Russia is holding at least 100 people in occupied Crimea with no contact with outside world and no lawyer — and no trials
For the same charges that brought 7–10 years before 2022, courts now hand down 10–20, a Ukrainian rights monitor says.
Browsing Tag
Political prisoners
228 posts
Trump’s State Department refused to recognize Lukashenka in 2020. Today he’s a “friend.”
Trump called Lukashenka his "friend" after the latest prisoner exchange deal. The Belarusian bank financing Russia's shells is back in the dollar system.
The Hermitage archaeologist Ukraine wanted to try is back in Russia—Kyiv calls it a propaganda gift to Moscow
Five for five at the Belarusian-Polish border. As part of a prisoner swap, a Russian defendant was released six weeks before he was due in Kyiv.
Russia keeps arresting Crimeans. The count just hit 520
The number of Crimean political prisoners has more than doubled since the full-scale invasion. A welder, a human rights defender, a father of four: three faces of the political repressions.
Russia hands Crimea’s main detention center to FSB
The transfer reverses a concession Russia made to the Council of Europe in 2005. Detention centers in Crimea are already at 103% capacity.
Belarus uses prisoner release to charm West, not for democratization. Lukashenka stands with Russia anyway, says defense report
Belarus is simultaneously releasing US prisoners and hosting missiles aimed at US allies.
Zelenskyy, Belarusian opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya hold first formal bilateral meeting in Vilnius
Discussed political prisoners, sanctions on Lukashenka, and deepening cooperation
Three Ukrainians freed in Venezuela with support from US and Europe
The Foreign Ministry says they are safe and en route to reunite with families, following international diplomatic coordination.
Nobel laureate, top opposition figures freed as Belarus trades prisoners for US sanctions relief
US lifts potash sanctions after Trump envoy's two-day talks with Lukashenka
67% of Crimea’s repression targets one people: Crimean Tatars. The US peace plan would hand them to Russia
Crimean Tatars survived Stalin's deportation. Now they face Russia's repression.
Russia charges 70-year-old Ukrainian scientist with treason for protecting Antarctic marine life
His "crime" was protecting Antarctic marine life.
Putin gave him 13 years. Europe gave him its highest honor.
He taught English with cigarette packets in Putin's prison. Europe just honored his courage
US lifts sanctions on Belarusian airline in exchange for prisoner releases, wants to “normalize relations”
The move marks a rare diplomatic breakthrough with Russian-allied Belarus, which has long faced Western sanctions over human rights abuses.
Inside occupied Crimea: torture, disappearances, and total suppression of dissent
A Freedom House report sheds light on systematic abuses in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.
Georgia quits PACE over calls for new elections and political prisoner release
Georgia's pro-Russian ruling party announced it is suspending participation in the Assembly.
Putin’s war machine in Ukraine feeds on unpunished Soviet crimes
As Russia revives unpunished Soviet terror tactics, a dissident leader cautions the West: failing to act in Ukraine risks repeating the fatal mistake of appeasement.
Over 1,126 cases filed in Crimea for ‘discrediting’ Russian army: repression deepens
Russian occupation authorities in Crimea have detained 218 people (including 132 Crimean Tatars), escalated militarization with strategic deployments, all amidst an ongoing ecological disaster from a recent oil spill.
15 Russians raped her for false confession – Ukrainian mother gets 18-year sentence after years of torture in secret Russian prison
A Russian kangaroo court against Ukrainians inadvertently revealed the chilling torture practices at the Izolyatsia "death factory” treated as “entertainment” by her captors.
He fought Putin’s prisons for 10 years – then spent 913 days in one
From defending rights to defending Ukraine, rights advocate Maksym Butkevych confronted his harshest test: surviving 913 days in Russian prisons he once fought from the outside.
Germany releases Russian hitman, enabling largest post-Cold War prisoner exchange
Germany's decision to release Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin convicted of a Chechen rebel murder in Berlin, proved crucial and ordered by Putin himself in facilitating a major West-Russia prisoner exchange, initially aimed at freeing Aleksei Navalny, but instead returning other high-profile political prisoners and dissidents in exchange for spies and cybercriminals.