The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), condemns the arbitrary arrest of at least 100 protesters, including Mr. Oleg Orlov, at a peaceful demonstration in Moscow.

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the repeated assaults committed against Mr. Alexei Sokolov, Head of the organisation “Pravovaja osnova” (Legal Basis), which struggles against torture and ill-treatment of people in detention.

Ms. Anastasia Denisova, President of ETHnICS, a Krasnodar-based youth group promoting tolerance, and also a member of the Krasnodar section of the Memorial Human Rights Centre was searched during more than three hours by police officers from the Krasnodar Crimes Department.

After the 2009 European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was awarded on December 16 to the Human Rights Centre “Memorial” as well as to Mr. Oleg Orlov, Mr. Sergei Kovalev and Ms. Lyudmila Alexeyeva.

On December 16, a vehicle carrying Fatima Dzhaniyeva, the 27 year old pregnant widow of the late activist, Maksharip Aushev, who was assassinated in October, her 51 year old mother and two brothers, exploded near a police checkpoint in Nazran.

Chairwoman of the EP Subcommittee on Human Rights Heidi Hautala, congratulates the winners of the 2009 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Oleg Orlov, Sergei Kovalev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva who received the prize on behalf of the Memorial organisation.

Officials from the Russian Interior Ministry’s notorious Center for Extremism Prevention (Center “E”) stormed two apartments owned by members of the banned National Bolshevik Party in Moscow on Wednesday.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed about the deaths in unclear circumstances of Mr. Aselder Sayputdinov (born on 31.01.1984), Mr. Akhmed Magomedov (born on 12.01.1979) and Mr. Abdulla Pakhrutdinov (born on 29.10.1973), all from Makhachkala city.

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing arbitrary detention of Mr. Aleksei Sokolov, Head of the organisation “Pravovaia Osnova” (Legal Basis). Mr. Sokolov has been illegally detained since November 7, 2009

Ibrahim Zautdinovich Mankiev, a 32-year-old Russian man of Ingush ethnicity, has been detained incommunicado in Egypt since 10 November. He is believed to be held by State Security Investigations (SSI) officers in the northern coastal city of Alexandria.

OMCT has been informed about the torture and other ill-treatment of Mr. Konstantin Makarov (aged 26) and Mr. Sergey Ezhov (aged 25), both members of The National Bolshevik Party (NBP), while in detention. M. Makarov was also reportedly threatened with death.

According to members of a non-governmental local Chechen organization which engages in human rights activities, on October 31, a few armed men came to house of Zarema Gaysanova in Darvin Street number 7, in Leninsky district of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.

Russian and foreign human rights defenders and civic activists strongly condemn the insolent cynical murder of a famous public figure, former owner of website Ingushetia.org, Maksharip Aushev. Aushev spoke publically against grave human rights violations in the North Caucasus.

On 31.10.09 at around noon, Konstantin Makarov, a member of Limonov's party of nazbols, was subjected to kidnapping. It happened in close vicinity to the apartment building where he lives in Voronezh. Two police officers dressed in civilian clothes were waiting for Makarov at the house.

Prison guards in Russia’s Leningrad region are suspected of the brutal torture and rape of inmates in prison colonies under their supervision. On 17 February 2009, a criminal case was brought against senior officials of the prison administration of St Petersburg and Leningrad region.

Mr. Aushev was a popular opposition figure in Ingushetia and had worked to publicize human rights abuses and to organize rallies against Ingushetia's unpopular former president, Murat Zyazikov.

European Parliament resolution of 17 September 2009 on the murder of human rights activists in Russia. The European Parliament, having regard to its previous resolutions on Russia, and in particular to those of 25 October 2006 on the murder of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Prosecutors in Abakan, the capital of the Republic of Khakassia in southern Siberia, should drop their defamation charges against online editor Mikhail Afanasyev, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) issued the following statements today upon learning of the killings of four people in three days in Russia’s North Caucasus region.

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the slaying in Dagestan today of Abdulmalik Akhmedilov, an editor known for his critical commentary, and urges Russian authorities to thoroughly probe journalism as the motive.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has been informed about the murder of Mrs. Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, respectively Head of the office and member of the NGO “Save the Generation” (“Spasem pokolenye”) in Grozny, Chechnya.

The bodies of Zarema Sadulaeva, leader of the Chechen NGO “Save the Generation”, and her husband were found near Grozny this morning. The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) strongly condemns these crimes and calls for the immediate investigation into this latest bloody act against Chechen civil society.

Estonia again refused entry to Vladimir Linderman, leader of Latvia’s National-Bolsheviks, and deported him to Finland. Telegraf reported that Mr Linderman was on his way from Finland back to Latvia.

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed, that the whereabouts of Ms. Tatyana Kharlamova, a Russian national born in 1989, arrested on 30 May 2009 along with Mr. Igor Schuka, a Belarus national born in 1987, remain unknown, raising fears for her safety.

Human rights defender, Mr. Albert Pchelintsev, was shot in the mouth with a stun gun in the Moscow suburb of Khimki on 25 July 2009. Albert Pchelinstev is the chairman of "Against Corruption, Lies and Dishonour", an organisation that works to expose corrupt practices in the local administration of Khimki.

Kasparov.Ru web page has been informed about the assault against Albert Pchelintsev, the chair of the "Against Corruption, Lies and Dishonour" public HR organization located in the town of Khimki in Moscow Region.