Russia’s Investigative Committee has been forced to abandon war crimes charges brought against one Ukrainian and based entirely on ‘confessions’ obtained through torture. Serhiy Litvinov’s lawyer Viktor Parshutkin was able to prove that the alleged victims and addresses where the crimes were supposed to have taken place did not exist

Russia’s most prominent human rights defenders, writers & others call the trial of Sentsov and Kolchenko ideologically motivated state terror aimed at suppressing any peaceful resistance to Russia’s occupation of Crimea

6 months after Putin’s fiercest critic Boris Nemtsov was gunned down near the Kremlin, the investigation is reportedly close to concluding that nobody ordered Nemtsov’s killing and that it was not over his opposition activities in Russia, but the result of his comments after the murder of Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in January PLEASE ENDORSE APPEAL FOR REAL INVESTIGATION!.

Pavel Kanygin, a special correspondent with the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has posted videos of two visits to the home of Aleksandrov, whose capture added to mounting evidence of a direct Russian role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Russian Investigative Committee claims that Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk once fought against Russia in Chechnya aroused hilarity and some excellent flights of Photoshop fantasy but ignored one chilling detail. The allegations are based on ‘testimony’ obtained from two Ukrainians facing 15-year sentences although they, like Yatsenyuk, never set foot in Chechnya

A Moscow court is due to hear a defamation suit brought by one of the lawyers representing Ukrainian film director and recognized political prisoner Oleg Sentsov against mainstream Russian television channels

The Memorial Human Rights Centre (Moscow) must pay 600,000 roubles for refusing to apply the label ‘foreign agent’ to materials that were placed on the website of another organization

An article on Russian state-funded Sputnik International asserts that criticism of the Soviet past, including Joseph Stalin, is part of a US and NATO attack on “today’s Russia and its leadership that is unwilling to bow before the West.”

The sentence against Khaiser Dzhemiliev has been reduced from 5 to 3.5 years but the 33-year-old was taken to Russia illegally and should be handed over to Ukraine.

On September 4, 2015 it will be 30 years since the death in the Perm-36 labour camp of Vasyl Stus, Ukrainian poet and human rights defender. The anniversary and Stus’ refusal to remain silent whatever the price are of especial poignancy in the face of Russia’s mounting repression, including with respect to the Ukrainians it is holding prisoner

It is 11 years since Russian federal troops stormed School No. 1 in Beslan where over 1100 children, teachers, parents and grandparents of children had been held hostage since the morning of Sep 1. 186 children and 145 adults were killed, most during the storming, in which tanks and heavy artillery were deployed

The Russian taxpayer is to foot the bill for legal services in the UK regarding the murder of Kremlin whistleblower Alexander Litvinenko which the British police is convinced was carried out with the involvement of the Russian state

An Azerbaijani court has sentenced investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova to 7 1/2 years in prison after convicting her on charges that rights groups have called retribution for her reports on corruption involving senior government officials

Russia’s ‘anti-extremism squad’ has again descended on Alexander Byvshev, the poet and former school teacher who was convicted in July of ‘inciting enmity’ over a poem in which he expressed his opposition to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

The problem with Russia’s imminent trial of another two Ukrainian hostages is not only the lack of any evidence, but the fact that Russia is in all seriousness accusing the men of alleged support for separatists in the Russian Federation while heavily manning, arming and funding militant proxies in eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s Prosecutor General has found no violations in the criminal prosecution and detention of mother of 7, Svetlana Davydova who was arrested in January 2015 on charges of ‘state treason’ over a telephone call to the Ukrainian embassy about Russian soldiers being sent to Donbas

Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko and Gennady Afanasyev’s courage and defiance have marred Moscow’s attempt at a Crimean show trial. It is now for Ukraine and western countries to demonstrate commitment to rule of law by ensuring proper penalties against all those who take part in Russia’s farcical prosecutions and trials of Ukrainian or other nationals

“Any testimony gained through torture and other ill-treatment must be thrown out, the ‘terrorism’ charges must be withdrawn, and Oleg Sentsov and Aleksandr Kolchenko should either be released or face a fair trial in a civilian court.”

A Russian court has sentenced Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov to 20 years harsh regime prison camp, and civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko to 10 years. The conviction and the sentences were anticipated, despite the lack of any crime to warrant them.

Russia has reinstated yet another Soviet tradition with the death of a prisoner on hunger strike. Sergei Kaziyev died on Aug 21, 2015 in the Nalchik SIZO, or pre-trial detention unit after three months on hunger strike