One month ago today, Azerbaijani youth activist Ilkin Rustemzade was arrested on politically motivated hooliganism charges in connection with a Harlem Shake video filmed in Baku. Rustemzade is one of more than 80 political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
A resolution that was adopted on 13 June in Geneva extends the mandate of Miklos Haraszti, a Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in Belarus, for one more year.
A group of Londoners staged a Harlem Shake protest in front of the Azerbaijani Embassy on 13 July to call for the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. The protest was organised by the Art for Democracy campaign, ARTICLE 19, and Index on Censorship.
Two journalists were attacked while covering a street rally in Kiev, and nine more Ukrainian reporters were in danger of losing government accreditation following a protest to support their colleagues.
The Index Award-winning Azerbaijani journalist Idrak Abbasov says he had been threatened by the family of a man who was arrested after an online posting.
Sing for Democracy song competition launched in early February has been successfully completed. Eight songs of a critical nature dedicated to the topics of democracy, human rights, rule of law and social problems were submitted for the contest.
The Human Rights Centre Viasna urges the Belarusian authorities to stop the practice of intimidation and pressurization of civic activists and immediately decriminalize the activity of unregistered organizations.
Leaders of 66 Russian non-governmental organisations signed a letter to President Vladimir Putin in response to his interview with the German TV company ARD.
On 1 April 2013 the new office of the Human Rights Centre Viasna opened its doors in Minsk.
The human rights defenders presented new analytical editions, shared their plans for the future and defined the priorities for their current activities.
Member of the Civic Solidarity Platform, resolutely condemns the harassment and unlawful detention of civil society activists in Khachmaz, a Northern city of Azerbaijan.
