On 1/5 police arrested 22 people at a Moscow protest rally. On 6/5 in the course of police action against the March of Millions in Moscow, at least 600 people, including Aleksei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov, were arrested and dozens injured. During 7/5 – 9/5 police arrested about 500 protestors in Moscow, including Sergei Udaltsov, Aleksei Navalny, Kseniya Sobchack and Dmitry Gudkov. On 9/5 Aleksei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov were given 15-day jail sentences. On 13/5 at least 10,000 people took part in a ‘test walk’ organized by writers in Moscow. During 16/5 -17/5 Moscow police arrested some 50 protesters, including Ilya Yashin. On 19/5 hundreds of protestors joined artists in a protest walk in central Moscow. During 20/5 – 21/5 Moscow police arrested about 120 protestors. On 22/5 police detained Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin and five other protestors outside the State Duma as the Duma passed in first reading a bill to sharply restrict freedom of assembly. On 27/5 about 100 protesters were detained at a Red Square protest rally. On 29/5 – 30/5 Moscow courts sanctioned pre-trial restrictions for three persons charged with violence against police at Bolotnaya Square on 6/5. On 30/5 filmmakers started an online petition for the release of the director Vasily Bogatov, serving 7 days in jail for disobeying police. On 31/5 a Cheboksary court sentenced Other Russia activist Dmitry Karuev to 15 days’ jail for spitting on an image of President Putin during a protest picket. On 31/5 Moscow police detained dozens of protestors, including Eduard Limonov, at a Strategy 31 rally.

Rights of Persons with Disabilities 

On 3/5 President Medvedev ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

LGBT rights

On 1/5, 17 LGBT activists were arrested at a May Day march in St. Petersburg. On 4/5, gay-rights activist Nikolai Alekseev was fined under a St. Petersburg law against "gay propaganda". On 17/5 two LGBT activists were attacked in St. Petersburg as they marked International Day against Homophobia. On 25/5 St Petersburg city court ruled the local law banning LGBT propaganda among minors complied with legislation and other legal norms. On 27/5 about a dozen LGBT rights activists were arrested at a gay pride in Moscow.

Media rights 

On 3/5 three Novaya gazeta journalists in Ryazan were attacked by unidentified persons. On 12/5 Petrozavodsk city court ruled Maksim Efimov, chair of Karelia Youth Human Rights Group, must undergo a psychiatric examination in connection with a blog he wrote. As reported on 14/5, the Investigative Committee in Tver instituted a criminal case against activist Aleksandr Blinov for tweeting about “swindlers and thieves.” On 25/5 rights group Agora said Internet accounts of three of its lawyers had been hacked. On 29/5 radio journalist Sergei Aslanyan was stabbed in Moscow by an unidentified attacker.

North Caucasus

On 4/5 Zukhra Mutaeva said her husband Kamil' Mutaev was abducted in Dagestan on 2/5. A 3/5 bombing in Makhachkala, Dagestan, killed 13 and wounded over 100.

Magnitsky case

On 21/5 Moscow city court dismissed an appeal against the prolongation of the posthumous prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky, who died in pre-trial detention.

Politkovskaya investigation

On 31/5 a Moscow court ruled Dmitry Pavliuchenkov, suspected of organizing the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, should be released from pre-trial detention and kept under house arrest on grounds of ill-health.