The writer Boris Strugatsky is one of a number of cultural and human rights figures in Russia who, have signed an appeal to the Prosecutor General to “stop the wave of abuse” towards dissident thinkers

The opposition party “Yabloko” is proposing to make justifying the mass repression and murder of millions of innocent victims a criminal offence, as well as denial of the mass repression and destruction of social and national groups

Previously a criminal investigation on charges of “inciting hatred or enmity, as well as denigrating human dignity” was launched in connection with the circulation of Jehovah’s Witness literature

The day before a similar initiative was put forward by the Minister for Emergencies and Co-Chair of the High Council of “United Russia”

On 24 February the St Petersburg City Court allowed a cassation appeal from the Prosecutor against a previous ruling finding the search of “Memorial” in St. Petersburg to have been illegal, and ordering the return of all material

In the past, SOVA did not publicize threats against its staff however, the situation has clearly got out of hand and they hope that publicity will help protect the organization by making the law enforcement agencies prioritize the issue

The leader of the Russian Movement against Illegal Migration, Alexander Belov intends to appeal against a medical expert assessment, carried out by order of the court, which found him mentally fit

Rapporteur on media freedom expresses his deep frustration at the lack of progress in investigating the murder of Anna Politkovskaya in Russia

The jury members considered that the investigators had not proven that the men were implicated in the crime. Nobody has been charged with ordering the murder of the journalist and human rights defender or with carrying out the killing

So where did the EU find an “improvement” in Belarus’ human rights record? A demonstration yesterday, 16 February, to mark Belarusian Solidarity Day was violently broken up by police and riot police in Minsk

Hundreds of people in Moscow attended a march on Sunday in memory of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova, gunned down by a hired killer almost one month ago

On 12 February, the Court in Strasbourg found violations of Article 2 of the European Convention (right to life) and others over the enforced disappearance of five men in different locations in Chechnya between January 2000 and January 2003

Specialists assert that it is extremely easy to intercept correspondence via the Internet, and say that cases where Security Service [KGB] officers look for potential agents on the Internet are not uncommon

The Deputy Director of the Sova Centre which carries out monitoring and research into xenophobia and human rights in Russia has received a letter containing threats

The Investigation Committee for Chechnya believes it has established that former Army Colonel Yury Budanov is implicated in the abduction of three people whose bodies were subsequently discovered in the Urus-Martanovsky District

The Chief Editor of the most outspoken and free radio stations in Russia, Echo Moskvy, Alexei Venedictov found an axe by his door and a video camera directed at his flat

The Court on 5 February found Russia guilty of violations of the European Convention over the torture of two men and the enforced disappearance of another six men in different locations in Chechnya between September 2001 and November 2002

At a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council Konovalov apparently stated that in his opinion the murders of journalists and human rights defenders in Russia were not linked with their activities and should be viewed as normal criminal incidents

In January 2009 at least 39 people suffered racist and neo-Nazi attacks. 14 of them died. The statistics are lower than for January 2008 when at least 59 people fell victim, with 15 of them killed

The death has been announced in Moscow of human rights defender Yefrem Yankelevich who was for many years authorized representative and close associate of Andrei Sakharov