Amnesty International is concerned that Ukraine and Kazakhstan may be stepping up their efforts to forcibly return asylum-seekers to Uzbekistan

The Head of the Board of the Memorial Human Rights Centre is charged with "defamation" for stating that Kadyrov bore political responsibility for the death of Natalya Estemirova in Chechnya almost exactly a year ago

Alexei Sokolov, Head of the civic organization “Pravovaya osnova” [“Legal Basis”] is facing a 5-year sentence and has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International

"I have a degree in law and I clearly understand what the consequences will be if the case is dropped without exoneration, but I have no time to strive for truth, therefore I do not object."

Human rights defender and ethnic Uzbek, Azimzhan Askarov, was detained on 15 June in southern Kyrgyzstan. It has been reported that he is being tortured, denied medical care and his life is in danger. He is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately

The case concerned Abdugani Kamaliyev’s deportation to Uzbekistan in December 2007 despite the European Court of Human Rights having applied Rule 39 (interim measures) halting any removal pending its decision.

The venue and date are known – in Russia rallies are held on the 31st of each month to defend Article 31 of the Constitution which guarantees the right to peaceful protest. The authorities regularly think up events to clash with this entirely foreseeable attempt by citizens to exercise their right to peaceful protest

The authorities prevented most of the planned protests in the Kuzbass region, with huge numbers of armed riot police, etc, intimidating miners who in any case depend on the mines to support their families. Some refused to be intimidated

As reported, Russian human rights activist and defender of prisoners’ rights, Aleksei Sokolov has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in a case which arouses serious doubts regarding motives and procedure. Please add your voice in his defence

These are people forced to risk – and often lose – their lives, as in the disaster at Raspadskaya Mine in Mezhdurechinsk (West Siberia) on 9 May. Brutally dispersing protest and lying about their demands is no way to resolve an urgent problem. Please help to break the Russian FSB information blockade

The Head of “Pravovaya osnova” [“Legal Basis”], Alexei Sokolov has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment on flagrantly absurd charges. Sokolov has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. An appeal will doubtless soon be appearing at : http://www.amnesty.org/en/ai Please respond and also pass this information on to others

The Parliamentary Assembly notes a “lack of progress” towards Council of Europe standards and a “lack of political will” on the part of the authorities to adhere to the Organisation’s values

The First Deputy to the Mayor of Moscow has told the newspaper Kommersant that portraits of Joseph Stalin will not appear on the streets of the capital for Victory Day. Supposedly at the request of veterans, fearing acts of vandalism, the portraits will be presented in closed premises

The posting of Stalin’s portraits is incompatible with respect for the People-Victor. It is precisely Stalin who bears responsibility for crimes against his own people and for the terrible price of Victory.

Dozens of posters depicting Stalin will be hung around Moscow despite protests. Memorial is planning to place alternative banners telling people about Stalin’s crimes during the War

The victims were civilians detained or killed by Russian forces in Chechnya and Dagestan between 2000-2005

The prominent opposition journalist and founder of the opposition publication Belarusian Partisan Pavel Sheremet has received official notification from the Belarusian Embassy that his citizenship has been annulled

Veteran Russian rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva says she was probably the target of a pre-planned attack at a memorial to commemorate victims of the Moscow bombings that killed 39 people

The “United Russia” party has drawn up a new version of the draft law on criminal liability for “rehabilitation of Nazism” and reviewing the results of the Second World War

A Russian court has found former police officer Alexei Dymovsky guilty of defamation and ordered him to pay compensation to two heads of the Novorossiysk Police and publicly refute his accusations