On 1 August 2024, the Supreme Court of Russia upheld a 13-years and 9-months imprisonment sentence against human rights defender and lawyer Bakhrom Khamroev. The court session took place with Bakhrom Khamroev participating remotely via videoconference from Vladimir Region Maximum Security Prison (Vladimirskiy Central Prison) in the Vladimir Region of Russia. In February 2024, it was reported that Bakhrom Khamroev faced harassment and physical violence in prison.
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On 25 September 2021, woman human rights defender Valentina Chupik was barred from returning to Russia, where she has resided with refugee status since 2006. Upon her arrival from Yerevan, Armenia, the Russian border patrol officers informed Valentina Chupik that she had violated border crossing regulations and informed her that Russian authorities had denied her refugee status which came into effect immediately.
On 31 January 2021, six human rights defenders and members of the Committee Against Torture, Timur Rahmatulin, Konstantin Gusev, Magomed Alamov, Sergey Shunin, Ekaterina Vanslova and Igor Kalyapin were detained while monitoring the protests in support of Alexei Navalny in Nizhny Novgorod, Orenburg and Pyatigorsk. On 23 January, another member of the Committee Against Torture, Evgeniy Chilikov was detained.
On 29 December 2021, the Moscow City Court ordered the Human Rights Center “Memorial” (HRC “Memorial”) to be closed. The day before, on 28 December 2021, Russia's Supreme Court ruled to liquidate the International Historical and Human Rights Society ‘Memorial’ (International Memorial) and all its branches. Both Courts cited that the organisations “repeatedly violated the “foreign agents” law” and thus need to be permanently shut down. Human Rights Center “Memorial” and International Memorial will appeal this decision.
On 8 July 2024, Leninsky District Court in the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia, placed human rights defender Aleksei Sokolov under pre-trial detention until 1 September 2024. The human rights defender is being accused of “repeated demonstration of extremist symbols”, a criminal offence envisioned by part 1 of Article 282.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Particularly, he is being targeted for posting links to Facebook on his Telegram channel; in 2022, the Russian Federation listed Meta, including Facebook and Instagram, as an extremist organization.
On 17 June 2024, the Drogomilov District Court of Moscow, Russia, arrested human rights defenders and journalists Roman Anin and Ekaterina Fomina in absentia. Their arrest was prompted by the charges in the alleged crime of spreading so-called “fake information” about the actions of Russian military personnel in Ukraine. The Court has issued an arrest warrant for both human rights defenders.
On 17 June 2024, the Drogomilov District Court of Moscow, Russia, arrested human rights defenders and journalists Roman Anin and Ekaterina Fomina in absentia. Their arrest was prompted by the charges in the alleged crime of spreading so-called “fake information” about the actions of Russian military personnel in Ukraine. The Court has issued an arrest warrant for both human rights defenders.
On 1 August 2024, prominent human rights defender and council member of Human Rights Center “Memorial” (HRC “Memorial”) Oleg Orlov was released from the Pre-Trial Detention Center #1 in Samara, Russian Federation as part of a significant prisoner exchange with Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and the US.
On 1 August 2024, Bronislav Danylovych, the father of imprisonment woman human rights defender and journalist Iryna Danylovych, passed away at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer. Bronislav Danylovych was a main force in advocating for his daughter’s release and was dedicated to the cause of human rights.
On 18 July 2024, the Fourth Court of Cassation of general jurisdiction in Krasnodar, Russia, annulled a fine given to woman human rights defender and journalist Lutfiya Zudiyeva for the so-called “abuse of freedom of mass information.” The Court agreed with the woman human rights defender’s argument that law enforcement officials had no right to accuse her of such allegations, as the responsibility of making such accusations lies with the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).
On 1 August 2024, a woman human rights defender, journalist and the editor of the Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Liberty Alsu Kurmasheva was released from detention as part of a significant prisoner exchange between Russia and Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and the US.
On 17 April 2024, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, confirmed that woman human rights defender and journalist Victoria Roshchyna is detained and located in the Russian territory.
Ukrainian woman human rights defender and journalist Victoria Roshchyna was forcibly disappeared in August 2023 when she travelled through Russia to the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine to conduct a journalistic investigation into the civilian population of these regions suffering from the war.
On 12 September 2023, the Supreme Court rejected a cassation complaint on the judgement against the investigative journalist Bolot Temirov. Earlier on 23 November 2022, the Bishkek City Court found Bolot Temirov guilty of document fraud and ruled to expel the journalist from the country and to deport him to Russia. The decision of the Bishkek City Court therefore remains in force.
On 17 June 2024, the Drogomilov District Court of Moscow, Russia, arrested human rights defenders and journalists Roman Anin and Ekaterina Fomina in absentia. Their arrest was prompted by the charges in the alleged crime of spreading so-called “fake information” about the actions of Russian military personnel in Ukraine. The Court has issued an arrest warrant for both human rights defenders.
On 19 June 2023, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation declared the international human rights group Agora and its Bulgaria-based legal entity the Law Sofia Foundation as “undesirable organisations.” Under Russia’s existing law on “undesirable organisations,” the Prosecutor’s office can ban any foreign organisation that it considers as undermining Russia’s security or constitutional order.
On 4 May 2023, representatives of the General Administration for Combating Extremism (Center ‘E’) in the city of Krasnodar raided the office of Crew against Torture in Krasnodar, in southern Russia. After the raid, law enforcement brought human rights defender and lawyer, Ilya Platonov, who was present at the office during the raid, in for questioning as a witness; he was let go later the same day. This is the third raid on Crew against Torture’s regional offices since 14 April 2023.
On 25 March 2021, migrant rights defender Izzat Amon was abducted in Moscow and forcibly transferred to Tajikistan. The human rights defender’s whereabouts were unknown for two days before the Tajikistan Ministry of Interior reported that he was being held in pre-trial detention in Tajikistan and facing charges of fraud, in connection to his human rights work in Russia.