In October, Dmitry Muratov, editor of the masterminds behind her killing had not been independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was identified. awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition REPRESSION OF DISSENT of his contribution to freedom of expression in an increasingly repressive media climate. Reprisals against opposition activists and HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS dissenters intensified as the authorities and the ruling United Russia party were Reprisals against human rights defenders confronted by increasingly critical public were widespread and egregious. opinion in the run-up to parliamentary In April, Ivan Pavlov, a human rights lawyer elections. and founder of Team 29, was arbitrarily In February, prominent opposition activist charged with “divulging the results of a Aleksei Navalny was sentenced in a politically preliminary investigation”. He left Russia in motivated trial to 32 months’ imprisonment September and was subsequently placed on for violating the terms of his probation in a “wanted” list. He was also at risk of being relation to an unfounded prosecution in stripped of his lawyer’s licence. In November, 2014. The same month, the ECtHR ordered Ivan Pavlov and four of his colleagues were his immediate release as interim measures designated “foreign agents”. related to his physical safety, but Russia The trial of feminist and LGBTI activist Yulia refused to comply. Aleksei Navalny Tsvetkova, who was accused of complained of inhuman and degrading “disseminating pornography” for sharing treatment, including denial of essential online her body-positive drawings of female healthcare. In June, his movement’s regional bodies, started in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in offices and two NGOs associated with him April and was ongoing at the end of the year. were declared “extremist” and banned by a Prominent human rights defender Ernest court. In September, Russia ignored a call by Mezak faced trumped-up charges of the Council of Europe to release him and contempt of court in June for his critical overturn his convictions. Instead, in October, remarks on social media on the role of judges the authorities announced five new criminal 6 in the prosecution of peaceful protesters. cases against him and his associates. In October, Galina Arapova, lawyer and Other associates and supporters of Aleksei director of the Mass Media Defence Centre Navalny faced persecution across Russia, (placed on the “foreign agents” register in including unfounded criminal and 2015), was designated as an “individual – administrative proceedings. In April, Andrey ‘foreign agent’”. Borovikov, in Arkhangelsk, was sentenced to IMPUNITY over two years’ imprisonment for “disseminating pornography” in relation to a Impunity for crimes committed against videoclip by the German band Rammstein human rights defenders and journalists that he had shared on social media in 2014 persisted. Numerous crimes, past and and long since deleted. In July, Violetta ongoing, remained unsolved with Grudina, in Murmansk, was confined to a investigations unopened or manifestly stalled. hospital for 19 days on a false Сovid-19 In August, the European Court of Human related pretext. This also prevented her from Rights (ECtHR) held that the Russian running as an independent candidate in the authorities had failed to properly investigate local election. Ufa activist Lilia Chanysheva the abduction and murder of Natalia faced 10 years’ imprisonment on Estemirova in 2009, but did not find them “extremism” charges for her role as a directly responsible for the murder. regional coordinator in Aleksei Navalny’s In October, the 15-year statute of limitation organization. in the murder of prominent investigative Other dissenting voices were also repressed. journalist Anna Politkovskaya expired. The In May, Nikolay Platoshkin, leader of the For Amnesty International Report 2021/22 312