Volker Türk said the 19-year sentence was based on vague and overly broad charges of “extremism” and followed a closed trial on the premises of the prison where Mr. Navalny is already serving two other sentences amounting to 11 and a half years. He recalled that under international human rights law, States have an obligation
Read MoreMr. Kara-Murza, 41, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and the war in Ukraine, was arbitrarily arrested in Moscow on 11 April 2022. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison a year later on charges of “high treason”, “disseminating false information about the army of the Russian Federation” and participation in an “undesirable organisation”.
Read MoreThe destruction earlier this month of the Soviet-era dam and hydroelectric plant in an area reportedly under Russian control since its invasion in 2022, has caused widespread flooding across southern Ukraine, washing away homes, destroying sanitation and sewage systems and crippling water supplies. In a statement, Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown vowed that the UN would
Read MoreAlice Edwards, who is officially known as the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, said she was “distressed by the deteriorating state of Mr. Navalny’s health and the apparent lack of satisfactory diagnosis and medical treatment”. ‘A form of torture’ In a statement also backed by six of her fellow
Read MoreIf confirmed, the actions would breach the rules of war, and could amount to a war crime. In a briefing on Tuesday in Geneva, OHCHR Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani pointed to audio that emerged on Sunday on several Telegram channels, which urged combatants not to bother taking POWs, or to summarily execute those captured. Take no
Read More“The contents of the warrants are secret to protect the victims,” said ICC President Piotr Hofmański. “Nevertheless, the judges decided to make the existence of the warrants public, in the interest of justice and to prevent future crimes.” The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II also issued a warrant for the arrest of Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s
Read MoreRussia announced earlier that it would agree to a 60-day extension, which is half the number of days agreed when it first expired in November. The UN-brokered deal also endorsed by Türkiye in Istanbul – which includes a Memorandum of Understanding between Russia and the UN to facilitate fertiliser exports – has allowed the exports of 24
Read MoreSpeaking only days since a large majority of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the UN chief stressed that Russia’s decision to go to war against its neighbour on 24 February 2022 had unleashed “widespread death, destruction and displacement”. Also present at the opening
Read MoreMaria Hurtado said in a statement that the judgement was just the latest “in a series of actions against civil society”, journalists, other media and opposition groups and human rights defenders. MHG was founded in 1976 by well-known dissidents and reported on human rights violations in the former Soviet Union (USSR) and later the Russian
Read MoreThe Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement brokered by the UN and Türkiye in July, which was set up to reintroduce vital food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine to the rest of the world, is due to run out in the second half of November, but it can be extended, if all parties, including Russian
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