call on them to do their part in the fight to find missing journalists alive and to ensure that such violations of press freedom do not go unpunished.”
– Vianney Loriquet, Datajournaliste at RSF
Source: ‘International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances: at least 46 journalists are victims worldwide today,’ RSF, 29 August 2026
Background from RSF: Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, at least three journalists have been victims of enforced disappearances before reappearing in Vladimir Putin’s Russian prisons, including Dmytro Khyliuk and Iryna Danilovytch. To date, only Dmytro Khyliuk has regained his freedom, after three years in detention. As of August 2026, Russia continues to illegally detain 27 Ukrainian journalists.
‘Daria Egereva has spent her life protecting people, culture and the environment. Born in Siberia and part of the Selkup Indigenous People – who number only around 3,500 – she trained as a teacher before becoming a respected advocate for Indigenous rights and climate justice. Friends describe her as warm, sociable and deeply compassionate. She loves reading and long walks outdoors, and often speaks about growing up in the taiga, surrounded by vast evergreen forests where she gathered berries with her family and built a lifelong connection with nature. Today, Daria faces up to 20 years in prison for her peaceful human rights work. In December 2025, Russian authorities detained Daria and accused her of involvement with an Indigenous rights network they had labelled “terrorist”, even though her work focused on protecting Indigenous lands, languages and cultures.
– Amnesty International
Source: ‘Daria Egereva: Write for Rights 2026,’ Amnesty International, 1 September 2026
Background from Amnesty International: Daria’s experience reflects a wider pattern in which accusations of “extremism” and “terrorism” are being used against activists, helping those in power silence independent voices and discourage others from speaking out. Yet Daria refused to abandon her values. Even when facing pressure and threats, she continued defending her people and their rights with courage and determination. Call for the immediate and unconditional release of Daria Egereva and for an end to the repression of Indigenous activists exercising their rights across Russia.
“Denis Kulanin has publicly opposed Russia’s war against Ukraine and expressed support for Aleksei Navalny – both of which are regarded as crimes and punishable by prison in Russia. The Georgian authorities must ensure that he is not deported to Russia, where in the current climate of severe repression of anti-war dissent, he could face a real risk of arbitrary prosecution and imprisonment, torture or other ill-treatment. Georgia is bound by the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the transfer of any person to a country where they would face a genuine risk of serious human rights violations. The Georgian authorities must also ensure that Denis Kulanin can effectively seek international protection, including to leave voluntarily for a safe third country.”
– Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director, reacting to reports that Russian national Denis Kulanin remains in detention after he was pardoned by the president on 28 August, and amid concerns that he could be deported to Russia
Source: ‘Georgia: Pardoned protester must be protected from forcible return to Russia,’ Amnesty International, 1 September 2026
Background from Amnesty International: On 1 September, Denis Kulanin was due to leave Georgia voluntarily for Armenia, after his lawyers submitted his flight ticket, passport and boarding pass to the court and the Temporary Accommodation Centre where he is held, following his pardon by the president on 28 August. He was one of nine people pardoned in connection with protest-related convictions. He had been serving a two-year prison sentence imposed on 4 June 2025 for damaging a police vehicle during a protest in Tbilisi on 28 March 2025. Following his pardon, Tbilisi City Court placed him in the Temporary Accommodation Centre of the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs pending a further court hearing on his deportation from Georgia. This has deprived him of an opportunity to leave Georgia for Armenia voluntarily and raised concerns that the authorities are planning to hand him over to Russia instead.
’28-year-old Ilia Chertov from Zaprudne in occupied Crimea was seized at Sochi’s Adler airport on 10 August 2026. Although there is nothing to suggest that the Crimean Jehovah’s Witness, whose father is also facing persecution, had been informed of charges against him, Russian media, doubtless parroting Russia’s Investigative Committee, claimed that the latter had “broken up the activities of yet another organizer of an Alushta extremist cell”. The clear implication was that they had done so as he “was trying to flee the country’. The Russian reports were all published on 20 August but gave no indication that he had in fact been detained a full ten days earlier. They were equally silent about the absurd administrative charge used to get the young man jailed for three days while charges were organized and ‘searches’ carried out, with these allegedly uncovering ‘prohibited literature’. Since Russia has even banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses booklet ‘What does the Bible teach us?’, it is quite possible that the search did find religious material which Russia, in contrast to Ukraine and most other countries, has banned. Even this is not guaranteed, however, as it has become standard, at least for the FSB, that they bring the supposedly ‘prohibited literature’ with them, and then claim to have found it.’
– Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group
Source: Halya Coynash, ‘Young Crimean Jehovah’s Witness seized at Russian airport, faces long sentence for practising his faith.’ Human Rights in Ukraine, 2 September 2026
Background from Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group [Halya Coynash]: According to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ site, it was after the administrative arrest that Ilia Chertov was taken back to occupied Simferopol where he was formally charged with “organizing the activities of an extremist organization’ under Article 282.2 § 1 of Russia’s criminal code. His telephone was taken from him when first detained in Sochi, with no protocol of this drawn up. He was initially handed the order for his administrative arrest, but then that was also taken away. He was given nothing to eat for a day and a half after being detained. The charges under Article 282.2 § 1 were initiated on 18 August by ‘senior Investigative Committee investigator Andrei A. Kirov, with Ilia Chertov formally charged on 20 August and placed under house arrest the following day. The same charge has been used to sentence a number of believers from occupied Crimea to 6 or 6.5 years’ imprisonment.
“The criminal case against Lida Moniava is yet another brazen attempt by Russia’s authorities to crackdown on any expression of anti-war sentiment. This assault on one of Russia’s most prominent charity leaders is designed to silence not only her, but the entire civil society. The Russian authorities must immediately end the criminal prosecution of Lida Moniava for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression. They must repeal the country’s repressive ‘war censorship’ legislation and release all those imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to express opposition to the war.”
– Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, reacting to the detention of Lidiya (Lida) Moniava, a Russian civil society activist and prominent charity leader, for alleged “dissemination of false information” about the Russian Armed Forces
Source: ‘Russia: Detention of charity leader Lida Moniava for anti-war social media posts a brazen attack on freedom of expression,’ Amnesty International, 2 September 2026
Background from Amnesty International: Lida Moniava has worked in the charity sector since 2008, including with “Podari Zhizn” (Gift a Life) foundation, which helps children with oncological and haematological diseases, and “Vera” (Faith), a hospice where she coordinated palliative care for children. In 2014, she became deputy director of the children’s hospice “Dom s Mayakom” (House with a Lighthouse) and in 2018 became director of its charitable foundation. On 2 September 2026, Lida Moniava was detained in Moscow under charges of “public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). Her home was searched and she was questioned by members of the Investigation Committee, a stand-alone agency tasked with investigating serious crime. On the same day, she was placed in a temporary detention facility for two days until the court decides on her pretrial restrictions. According to her lawyer, the criminal case concerns a Telegram post by Lida Moniava in February 2023. In February 2026, a court fined Lida Moniava 45,000 roubles (US$ 580) for allegedly “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces. The proceedings concerned three posts on her Telegram channel, including posts referring to Russia’s war against Ukraine and to reported Russian strikes in Kryvyi Rih and Sumy.
“The European Court of Human Rights’ decision is deeply disappointing. It deprives hundreds of individuals of what for many of them is their last hope of seeing justice for the violations they have suffered. The decision to deny these victims their day in court cannot be justified by Russia’s refusal to execute Court judgments, or the fact that the remaining applications raise no novel questions of law, or restraints on resources. This decision should be reversed and the cases brought back on the Court’s docket. Council of Europe member states must meanwhile ensure that the ECtHR has the financial and human resources required to fulfil its fundamental role. In addition, they should exhaust all available means to ensure that Russia is held accountable for its violations under the European Convention on Human Rights and that its obligations to implement the judgments through individual measures, including the payment of compensations to victims, are fulfilled.” – Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, reacting to the decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to strike 879 applications against Russia from its list of cases on grounds of their lesser importance to case law and a lack of resources for their examination”
– Amnesty International
Source: ‘Russia: ECtHR decision to strike out more than 800 complaints denies victims truth, justice and reparation and should be reversed,’ Amnesty International, 4 September 2026
Background from Amnesty International: On 3 September 2026, the European Court of Human Rights announced its decision to strike 879 applications against Russia from its list, the earliest pending since 2007, despite acknowledging that they contained potentially well-founded allegations of violations of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court said the cases did not raise issues of marked importance for Russia’s responsibility under the Convention or require further development of its case law. The applications concerned, among other issues, fair-trial rights, freedom of expression, conditions of detention, property rights and freedom of movement as listed in the Lebedeva and Others v. Russia decision. The applications also included cases brought by former prisoners of conscience, human rights defender Oyub Titiev and opposition activist Andrei Borovikov, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society and Stanislav Dmitrievsky, and politician and prisoner of conscience Lev Shlosberg. Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe on 16 March 2022 for starting its war of aggression against Ukraine and ceased to be a party to the Convention on 16 September 2022, but the ECtHR retains jurisdiction over violations committed before that date.
