On March 18, 2017, an official rally on the anniversary of the annexation of the Crimea took place in front of the main building of Moscow State University. For this event in Moscow and similar rallies in other cities, students, teachers and university personnel were ordered to come with posters with such slogans like “Putin is the savior of… Read More »
On March 21, the British investor Bill Browder, a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reported that Nikolai Gorokhov, who currently represents the Magnitsky family, was “thrown from the top floor of his apartment building.” Gorokhov was hospitalized with severe head injuries at Moscow’s Botkin Hospital. The Russian official version was that Gorokhov was allegedly injured while… Read More »
In my recent article on torture, I mentioned the case of Nikita Belykh, the politically active ex-governor of Kirov Region, who was arrested on a questionable charge in June 2016. On March 17, 2017, Nikita Belykh was indicted on a new bribery charge in a Moscow court. In response, Belykh firmly stated that he “has never taken bribes and has no… Read More »
On March 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed two more laws restricting human rights. The first was the law banning “undesirable” foreign and international NGOs from creating legal entities in Russia and Russians from participating in them. The draft law was submitted to the State Duma (lower house of the Russian Parliament) by the government on October 10, 2016. The… Read More »