Choose from our shortlist of 12 despots and vote on who you think has done most to crack down on freedom of expression this year
Who is 2022’s Tyrant of the Year?
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CATEGORY: Europe and Central Asia
Tyrant of the year 2022: Vladimir Putin, Russia
Vladmir Vladimirovich Putin is the tyrant’s tyrant in more ways than one. Over the two decades he has dominated Russian politics as president and prime minister, he has set a new standard in the brutal oppression of opponents at home and abroad....
Tyrant of the year 2022: Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarus
“You can usually tell the quality of a tyrant’s credentials by the number of people he has thrown in jail on spurious grounds and Europe’s last dictator, Alyanksandr Lukashenka, is no exception,” says Index associate editor Mark Frary. Lukashenka...
New legal opinion on the Online Safety Bill
Index on Censorship has commissioned a legal opinion by Matthew Ryder KC and finds that the powers conceived would not be lawful under our common law and the existing human rights legal framework
Letter to Justice Secretary: Adoption of a UK Anti-SLAPP Law
Editors, journalists, lawyers and academics write to Dominic Raab to express support for the Model UK Anti-SLAPP Law launched by the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition
Journalists will struggle to speak truth to power if the power isn’t showing up
Rishi Sunak’s decision to end the traditional morning media round is a mistake, says our CEO Ruth Anderson
Italy: a call in support of Roberto Saviano
The Italian writer is facing a lawsuit for aggravated defamation initiated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni
“The Online Safety Bill will fundamentally undermine rights to freedom of expression”
Index and other organisations ask UN Special Rapporteurs to intervene on proposed UK legislation
Roberto Saviano: Italian democracy on trial
The Gomorrah author heads to court tomorrow in a case that illuminates the precarious state of media freedom in Italy
Letter to Suella Braverman on policing of Just Stop Oil protests
Index joins other organistions in writing to the Home Secretary to say the arrest of journalists threatens press freedom in the UK