Alexandra Krylenkova
Alexandra Krylenkova is a human rights defender involved in a large variety of initiatives, such as election monitoring, public observation of detention centres, coordination of legal and other support to people detained during protest actions in Russia. Daughter of famous Soviet Union dissidents, Alexandra grew up in the Russian human rights movement. Her PhD thesis focused on history of the resistance and dissident movements in the Soviet Union. She is one of the founders of Open Space that hosts many civil society initiatives in Saint Petersburg.
Alexandra Krylenkova is also a field coordinator at the Crimean Field Mission for Human Rights. The organisation monitors and documents human rights violations on the peninsula and helps activists and people in Crimea connect with human rights defenders from Russia, Ukraine and other countries.
The environment for the work of human rights defenders (HRDs) in the Russian Federation is difficult, especially for those who defend and promote the rights of LGBTI people, ethnic and religious minorities, refugees, as well as activists of the North Caucasus and the unlawfully annexed Crimean Peninsula. HRDs are often subjected to acts of harassment, surveillance, physical attacks, threat, raids and searches on their offices and homes, slander and smear campaigns, judicial harassment, arbitrary detention, and ill-treatment, as well as violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly. There have also been cases where HRDs have been murdered as a result of their work.
