The de facto military prosecutor in Russian-occupied Crimea has refused to initiate criminal proceedings against the FSB officers who abducted and tortured 31-year-old Crimean Tatar Rinat Paralamov.  Two criminal investigations have, however, been launched against the victim who refused to remain silent about the FSB’s treatment of him

The de facto military prosecutor in Russian-occupied Crimea has refused to initiate criminal proceedings against the FSB officers who abducted and tortured 31-year-old Crimean Tatar Rinat Paralamov.  Two criminal investigations have, however, been launched against the victim who refused to remain silent about the FSB’s treatment of him

Ukrainian journalist and blogger Stanislav Aseyev has gone on hunger strike in occupied Donetsk, more than a year after he was seized by the so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic [DPR] ministry of state security

Ukrainian journalist and blogger Stanislav Aseyev has gone on hunger strike in occupied Donetsk, more than a year after he was seized by the so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic [DPR] ministry of state security

Levko Lukyanenko, one of the founding members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group who spent 25 years in Soviet labour camps, has died in Kyiv after a long illness

If Oleg Sentsov, Emir-Usein Kuku and Oleksandr Shumkov are on hunger strike for the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners, ignoring their demand helps only Russia (INFORMATION HERE about the other prisoners)

If Oleg Sentsov, Emir-Usein Kuku and Oleksandr Shumkov are on hunger strike for the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners, ignoring their demand helps only Russia (INFORMATION HERE about the other prisoners)

A ‘court’ in Russian-occupied Crimea has sentenced Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh to an extra three years’ imprisonment on charges as overtly fabricated as those used to originally arrest him,

A Moscow court has fined Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after ruling that it had failed to comply with a Russian law regulating media outlets branded by the government as "foreign agents."

Three months after his arrest on charges linked with entirely innocuous pre-annexation YouTube videos, Nariman Memedeminov has been forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital in Russian-occupied Crimea.  There was no court order and no reason at all for demanding that the widely respected civic journalist undergo a psychiatric assessment. 

Human rights activists have publicly expressed outrage that Dmytro Rudenko is being considered for the post of head of the Vinnytsa Department of the State Bureau of Investigations.  The SBI is still being set up and staffed, but its main task will be to investigate crimes committed by high-level officials, making any appointment of people like Rudenko seem quite inconceivable.

Emir-Usein Kuku has been on hunger strike since 26 June in Rostov.  Nothing is known of the human rights activist’s condition, with the Russian state-controlled media generally avoiding mention of the 11 Ukrainian political prisoners, most of them Crimean Tatar, currently ‘on trial’ in this World Cup hosting city

Emir-Usein Kuku has been on hunger strike since 26 June in Rostov.  Nothing is known of the human rights activist’s condition, with the Russian state-controlled media generally avoiding mention of the 11 Ukrainian political prisoners, most of them Crimean Tatar, currently ‘on trial’ in this World Cup hosting city

A court in Krasnodar has ordered Russia’s Finance Ministry to pay 4.5 million roubles in compensation for torturing five adolescents in a ‘corrective institution’, with two million of that sum awarded to the mother of 16-year-old Ukrainian, Vitaly Pop, who was savagely beaten to death

Legal analysis of the draft Law “On Amending Certain Laws of Ukraine on Countering Threats to National Security in Information Sector,” registration # 6688

A ‘prosecutor’ in Russian-occupied Crimea has demanded an extra four-year sentence against Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh for something termed ‘disorganizing the work of the detention unit’, with this to be added in full to the remaining two years of his current sentence.   Balukh is looking frail and gaunt after 106 days of either partial or, now, total hunger strike in protest at what has been internationally condemned as persecution for his pro-Ukrainian position – and the Ukrainian flag over his home. 

A ‘prosecutor’ in Russian-occupied Crimea has demanded an extra four-year sentence against Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh for something termed ‘disorganizing the work of the detention unit’, with this to be added in full to the remaining two years of his current sentence.   Balukh is looking frail and gaunt after 106 days of either partial or, now, total hunger strike in protest at what has been internationally condemned as persecution for his pro-Ukrainian position – and the Ukrainian flag over his home. 

The only mosque still functioning in occupied Donetsk has been closed after a search and interrogation of the Imam and several believers.  There has long been persecution of many Christian churches and believers in Russia’s proxy ‘republics’, and it is feared that Muslims are now also to be targeted

It has long been assumed that the persecution of Oleksandr Kostenko and Andriy Kolomiyets was in revenge for Moscow’s failure to prevent Euromaidan, with this only confirmed by the measures taken to make Kostenko’s last weeks in prison as hellish as possible.

It has long been assumed that the persecution of Oleksandr Kostenko and Andriy Kolomiyets was in revenge for Moscow’s failure to prevent Euromaidan, with this only confirmed by the measures taken to make Kostenko’s last weeks in prison as hellish as possible.