Excerpts from the Human Rights Ombudsman’s report for 2007.

An excerpt from “Putin: the Reckoning” (2008). The report was written jointly by politician Boris Nemtsov, deputy PM in the late 1990s, and economist Vladimir Milov who left the government in 2002 to head the Moscow Institute of Energy Policy.

Open letter to the first Soviet President.

Zoya Svetova in Ezhednevny Zhurnal on the those who signed and those who didn’t.

Letter to the defence team of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev and other political prisoners.

The leaders of the G8 countries are told how Russian justice is politically coloured.

Statement by Lev Ponomarev, Executive Director of the All-Russia non-governmental movement “For Human Rights”

On May 12, to highlight the 30th anniversary of its founding, the Moscow Helsinki Group held a conference at which a resolution was adopted demanding the release of political prisoners.

Citing the endemic abuse of the rights of various Russian prisoners, including Mikhail Khodorkvosky, a group of human rights activists is calling for the dismissal of Yury Kalinin, the head of the Federal Service for the Implementation of Punishment, and for an investigation into the activities of his department.

Former "prisoners of conscience" send a Mikhail Khodorkovsky their best wishes on the New Year and express their support during this difficult time. "Anyone, who even glanced at the documents in your case understands that the conviction of Khodorkovsky was illegal, unfounded and political," the letter says.

At the request of several Russian parliamentarians, the Prosecutor General's Office investigated the alleged violations of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev's rights while in the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center, but concluded their rights had not been violated.

Prominent members of Russian civil society send an appeal to 18 world leaders asking them to support the recognition of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev and others as political prisoners.

State Duma Deputy Alexei Kondaurov made an official inquiry to the head of Platon Lebedev's penal colony in the Polar Urals to ascertain whether he is receiving proper medical care.

Leading Russian human rights activists urge Russia's human rights commission, Vladimir Lukin, to intervene in the violations against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev concerning their prison locations.

Samara organizations, to wit the Union of Progressive Youth, the Association of Creative Managers and the Samara Remedial Centre, have expressed their indignation at the sentence passed down on Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev.

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