Torture / Prisons / Detention
On 7/1 Ruslan Saifutdinov, convicted of fighting for Islamic State in Syria, died in prison days before he was due to be released. (The Moscow Times, 9/1; Caucasian Knot, 10/1)

On 8/1 Ildar Dadin, serving a 2 1/2-year sentence for participating in illegal demonstrations, was located after not being heard from for more than one month. (RFE/RL, 8/1)

On 10/1 independent experts asserted Firuddin Ragimov was tortured in detention by electric shocks. (Caucasian Knot, 10/1)

On 10/1 a court extended pretrial house arrest of ex-economic development minister Aleksei Ulyukayev. (RFE/RL, 10/1)

On 12/1 the Federal Prison Service reported Russia’s prison population as of 1/1 was 630,155. (The Moscow Times, 12/1)

Freedom of Expression
On 9/1 the trial began in St. Petersburg of yoga teacher Dmitry Ugay on charges of illegal missionary activity. (RFE/RL, 10/1)

On 9/1 Caucasian Knot said it would take legal action after Chechen Parliament Speaker Magomed Daudov threatened editor Grigory Shvedov on Instagram. (The Moscow Times, 9/1)

On 10/1 five men assaulted Caucasian Knot correspondent Vladislav Ryazantsev in Rostov-on-Don. (Caucasian Knot, 10/1)

On 11/1 2015 Nobel Prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich said she has quit the Russian PEN Centre in protest at the expulsion of journalist and activist Sergei Parkhomenko. (RFE/RL, 11/1)

On 13/1 Interfax reported the Russian government has blocked 1,200 websites since 2014 and almost 20,000 sites had been forced to delete banned information. (The Moscow Times, 12/1)

Right of association
On 13/1 the Levada Centre filed an application with the ECtHR over declaring it a “foreign agent”. (RAPSI, 13/1)

Women’s rights
On 11/1 Yaroslavl region banned abortions for one day on the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church diocese. (BBC, 11/1)

On 11/1 the State Duma approved in a first reading a bill that would decriminalize assault in the family home. (RFE/RL, 11/1)

Elections
On 11/1 the ECtHR accepted the complaint of lawyer Igor Trunov against the refusal to admit him to State Duma elections. (Caucasian Knot, 11/1)

North Caucasus
On 11/1 dozens of suspected militants were reported detained and 4 killed in a security operation in Chechnya. (RFE/RL, 12/1)