On 1/3 organizers estimated about 50,000 Muscovites marched in Moscow in honour of Boris Nemtsov, gunned down on 27/2. On 11/3 rights defender Andrei Babushkin said Zaur Dadayev, an associate of Ramzan Kadyrov and one five detained suspects from Chechnya, was most likely forced to confess under duress. On 17/3 the Human Rights Council said the Investigative Committee refused to allow its members to visit the suspects. On 24/3 an improvised memorial at the site of Nemtsov’s murder was vandalized.

Right of assembly 

On 2/3 Ivan Nepomnyashchikh was charged with taking part in a riot and assaulting a police officer at the May 2012 Bolotnaya Square protest. On 3/3 a Moscow City Court handed down jail sentences of up to 15 days to nine people detained during a Moscow march on 1/3 in memory of Boris Nemtsov. On 8/3 police detained at least 3 people for participating in an ‘unauthorized rally’ in St. Petersburg in support of Nadia Savchenko. On 16/3 a court in Tula region dismissed a parole request filed by Bolotnaya Square prisoner Stepan Zimin. On 18/3 the Supreme Court upheld the sentences of Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhaev, convicted of organizing riots, including the Bolotnaya Square protest.

Freedom of conscience 

On 4/3 a court in Krasnodar region denounced a local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses as ‘extremist’, ordered it disbanded and confiscated its property.

Freedom of expression 

On 10/3 a Novosibirsk court cleared head of the State Opera and Ballet Theatre, Boris Mezdrich, and director Timofei Kulyabin, of desecrating Christ’s image in a staging of Wagner’s Tannhauser. On 29/3 culture minister Vladimir Medinsky sacked Boris Mezdrich. On 13/3 civil rights activist Airat Dilmukhametov was sentenced in Ufa, Bashkortostan, to 3 years in prison for ‘public justification of terrorism’. On 13/3 FSB officers in Crimea detained investigative journalist Natalya Kokorina and searched the home of journalist Anna Andriyevska. On 14/3 journalist Ksenia Sobchak left Russia reportedly because of threats to her life. On 25/3 Izvestia reported Roskomnadzor had accused Twitter of violating Russian law by refusing to block access to certain content and disclose personal data. On 30/3 a court convicted Murad Shuaybov and Isa Abdurakhmanov of the 2009 killing of Dagestani journalist Malik Akhmedilov. On 31/3 Crimea’s only independent TV news channel, ATR, was forced to close after authorities refused to renew its licence.

Right of association 

On 3/3 the director of the Perm-36 museum, an NGO, said local officials had taken over the site and removed references to Stalin’s crimes. Three NGOs were fined for failing to register under the ‘foreign agent’ law - For Human Rights on 18/3, and the Sakharov Center and the Regional Press Institute on 23/3. On 26/3 Putin told a meeting of senior FSB officials that Western special services continue to seek to use NGOs to destabilise the internal situation in Russia. On 30/3 police evicted Liudmila Kuzmina, head of Golos in Samara, from her flat and impounded other property in a case of alleged tax-evasion.

Nadia Savchenko 

On 4/3 a Moscow court refused to release Nadia Savchenko, 82 days into a hunger strike. On 5/3 Savchenko said she has agreed to end her hunger strike, but on 16/3 she resumed her hunger strike in protest at her detention.

Liberty and security of person 

On 2/3 a Moscow court rejected Aleksei Navalny's request to attend Boris Nemtsov’s funeral. On 6/3 he was released after serving 15 days for distributing flyers about a march. As reported on 6/3, Aleksandr Kostenko, arrested and remanded in custody on charges relating to events in Kiev, alleged he was tortured. On 13/3 lawyer Ivan Pavlov said the treason charges against Svetlana Davydova for reporting possible troop movements to the Ukrainian Embassy had been dropped.

Dagestan 

On 4/3 Nasur Osmanov, a lawmaker in Derbent, was shot dead outside his house. On 21/3 seven suspected militants were killed in a security operation in Makhachkala.