‘For nearly two decades, Moniava has been running “Home With a Lighthouse,” which includes several children’s hospices, a resource center, and a perinatal palliative care program. Her work is guided by the principle that children with terminal illnesses and disabilities, including those who require more intensive support, deserve compassionate care and the opportunity to live fully and with as much dignity as possible. She has helped thousands. Many leading charity activists left Russia after the full-scale invasion in 2022. Moniava stayed to continue her work. But she could not do it quietly. As Valery Panyushkin, a prominent activist and journalist, stated: “If Lida believed something was right, she acted on it. She believed that a child should have a full and meaningful childhood, so she made sure they had one. And in the same way, she wrote openly on social media that Russia had attacked Ukraine, causing immense harm both to Ukraine and to Russia itself.” Earlier this year, a court fined Moniava in an administrative case for “discrediting” the army over three social media posts about civilians, including children, killed in Russian attacks. Many supporters have urged her to leave the country. Moniava refused to abandon her work and called the war a “crime” that needed “to be stopped.” The authorities then escalated to criminal prosecution.’
– Tanya Lokshina, Senior Associate Director, Europe and Central Asia Division
Source: Tanya Lokshina, ‘Palliative Care Champion Prosecuted in Russia,’ Human Rights Watch, 4 September 2026
Background from Human Rights Watch [Tanya Lokshina]: Lida Moniava, Russia’s best-known children’s palliative care advocate, was detained in Moscow this week and charged with disseminating “knowingly false information” about the army – apparent retaliation for her public stance against Russia’s war in Ukraine. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison. The charges stem from a Telegram post she published on February 24, 2023, the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, commemorating thousands of “innocent people… dead as a result of my country’s actions.” […] After a night in jail, Moniava appeared at a remand hearing. The public outcry over her arrest was so intense that the authorities released her from custody pending trial, imposing a ban on internet use and an 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew. The politically motivated criminal case against Moniava threatens to harm the children and families who rely on her support. Russian authorities should immediately drop the charges against Moniava so that she can continue her vital charitable work and – if she chooses – continue to speak out against the war.
“Iryna Levchenko, a 64-year-old former journalist from Melitopol, has been sentenced to 15 years in a general-regime penal colony on espionage charges (Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code). ‘L., born in 1961, a former journalist based in Melitopol with one of the Ukrainian media outlets, did not leave Zaporizhzhia Oblast after the start of the special military operation and did not renounce her Ukrainian citizenship,’ begins a press release issued by the occupation ‘Zaporizhzhia Oblast Court’. According to the prosecution, in February 2023 Iryna Levchenko passed to the Ukrainian intelligence services ‘information about Russian state ministries and agencies, including security agencies, together with their addresses and lists of employees’.”
– Memorial. Political Prisoners
Source: ‘Former journalist from Melitopol sentenced to 15 years on espionage charges,’ Memorial. Political Prisoners, 4 September 2026
Background from Memorial. Political Prisoners: Iryna Levchenko worked as a journalist for around 40 years, writing, as she herself put it, ‘for city, oblast and nationwide Ukrainian outlets’. Among the outlets she worked for were the newspaper Telenedelya, Fakty ta Komentari and the Telegraf news website. She retired after the occupation of Melitopol. On 6 May 2023, Iryna Levchenko and her husband, Oleksandr Levchenko, disappeared. They are believed to have been detained in the street by Russian security forces. Oleksandr was released in September 2024 after being given a document stating that he had been detained for 21 days for violating curfew. According to our information, Iryna Levchenko was held unofficially in a ‘pit’ for 14 months. Her detention was only formally registered in July 2024. She has said that masked men tortured her with electric shocks. Her lawyer told her that the authorities had investigated her allegations of torture but concluded that they could not be substantiated. She says she was not even questioned about what she knew. Iryna Levchenko has been held at various times in remand prisons in Donetsk, Simferopol and Krasnodar. She is currently being held in a remand prison in Mariupol.
‘The Vladimir region election commission has banned the Yabloko party candidate Alexei Firsov from distributing campaign materials, sending them to the prosecutor’s office for an extremism check. According to Firsov, the commission’s decision has blocked the distribution of all his materials until the elections begin.’
– OVD-Info
Source: ‘News,’ OVD-Info, 4 September 2026
