The court hearing the high-profile trial of a young man accused of the rape and murder of a child has rejected an application to hold the trial behind closed doors. The trial is of public interest because of the anti-Roma pogrom which followed it, and because there are grounds for believing that the defendant is innocent.

After the victory of the Euromaidan, the demand for combating corruption drastically increased, and new institutions were established to fight high-level corruption. However, there is an ongoing conflict between two of the newly established agencies that greatly diminishes their ability to fight corruption

It is exactly a year since the UN’s International Court of Justice ordered Russia to withdraw its extraordinary ban of the Mejlis, or self-governing body of the Crimean Tatar people, and to ensure education in Ukrainian in occupied Crimea.

It is exactly a year since the UN’s International Court of Justice ordered Russia to withdraw its extraordinary ban of the Mejlis, or self-governing body of the Crimean Tatar people, and to ensure education in Ukrainian in occupied Crimea.

Yet another asylum-seeker facing torture and persecution if forcibly returned to the Russian Federation has had his application for refugee status rejected by Ukraine’s Migration Service.

Militants from the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] are ignoring local residents, the Ukrainian government and international warnings, and flooding the Yunkom (Yuny Komynar) former coalmine which was used for a nuclear test in 1979.  The scale of radioactive contamination of soil and water sources could prove catastrophic

Crimean Tatar Human Rights activist Emir-Usein Kuku and five other Ukrainian Muslims are facing huge sentences on fatally flawed charges with the ‘evidence’ so far provided by a traitor, now working for Russia’s FSB, and an alcoholic ‘secret witness’, whose testimony seems to have been dictated by the prosecution

Crimean Tatar Human Rights activist Emir-Usein Kuku and five other Ukrainian Muslims are facing huge sentences on fatally flawed charges with the ‘evidence’ so far provided by a traitor, now working for Russia’s FSB, and an alcoholic ‘secret witness’, whose testimony seems to have been dictated by the prosecution

‘Secret documents’ have been cited in Russian-occupied Crimea to justify holding the trial of Yevhen Panov behind closed doors. Since no secret material was ever mentioned to either Panov, or his lawyer, this may well simply be the latest attempt to conceal the lack of any substance to the charges against the Ukrainian

‘Secret documents’ have been cited in Russian-occupied Crimea to justify holding the trial of Yevhen Panov behind closed doors. Since no secret material was ever mentioned to either Panov, or his lawyer, this may well simply be the latest attempt to conceal the lack of any substance to the charges against the Ukrainian

Until recently, Oleksiy Svyetikov assured the OSCE that there were no threats for journalists in Ukraine, citing his own frequent criticism of the authorities as proof. The events on 29 March radically changed his mind

For more than a year, Ukraine’s government and activists have been at odds over a March 2017 law that requires activists to disclose their assets online in the same way that public officials do

Russia has spent four years denying responsibility for the tanks and huge arsenal of weapons provided to Kremlin-controlled militants in Donbas, and using OSCE observers to purportedly back this denial.  While this is not the observers’ fault, the vast expanse of border area physically beyond their scope, as well as the clamps placed on what they are mandated to observe, must surely place the sense of their mission in question. 

Russia has spent four years denying responsibility for the tanks and huge arsenal of weapons provided to Kremlin-controlled militants in Donbas, and using OSCE observers to purportedly back this denial.  While this is not the observers’ fault, the vast expanse of border area physically beyond their scope, as well as the clamps placed on what they are mandated to observe, must surely place the sense of their mission in question. 

An important European Court of Human Rights ruling has prompted Ukrainian human rights groups to demand a Constitutional Court review of the current lack of real mechanisms for releasing people sentenced to life imprisonment. The move is particularly important given strong grounds in very many cases for believing that life prisoners are either innocent or did not deserve the severe sentence imposed. . 

A French court has upheld a ruling that found Ukrainian journalist Anna Chesanovska guilty of defaming Paul Moreira in comments about his highly controversial film on Ukraine ‘Masks of the Revolution. As well as a prohibitive fine, the journalist has been ordered, in effect, to retract the truth about a film which is grossly manipulative and misleading

A French court has upheld a ruling that found Ukrainian journalist Anna Chesanovska guilty of defaming Paul Moreira in comments about his highly controversial film on Ukraine ‘Masks of the Revolution. As well as a prohibitive fine, the journalist has been ordered, in effect, to retract the truth about a film which is grossly manipulative and misleading

The identity remains unclear of a 24-year-old Crimean arrested on 20 March for alleged involvement in non-existent military action by a Crimean Tatar volunteer battalion. It seems likely, however, that there will be more such arrests, with Russia openly targeting Crimeans involved in defending Ukraine in Donbas, and mentioning other charges earlier used in propaganda against exiled Crimean Tatar leaders and Crimean Muslims. 

The identity remains unclear of a 24-year-old Crimean arrested on 20 March for alleged involvement in non-existent military action by a Crimean Tatar volunteer battalion. It seems likely, however, that there will be more such arrests, with Russia openly targeting Crimeans involved in defending Ukraine in Donbas, and mentioning other charges earlier used in propaganda against exiled Crimean Tatar leaders and Crimean Muslims. 

It is seven months since Russia’s FSB abducted Ukrainian student Pavlo Hryb from Belarus and since the 19-year-old, who has an extremely serious medical condition, saw the Ukrainian specialists treating him.  Russia has refused to allow Ukrainian doctors to examine him and is producing suspiciously ‘healthy’ test results to try to justify their refusal to provide him with proper medical care.