ECHR sided with the Mari

On January 14, the European Court of Human Rights made the decision in the case of journalist and civil activist from Mari El Georgy Pirogov, he was awarded compensation in the amount of 10,500 euros.

Human Rights Groups in Kazan Targeted

Police and tax auditors raided the offices of two human rights organizations in Kazan, the capital city of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, on 20 July 2009. The raids targeted the interregional human rights association AGORA and the Kazan Human Rights Center, disrupting their work.

The authorities confiscated the computer of AGORA’s chief accountant and more than 2,000 documents.

Internet a Last Line of Defense for Non-Russian Rights, Tatar Activist Says

A Tatar activist recently given an 18-month suspended sentence for articles protesting Moscow’s Russification policies, says that the Internet activists may have kept him out of jail and, given the government’s increasing pressure on other media, they are often a last line of defense for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in that country.

Finns Call on Medvedev to End Violations of Rights and Freedoms in Russia

Four leading Finnish non-governmental organizations have called on visiting President Dmitry Medvedev to live up to his promises to protect human rights and civic freedoms and to end the violence against journalists and ethnic minorities in the Russian Federation that are creating a gulf between Moscow and Europe.