7 February 2017

Source: HRO.org

The international human rights group Agora has registered more than 116,000 cases of restrictions on freedom of the internet in Russia in 2016. This is almost eight times more than last year.

This is detailed in Agora’s annual report, published on 7 February, reports Radio Svoboda.

In particular, according to the organisation, the number of cases of administrative pressure has increased more than 10 times (up to 53,000), the number of cases of a court ban on information threefold, and the restriction on access to the internet more than 20 times (up to 35 thousand in 2016).

As Damir Gainutdinov, Agora’s representative, has noted, objectively there have been more cases of criminal proceedings brought in relation to internet activity. The number of known cases in which individuals were sentenced to deprivation of liberty has risen from 18 to 29. Three internet users were sentenced to forced medical treatment.

According to the human rights defenders, in Russia just 13.5 million individuals enjoy relative freedom of the internet, while 82 million Russians live in regions where there are serious restrictions on internet use.

In comparison to 2015 the situation regarding freedom of the internet has significantly worsened in 18 Russian regions, and has improved in just one.