OSF US-RF Foundation Dmitry Buchenkov Ban Bill ECtHR judgment Oleg Novozhenin Natalya Sharina Petr Pavlensky Alleged torture Khaiser Dzhemiliev Detentions, raids | Right of association On 30/11 a district court in Voronezh dismissed an appeal by the Media Rights Defence Centre against designation as a ‘foreign agent’. (Caucasian Knot, 30/11) On 30/11 the Prosecutor General’s Office classified the Open Society Foundations as 'undesirable'. (OSF, 30/11) On 4/12 prosecutors declared the U.S.-Russia Foundation an ‘undesirable’ foreign organization. (RFE/RL, 4/12) Right of assembly On 2/12 Moscow’s Basmanny Disctrict Court remanded in custody Dmitry Buchenkov, a new suspect in the Bolotnaya Square riots case, until 2/2/16. (RAPSI, 4/12) On 4/12 Moscow city government banned an opposition demonstration planned for 12/12. (The Moscow Times, 4/12) European Court of Human Rights On 4/12 the Duma passed a bill allowing Russia to overrule decisions by the ECtHR. (BBC, 4/12) On 4/12 in the case of Roman Zakharov v. Russia concerning secret surveillance of mobile telephone communications, the ECtHR found a violation of Article 8. (HUDOC, 4/12) High profile cases On 1/12 for the first time a Russian court handed out a real prison sentence to a social media user, Oleg Novozhenin, on charges of ‘propaganda of extremism.’ (Global Voices, 1/12) On 3/12 a Moscow court upheld the house arrest until 27/12 imposed on Natalya Sharina, director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 4/12) On 3/12 Moscow City Court upheld the pre-trial detention until 8/12 of Petr Pavlensky, charged with vandalism after his alleged attempt to burn the doors of the FSB HQ. On 4/12 a Moscow district court prolonged Pavlensky’s pre-trial detention until 7/1/16. (RAPSI, 3/12; RFE/RL, 4/12) Ukraine On 1/12 Ukrainian rights activists released a report alleging torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians taken prisoner in Donbas. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 1/12) Khaiser Dzhemiliev, son of Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemiliev, in prison in Astrakhan has for a second time been placed in a punishment cell. (Human Rights in Ukraine, 30/11) Turkey Since 24/11, scores of Turks have been detained by immigration police at construction sites and Turkish factories have been hit by unscheduled tax-police raids. (RFE/RL, 3/12) |