In response to an open letter from Index and a number of media freedom groups, Foreign Secretary William Hague outlines the Coalition Government's policy on freedom of expression and the internet. Thank you for your letter of 1 November about the...
Opposition activist Taisiya Osipova was sentenced to ten years on charges of drug trafficking on Friday. Rights activists allege that her arrest is a political move to silence both her and her husband. Both are members of The Other Russia...
Opposition leader Sergey Udaltsov has spent much of December under arrest and on hunger strike --- but the unity of his supporters grows stronger as his health continues to deteriorate. “The authorities are trying to silence me, but they cannot...
Azerbaijani Facebook activist Jabbar Savalan was released on 26 December after almost 11 months in prison. The teenager was released by presidential pardon along with 91 other political prisoners. Savalan was arrested in early February after...
According to opposition leaders, at least 120,000 people gathered in the centre of Moscow on 24 December to demand new and fair parliamentary elections, and that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin retire. Police report that 29,000 were present...
A leading online tabloid has published opposition leader Boris Nemtsov’s private phone conversations, during which he denigrated other Russian opposition activists. Nemtsov claims his phone was illegally bugged and that the Kremlin is behind the...
Forty Turkish journalists were arrested in raids which targeted suspected members of the "press and propaganda wing" of a banned Kurdish separatist group. The arrests in Istanbul yesterday morning came during continuing investigation into the...
One year on from the crackdown on the opposition in Belarus, Irina Bogdanova, sister of political prisoner Andrei Sannikov, calls for international action against Europe’s last dictatorship
The first meeting of Russia's newly elected State Duma will be held on 21 December. Tens of thousands of Russians protested the parliamentary elections, based on claims that they were unfair. This week protesters will take to the streets again with...
In one of his last public acts, dissident, playwright and president Václav Havel signed this statement calling for free speech in Belarus, along with Ai Weiwei, Sir Tom Stoppard and many more