Russia has consistently been criticized by international organizations and independent domestic media outlets for human rights violations. Some of the most commonly cited violations include deaths in custody, the systemic and widespread use of torture by security forces and prison guards, the existence of hazing rituals within the Russian Army—referred to as dedovshchina —as well as prevalent breaches of children's rights, instances of violence and prejudice against ethnic minorities, and the targeted killings of journalists.
Ilya Valeryevich Yashin is a Russian opposition politician who led the People's Freedom Party (PARNAS) from 2012 to 2016, and then its Moscow branch. He was also head of the Moscow municipal district of Krasnoselsky and former chairman of the Council of Deputies of the Krasnoselsky district from 2017 to 2021.
Freedom of assembly in Russia is granted by Article 31 of the Constitution adopted in 1993, where it states that citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to gather peacefully, without weapons, and to hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets. In practice, the right to freedom of assembly is restricted by Russian authorities. According to a Russian law introduced in 2014, a fine or detention of up to 15 days may be given for holding a demonstration without the permission of authorities and prison sentences of up to five years may be given for three breaches. Single-person pickets have resulted in fines and a three-year prison sentence.
Andrei Olegovich Sannikov is a Belarusian politician and activist. In the early 1990s, he headed the Belarusian delegation on Nuclear and Conventional Weapons Armament Negotiations, also serving as a Belarusian diplomat to Switzerland. From 1995 to 1996, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, resigning as a form of political protest. He co-founded the civil action Charter 97, and was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize in 2005.
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny was a Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in 2011. He was recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.
Azimzhan Askarov was a Kyrgyzstani political activist who founded the group Vozduh in 2002 to investigate police brutality. Of ethnic Uzbek descent, during the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes, which primarily targeted people of the Uzbek nationality, Askarov worked to document the violence.
Sergei Stanislavovich Udaltsov is a Russian left-wing political activist. He is the unofficial leader of the Vanguard of Red Youth (AKM). In 2011 and 2012, he helped lead a series of protests against Vladimir Putin. In 2014 he was sentenced to 4¹⁄₂ years in a penal camp for organizing the May 2012 protest which ended in violence between the police and demonstrators.
Maria "Masha" Vladimirovna Alyokhina is a Russian political activist. She is a member of the anti-Putinist punk rock group Pussy Riot.
The Bolotnaya Square case is a criminal case by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on account of alleged mass riots and alleged violence against the police during the "March of the Millions" on May 6, 2012 on the Bolotnaya Square in Moscow. The demonstration was one of the biggest protests in Russia since the 1990s. By the number of accused, 37 persons, it is currently the largest criminal case against participants of public demonstrations in modern Russia.
Opposition to the government of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, commonly referred to as the Russian opposition, can be divided between the parliamentary opposition parties in the State Duma and the various non-systemic opposition organizations. While the former are largely viewed as being more or less loyal to the government and Putin, the latter oppose the government and are mostly unrepresented in government bodies. According to Russian NGO Levada Center, about 15% of the Russian population disapproved of Putin in the beginning of 2023.
On 18 September 2013, Greenpeace activists attempted to scale the Prirazlomnaya drilling platform, as part of a protest against Arctic oil production.
Ahmed Douma is an Egyptian activist and blogger, who has been arrested under each consecutive Egyptian government in recent years. He is a member of the Egyptian Popular Current. Having been in prison since 2013, he was released on 19 August 2023 following a presidential pardon.
Oleh Hennadiiovych Sentsov is a Ukrainian filmmaker, writer, activist and soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Crimea. Sentsov has directed the feature films Gamer (2011), Numbers, and Rhino (2021).
Open Russia is a political organisation founded by the exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky with the shareholders of his firm, Yukos. Khodorkovsky states that his organisation advocates democracy and human rights. The first initiative took the form of a foundation whose stated purpose was to "build and strengthen civil society in Russia", established in 2001. Khodorkovsky relaunched Open Russia in September 2014 as a nationwide community platform as part of a group of activities called "Open Media".
Yaroslav Gennadievich Belousov is a Russian political-science student who was a participant in the May 6, 2012, Bolotnaya Square protest against President Vladimir Putin and who has been imprisoned since June 9, 2012, as a result of his participation in the protest.
Vyacheslav Vyacheslavovich Maltsev is a Russian politician, three-time member of the Saratov regional Duma. He is an active blogger, the author and host of the Russian language news program 'Bad News' on a YouTube channel Artpodgotovka.
Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky, also transliterated as Syarhey Leanidavich Tsikhanouski, is a Belarusian YouTuber, video blogger, dissident and pro-democracy activist. He is considered by Amnesty International to be a prisoner of conscience. He is known primarily for his activism against the government of Belarus's long-serving president, Alexander Lukashenko. In May 2020, he announced his intention of running for the 2020 presidential election, but he was arrested two days after the announcement, and his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya then ran in place of him as the main rival to Lukashenko in the contested election.
Protests in Russia began on 23 January 2021 in support of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny after he was immediately detained upon returning to Russia after being sent to Germany for treatment following his poisoning the previous year. Days before protests began, a film by Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) called Putin's Palace, which revolves around the connection between president Vladimir Putin and a palace allegedly being built for him, was released.
Aleksandra Yuryevna Skochilenko, also known as Sasha Skochilenko, is a Russian artist, musician, poet, and former political prisoner.
On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Articles 31 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is a group of federal laws promulgated by the Russian government during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These laws establish administrative and criminal punishments for "discrediting" or dissemination of "unreliable information" about the Russian Armed Forces, other Russian state bodies and their operations, and the activity of volunteers aiding the Russian Armed Forces, and for calls to impose sanctions against Russia, Russian organizations and citizens. These laws are an extension of Russian fake news laws and are sometimes referred to as the fakes laws.
