The reason given is that Kadyrov’s mother has urged her son to not continue his court battle with the human rights defenders Oleg Orlov and Ludmila Alexeeva due to their advanced age. Oleg Orlov suggests another reason

While it is a relief that Dilshod Kurbanov is relatively safe, the situation continues to cause concern with the authorities stopping him and others leaving the country even though safe third countries have come forward

If it transpires that Dilshod Kurbanov has become the latest victim of abduction and has been returned to Uzbekistan, this will be a flagrant violation by Russia of the ban placed by the European Court of Human Rights on his forced return.

No matter what Lukashenko says about his decree on the Internet, control over the web is to become more tough, “Reporters without Borders” believe

Riot police detained dozens of human rights defenders and anti-Kremlin protesters, including leading opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, in central Moscow today, defying a plea by rights group Amnesty International to let the rally go ahead

Memorial has issued a statement supporting the action in defence of Article 31 of the Russian Federation Constitution - the right to peaceful assembly - which the authorities have again banned

Religious freedoms are being rapidly curtailed throughout Russia as the Orthodox Church seeks to boost its dominance, human rights activists warned on Monday

Yelena Bonner has addressed an open letter to President Medvedev in defence of the businessman and former dissident Peter Vins. She believes the case to be trumped up and connects it with the fact that Peter Vins established a journalist award named after Andrei Sakharov.

Since the Tverskoy Court’s ruling is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, Memorial intends to lodge an application with the European Court of Human Rights

Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia has taken on new and frightening proportions and can only get worse unless world attention is focused on this totally unacceptable situation now. PLEASE pass this information on to anybody who can raise the issue with political and religious bodies

Dozens have been detained at a meeting in memory of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Barburova, gunned down in the centre of Moscow exactly a year ago

Letter from the parents of slain journalist Anastasia Baburova to those who ordered and organized their daughter’s murder

The draft law proposed introducing a new article of the Criminal Code allowing for imprisonment of between three and five years for distortion of the Nuremberg sentence, as well as for declaring criminal the actions of countries of the anti-Hitler coalition and public praising of the Nazis

Those planning “single-person pickets” may soon be obliged to submit an application to the authorities. Political activists would have to inform the authorities of their plan to hold such a picket no less than one working day before.

On January 19, 2010, a year to the day from the murders of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, we, the organizers of an antifascist march, call on you to join our campaign against neo-Nazi terrorism

A planned meeting in memory of the murdered human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Barburova has been banned by the Moscow Mayor’s Office

The Supreme Court in Tatarstan (Russian Federation) is on 15 January due to hear the cassation appeal brought by Irek Murtazin sentenced on charges which clearly violate the right to freedom of expression

Moscow police have detained a number of anti-government opposition demonstrators following an unsanctioned protest in a downtown square just hours before the New Year

Memorial’s Sergei Kovalev addresses the Parliament after accepting the Sakharov Prize. Strasbourg, 16 December 2009

Please endorse the following appeal against the farcical prosecution of Umida Akhmedova, a photographer and film-maker from Uzbekistan