Human Rights - Institute of Modern Russia

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December 2020: Alexander Shestun, “spy mania,” Yulia Galyamina,

Details: Human Rights

December 2020: Alexander Shestun, “spy mania,” Yulia Galyamina,

Details: 05 January 2021; Diana Fishman

The last month of 2020 showcased some of the worst repressive trends in Russia. Former district official in the Moscow region Alexander Shestun, who gained publicity for releasing records of the region’s governor threatening him, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Similarly long prison terms were given to residents of Kaliningrad, Antonina Zimina and Konstantin Antonets, for alleged treason, and to former Inter-RAO top manager Karina Tsurkan for alleged espionage. The politically motivated prosecution of Moscow municipal deputy Yulia Galyamina, however, resulted in a suspended sentence.

November 2020: Hizb ut-Tahrir, Rosderzhava, FBK, Anna Korovushkina

Details: Human Rights

November 2020: Hizb ut-Tahrir, Rosderzhava, FBK, Anna Korovushkina

Details: 02 December 2020; Diana Fishman

November saw continuous persecutions of members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a religious and political organization banned in Russia. According to Memorial Human Rights Center, a total of 309 people have been persecuted for their association with this organization. In Moscow Region, tensions have grown in the case against Alexander Dorogov, a blogger who was investigating police corruption for the publication Rosderzhava. A new criminal case was opened against Ivan Zhdanov, director of Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). The brutality of the Russian penal system led to the death of pianist Anna Korovushkina.

Human Rights Advocates: Political Repressions in Russia Are Getting Worse

Details: Human Rights

Human Rights Advocates: Political Repressions in Russia Are Getting Worse

Details: 06 November 2020; Institute of Modern Russia

On October 30, Russia’s Day of Political Prisoners, the Sakharov Center, the Memorial Human Rights Center, and the Boris Nemtsov Foundation held a roundtable on politically motivated prosecutions in modern Russia. On the same day, the Memorial Center published an updated list of political prisoners, which currently includes 362 persons—an uptake from last year’s 305. As Memorial notes, the list is by no means exhaustive, as it only reflects the minimal accurate estimate of persecutions that can be substantiated through public data.

October 2020: Yulia Galyamina, Mikhail Iosilevich, Yan Sidorov

Details: Human Rights

October 2020: Yulia Galyamina, Mikhail Iosilevich, Yan Sidorov

Details: 01 November 2020; Diana Fishman

A number of political persecutions in October targeted the non-systemic opposition—a trend that Memorial Human Rights Center links to the Kremlin’s pressure on potential candidates in the 2021 State Duma elections. In Moscow, a trial has begun in the criminal case against municipal deputy Yulia Galyamina. In Nizhny Novgorod, oppositionist Mikhail Iosilevich was charged with collaborating with an “undesirable organization.” Additionally, in the Ulyanovsk region, Yan Sidorov, a defendant in the politically motivated “Rostov case,” was denied parole.

September 2020: Yuri Dmitriev, Irina Slavina, Rashid Maisigov

Details: Human Rights

September 2020: Yuri Dmitriev, Irina Slavina, Rashid Maisigov

Details: 07 October 2020; Diana Fishman

In September, Russia’s political system was particularly cruel toward its people. Karelia’s Supreme Court has increased the prison term for the historian Yuri Dmitriev from 3.5 to 13 years. Ingush journalist Rashid Maisigov, former editor of the opposition newspaper Fortanga, was sentenced to three years in prison on bogus charges. Opposition journalist Irina Slavina set herself on fire in the center of Nizhny Novgorod after months of incessant pressure by the special services.

August 2020: Guilty verdicts in the Novoye Velichiye case, crackdown on the Kushtau protests, shaman Alexander Gabyshev

Details: Human Rights

August 2020: Guilty verdicts in the Novoye Velichiye case, crackdown on the Kushtau protests, shaman Alexander Gabyshev

Details: 02 September 2020; Diana Fishman

As political repressions expanded in July, the Russian authorities’ activities in August may appear less intense. Still, human rights violations continued. In early August, seven people were found guilty of extremism as part of the Novoye Velichiye case. In Bashkiria, environmental protests against mining at Mount Kushtau were brutally suppressed. Yakut shaman Alexander Gabyshev was forcibly placed in a neuropsychiatric dispensary for speaking out against Vladimir Putin.

July 2020: The Case of Yuri Dmitriev, Prosecution of Journalists, Searches of Oppositionists

Details: Human Rights

July 2020: The Case of Yuri Dmitriev, Prosecution of Journalists, Searches of Oppositionists

Details: 03 August 2020; Diana Fishman

A month ago we wrote that June had been the most abundant month so far in terms of cases of political persecution and human rights violations in Russia. We were wrong: the July developments show that repressive policies are only gaining momentum. The pressure on the press has sharply increased, as evidenced by the resonant cases of journalists Svetlana Prokopyeva and Ivan Safronov. In a politically motivated case, human rights activist Yuri Dmitriev was found guilty of violent actions against a minor. And searches were carried out at the homes of Open Russia employees and MediaZona founder Pyotr Verzilov.

June 2020: Seventh Studio on trial, scientists accused of treason, Alexey Pichugin, Jehovah’s Witnesses

Details: Human Rights

June 2020: Seventh Studio on trial, scientists accused of treason, Alexey Pichugin, Jehovah’s Witnesses

Details: 01 July 2020; Diana Fishman

June was the most abundant month so far in terms of cases of political persecution and human rights violations in Russia. On June 26, the verdict was announced in the high-profile case of the Seventh Studio, whose defendants received suspended sentences and heavy fines. The persecution of Russian scientists accused of high treason continued, as well as a large-scale campaign against Jehovah’s Witnesses. Russia’s longest-serving political prisoner Alexey Pichugin was denied pardon for the third time.

May 2020: The Police Ombudsman, Sergei Mokhnatkin, the Novoye Velichiye case

Details: Human Rights

May 2020: The Police Ombudsman, Sergei Mokhnatkin, the Novoye Velichiye case

Details: 02 June 2020; Diana Fishman

The arrest of Vladimir Vorontsov, founder of the Police Ombudsman—a project highlighting violations of the rights of ordinary law-enforcement officials—was a notable human rights development in May. Extended arrests of the defendants of the Novoye Velichiye case was similarly disturbing. In even grimmer new, dissident Sergei Mokhnatkin passed away due to complications caused by beatings in custody.

April 2020: Journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiyev, activist Konstantin Kotov, the BARS case

Details: Human Rights

April 2020: Journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiyev, activist Konstantin Kotov, the BARS case

Details: 05 May 2020; Diana Fishman

April saw the prosecution of several cases related to extremism and terrorism intensify. New charges were brought against a Dagestani journalist, Abdulmumin Gadzhiyev, while four activists of the BARS monarchist movement received guilty verdicts. In a separate case, the prison term of Konstantin Kotov, a participant in the 2019 Moscow protests, was remitted, however human rights activists largely viewed the court’s decision as a mockery of justice.

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