March 17th, at 11 a.m. Andrey Yurov, a famous human rights defender, Head of the International Observation Mission of the Committee on International Control over the Situation with Human Rights in Belarus was released from custody in the Soviet district police department of Minsk. He spent the whole night there after his detention in a flat in Minsk where Andrey often stays.

The initiator of the project and editor of the new website is Simon Cosgrove, a historian by education and an expert on human rights in Russia, who has worked in the Moscow offices of the European Commission and the MacArthur Foundation, and also for Amnesty International in London.

Sergei Kovalev’s address to the European Parliament after accepting the Sakharov Prize. Strasbourg, 16 December 2009

City officials are seeking to evict two of the most prominent Russian human rights organizations - the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) and the movement For Human Rights - from their offices in central Moscow. Campaign in support of the Moscow Helsinki Group and For Human Rights.

An appeal "Stop the disgraceful farce!", adopted at the Public Hearings "Six years of imprisonment of Khodorkovsky-Lebedev:  a crisis of power, the judicial system, society?", which took place on 23 October 2009 in the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre, was made public on 2 November. It is addressed to the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Russia Viacheslav Lebedev, President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, president of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the RF Yevgeny Semenyako, as well as the President of the RSPP Alexander Shokhin and chairman of «Delovaya Rossiya» Boris Titov.  Several hundred signatures have already been gathered under the appeal, first and foremost those of participants in the public monitoring of the Lebedev – Khodorkovsky trial.  The process of gathering signatures continues.

We are deeply concerned by an opening of a criminal case against Oleg Orlov, head of Human Rights Center "Memorial", recipient of the European Parliament's 2009 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Yelena Ryabinina: On 29 October 2009 the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan (part of the Russian Federation) passed sentence in the case where the 12 defendants were charged with involvement in the banned organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The hearings had lasted 8 months.

On Moscow’s Lubyanka Square throughout the day people are taking part in the annual act of remembrance “Return of the names”. Taking turns, all those who wish to take part in the action near the Solovky Stone on Lubyanka Square (opposite the Security Service, now FSB) between 10.00 and 22.00 read aloud the list of victims of Stalin’s repressions. They read the first and last name, age, profession and date of execution.

Renowned Turkmen Environmentalist, Andrey Zatoka, Sentenced to Five Years in Prison.

"We are writing to express our concern about the October 20, 2009 arrest of Mr. Andrey Zatoka, who is being detained in prison..."

Statement Condemning the Murder of Natalia Estemirova, a Prominent Journalist and a Human Rights Defender. By the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders.

Our friend and colleague was killed today. For almost ten years Natalia was the leading activist of HRC Memorial in the North Caucasus, in Chechnya. She did not only collect information about violations of human rights. She was a true human rights activist standing for common people. Natalia tried to help the victims of bombings, sweep-up operations, tortures. She demanded that authorities did impossible things – stop illegal actions. And she managed to succeed believing in her right cause and rule of law. Her work made Natalia famous throughout Chechnya. People came to her for help hoping that the crimes would at least be given publicity.

Today, on July 15, 2009, at about 8:30 am in Grozny (Chechnya) a member of HRC Memorial Natalia Estemirova was abducted.

A group of Russian human rights defenders have issued a public statement protesting against the arrest in Yekaterinburg of civic activist Alexei Sokolov, involved in defending prisoners’ rights.

"Reporters Without Borders": Moldova. Authorities urged to stop violence against journalists

Local newspaper reporter dies two days after beating, human rights activist attacked outside Moscow home.

The Russian authorities should investigate the violent attack against Lev Ponomarev, a prominent Russian human rights defender, eight international human rights organizations said today.

Ситуация с правами человека в России продолжает ухудшаться. Такой вывод содержится в ежегодном докладе Госдепартамента США, посвященном соблюдению прав человека в мире. В докладе собраны многочисленные факты нарушения прав и свобод в России в 2008 году.

Mmaterials Prepared by Russian NGOs for the Universal Periodic Review of Russia in the United Nations Human Rights Council.