Weekly Update

Read our selection of the past week’s news: Rights in Russia week-ending 8 May 2020

Listen to our latest Russian-language podcast; our guest this week is Elena Zhemkova, executive director of International Memorial: Simon & Sergei: Human rights in Russia – with Elena Zhemkova– You can find these podcasts on Podcasts.com, SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify.

‘In my eyes Yury Dmitriev is a true hero of our time. He took on the noble and very difficult task of reinstating the remembrance of those who died during the repressions.’ – Liudmila Ulitskaya in an interview about Yury Dmitriev with Evgeniya Chirikova. Translated by Graham Jones, Nathalie Wilson and Nicky Brown

‘When it comes to this kind of attitude toward prisoners, then in Russia the main spiritual binding force – I’ve spoken a lot about this – is the fear of prison […].’ – Dmitry Bykov writes about the fear of prison in Russia. Translated by Marian Schwartz 

‘Before our eyes, the Russian authoritarian regime, which has almost monopolized the media and lacks an independent judiciary and separation of powers, is trying to completely abolish the rule of law and the constitution.’ – Grigory Yavlinsky on the abuses of surveillance technology by the authorities. Translated by Matthew Quigley, Verity Hemp and Anna Bowles 

‘The simple fact of the matter is that the Russian authorities now have access to ready-made technological solutions for digital surveillance and selective monitoring that could also be used in the event of protests or to restrict the movements of different groups of citizens.’ – Damir Gainutdinov on the use of surveillance by the state during the pandemic. Translated by Simon Cosgrove and Joanne Reynolds

‘In Russia, as of today, 80,949 have been infected and 771 have died. The only thing standing between victims and their families and these state payments is the fact that Coronavirus has not been recognised as a national emergency.’ – Pavel Chikov on legal regulation during the pandemic. Translated by Alice Lee

‘Tatyana Voltskaya interviewed an intensive care doctor about the work of St. Petersburg hospitals and the shortage of doctors and ventilators in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.  Now the journalist is threatened with criminal prosecution.’ – from a report published by Deutsche Welle about the persecution of journalist Tatyana Voltskaya. Translated by John Tokolish

‘Oleg Zurman, a journalist from Mediazone in the Kaliningrad region, had the lock of his front door filled with polyurethane foam. Zurman himself believes the incident was connected with an article he had written about a case in which the police planted drugs on the defendant.’ – OVD-Info’s Weekly Bulletin includes a report on this incident that happened to the journalist Oleg Zurman. Translated by Judith Fagelson