Alliance, and 18 more listed as and two other journalists faced searches “undesirable”, including the International under a libel case. Partnership for Human Rights and European Journalist Elena Milashina received thinly Network of Election Monitors. Authorities veiled death threats after her newly published continued penalizing those on the list of investigation into extrajudicial executions and “foreign agents” with heavy fines. torture by the Chechen police. The threats In July, the human rights group Team 29 were not effectively investigated. announced its closure after its website was In August, a BBC Moscow correspondent blocked for alleged publication of materials was barred from Russia indefinitely as “a by a Czech NGO newly designated as threat to national security”. “undesirable”. The group deleted all its In April, four journalists from the student online publications and web archive to magazine DOXA were placed under travel prevent prosecutions. restrictions as criminal suspects, and In August, the election watchdog Golos accused of “involving minors in dangerous became the first entity to be designated as an activities” in relation to a video that called on unregistered “public association – ‘foreign students to brave threats of expulsion for agent’” under the amended legislation, participation in peaceful protests. Their trial followed by five more groups. In December, started in December. the country’s oldest and most influential Dissenting musicians faced cancelled human rights groups, International Memorial concerts. In October, poet and journalist and Human Rights Centre Memorial, were Tatyana Voltskaya’s concert was cancelled ordered to close down, on grounds of their because of her newly imposed “foreign alleged violations of the “foreign agents” agent” status. legislation. The organizations appealed Arbitrary and extrajudicial blocking of against the ruling. websites continued, while the scope of Persecution of the NGO Open Russia as respective related legislation was widened. In “undesirable” continued, including after its July, over 40 websites associated with Aleksei disbanding in May to protect its activists. In Navalny’s anti-corruption and political February, Anastasia Shevchenko received a activities were blocked under the pretext that four-year suspended sentence, reduced to they were used “for prohibited extremist three on appeal in August.5 In May, its former activities”. executive director Andrey Pivovarov was In September, the Moscow Arbitration Court arrested after boarding an international flight, ordered Google and Yandex to delete “Smart for cooperation with an “undesirable Voting” from their search engine results. organization” due to his Facebook posts. His Google and Facebook were repeatedly fined trial started in November. for not removing “prohibited content”. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Journalist Igor Khoroshilov was sentenced twice to 10 days’ administrative detention for Authorities used laws on “foreign agents” and “propaganda of extremist insignia” after “undesirable organizations” to curb the right mentioning “Smart Voting” on Facebook. to freedom of expression and silence In September, the Federal Security Service independent media, journalists and activists. published an extensive list of unclassified Fines were introduced for non-inclusion of topics, ranging from crimes in the army to the mandatory headline-style “foreign delayed space programmes, the monitoring agents” disclaimer in relevant publications. of which would render an individual a Fourteen media outlets and 70 people were “foreign agent”. A veteran human rights designated “foreign agents”, while the NGO, the Soldiers’ Mothers of St Petersburg, investigative Project Media was outlawed as declared in response that it would end its “undesirable”. In June, its founder, Roman work on human rights violations in the army. Badanin, later designated as “foreign agent”, Amnesty International Report 2021/22 311