Alexei Gorinov has become the first Russian to receive a long prison sentence for telling the truth about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Three Belarusians are about to go on trial, with the Belarusian Investigative Committee having already labelled them ‘traitors’ and threatened the death penalty

Russia’s State Duma has adopted a draft bill allowing the prosecutor general to close media in Russia or occupied Crimea for so-called ‘fakes’, ‘discrediting the army’; ‘disrespect for the authorities’ or for calls to impose sanctions

During the past week public protests seemed to be waning in Russia. In fact, the anti-war movement was regrouping and adopting new forms of action.

Advice to conscripts on refusing military service; a secret Peace Forum in Petersburg; bracelets for those who donate towards the fines for protesting: people in Russia continued to express opposition to the war and the regime responded with new punishments, criminal charges and violence. Agents beat up a man in front of his seven-year-old son because the boy was wearing a yellow hat and blue jacket.

12 June was a public holiday in Russia. It marks the date in 1990 when the Russian Federation declared its independence. In Russian towns and cities filled with police and the pro-war symbol Z, activists used the occasion to hold anti-war protests. Many were arrested, and facial-recognition technology was used to detain over sixty men and women in the Moscow Metro. Hackers, street artists and musicians took part in the protests.

The judgement might have been hailed as a victory for civil society in Russia and occupied Crimea, had it not been so hopelessly belated.

Anna Perova and Ludmila Annenkova made an action «We can't clean ourselves from the blood»: barefoot, in dresses with red stains, they stood out near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Moscow. Both were detained. Activists are printing newspapers, preparing instructions for anti-war protests and even creating poetry in exchange for donations for Ukrainian refugees.

In Dagestan a schoolgirl finished her graduation speech with phrases : “No to War! Free Ukraine! Putin is a devil”. She was forced to publicly apologize for this.

In order not to be charged for “discreding the Russian Army” people spread photos of their pets and captions saying “PEACE lost. He was kind and fun and didn’t cross our neighbours’ border. He gave comfort and hope. We need our PEACE back”.

In many cities of Russia, the action "Immortal Regiment" was held. Activists brought the signs with photos of their relatives who died in World War II and photo captions: “Grandfathers said: ‘Let there never be a war’”, “They didn’t fight for this”, “They didn’t want to repeat”, “They fought for peace” and others, as well as portraits of Ukrainians who died this year.

Memorial employees Oleg Orlov and Irina Galkova were detained on Red Square. They stood alongside the backdrop of the Victory Day banner with posters “USSR 1945 is a country that defeated fascism. Russia 2022 is a country of victorious fascism” and “Stop killing people! Peace to Ukraine!” In the police department they were charged with two articles at once: violating the procedure for holding a picket and “discrediting the armed forces”.

A person was arrested in Krasnodar who brought outside and burned his sofa, having written “ZEvil” on it – with letter Z, which became a loyalist symbol of the war in Ukraine. His girlfriend lives in Mariupol and have not been in touch since the first days of the war. However, they can take you to the police for less: a quote from a cartoon or for the commandment "Do not kill!".

"It is our common duty to stop the war and to protect the lives, rights and freedoms of all people, both Ukrainians and Russians," the members of Council of Russian Human Rights Defenders say.

For a Russian prison sentence, it was enough that Andriy Kolomiyets was Ukrainian and had been on Maidan.  All else was just a question of technicalities, and of torture.

Memorial HRC has played a huge role in monitoring Russia’s repression in occupied Crimea, and the excuses given for demanding its closure may well augur a new escalation in political persecution.

Memorial has ensured that the truth is learned about the darkest pages of Soviet history, as well as about recent developments, political repression, etc. in Russia, and that is presented by the current regime as “distorting historical memory”

It has taken five years, two acquittals and flagrant violations of the right to a fair trial, for those seeking a long sentence against renowned historian of the Soviet Terror and head of the Karelia branch of Memorial, Yury Dmitriev to get their way.

Russia’s effective state censor Roskomnadzor has blocked OVD-Info, the largest independent human rights website monitoring and reporting on political persecution in Russia and occupied Crimea

A Russian court has sentenced seven Ingush leaders, including two men in their late sixties and a woman, to terms of imprisonment from 7.5 to 9 years for organizing peaceful protests in 2019