Tag: Russia

This report is based on data, video and photo materials from eyewitnesses, activists, human rights defenders, peaceful protesters from more than 60 cities and villages in Kazakhstan, where protests were held. It also contains references to statements of the US, the EEAS, international organisations such as the UN, the OSCE, media outlets. In order to ensure safety of eyewitnesses, their names are not mentioned. Co-authors of this report, Raigul Sadyrbayeva and Aiya Sadvakasova, have been arrested under politically motivated criminal cases for their human rights activities. The authors of this report express their gratitude for all informants and volunteers, who contributed to this report despite risking their lives and freedom. The authors of the report extend their condolences to families, relatives and friends of those who lost their lives during these mass repressions. We strongly believe that the truth must be unravelled and perpetrators must be held accountable.

On 3 September 2021, within the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin and head of the Russian SBER group of companies (SBER) German Gref [German Gref, the head of SBER, has been close to Putin since his work in St-Petersburg. Gref was mentioned in the Pandora papers scandal with his offshores in Singapore, Panama and Samoa] signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on Digital Transformation Projects for the Republic of Kazakhstan, Transition to the Platform-Based Digitalisation Model and the Data Driven Government Concept. The Memorandum was approved by the Decree of the Government of Kazakhstan on the same day. Pursuant to the Memorandum, SBER will create, implement and support a single centralised digital platform (GovTech) for all electronic state services in Kazakhstan to replace Kazakhstan’s existing e-government platforms (united by the website – https://egov.kz/cms/en). As of today, over 80% of state services are available on egov.kz. 

The Open Dialogue Foundation, the Italian Federation for Human Rights and Freedom Kazakhstan Foundation invite you to attend the online event “Authoritarian countermeasures to targeted sanctions: China’s and other autocratic responses”. On Monday, 21 June 2021, our distinguished guests will gather to discuss Russia’s and China’s countermeasures in response to the EU’s first designations under the new EU Global […]

Upon the initiative of the Italian Senator Roberto Rampi
the Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU) and the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF)
invite you to the press conference “The Authoritarian Epidemic: Safeguarding Human Rights in Times of COVID-19”.

The case of Daria El Zhed, a Russian opposition activist, has become one more example of political persecution against members and leaders of the Open Russia opposition movement. This movement was founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a long-time opponent of the Russian authoritarian regime. Daria El Zhed asked for political asylum in Austria. Now she may have to face extradition from Austria to Russia, where she will be tortured and subject to unfair investigation and trial.

In response to the arrival of (inappropriate) medical supplies from Moscow to the Pratica di Mare military airport, Italy, as well as of military means and high-ranking officers affiliated to the Russian Ministry of Defence to cope with the #COVID19 pandemic (March 22, 2020), ODF, together with other fifteen non-governmental organisations, promoted a letter of appeal addressed to Italy’s PM Giuseppe Conte.

Statement on the COVID-19 in closed prisons in the occupied Crimea and Donbas which is under Russia’s effective control. An immediate response from international organizations is required.

On the 20th February 2020, on the occasion of the 19th Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, together with the members of the Dutch Delegation, Farah Karimi and Boris Dittrich, we had the pleasure of hosting the side-event “New and Old Ways of Suppressing Dissent in the OSCE Area: Protecting Political Refugees from Legal and Technological Abuse”.

The 2020 Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), held on 27-31 January 2020 in Strasbourg, was dominated by two topics: the returning of voting rights to Russia (which ODF strongly campaigned against), which was suspended following its annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine, and the worsening situation in regard to the rule of law in Poland.

Between Monday 16 and Friday 27 September 2019, representatives of the Open Dialogue Foundation Xheni Dani, Joanna Cuper and Maksym Sytnikov participated in the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting held in Warsaw. Our representatives delivered several statements in which they raised is

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is “slightly” skirting the truth. This refers to the high-profile case of how PiS supported Russia’s reinstatement in the CoE and then protested against it. Senator A. Pociej, who knows the background to the case, reveals what it looked like in practice.

The third seminar of the Commission “Truth, Justice and Reconciliation between Russia and Ukraine, in association with the European Union”, which took place from June 2 to 5, 2019, in the city of Caen, brought together researchers and representatives of civil society from Ukraine, Russia and EU.

On 10 June 2019, the portal Grani.ru published an article on the seminar of the Commission “Truth, justice and reconciliation between Russia, Ukraine and the EU”, which took place at the beginning of the month in the French city of Caen in Normandy.

The participants of the third seminar “Truth, justice and reconciliation between Russia, Ukraine and the EU”, which took place on June 2-5 in Caen, Normandy, issued a declaration calling on Russia to immediately stop the war with Ukraine and release all political prisoners.

We, the Ukrainian human rights and civil society organizations, have been protecting Ukrainian citizens illegally detained in Russia and the occupied Ukrainian territories of Crimea and Donbas for the past six years.