Evidence of how prison officers cooperate with inmates to effect torture and humiliation inside Karelia’s prison system continues to emerge.

Armenia’s female activists are reclaiming space in public life. Can the wives, sisters and muses of protesters ever be seen as protesters themselves? հայերեն  

A recent scandal over female genital mutilation reveals how, for Russia’s Muslims, “universal values” are just another instrument of a repressive regime. Русский

What do two Moscow parks and a truck drivers’ trade union have in common? They have been the focus of protests that have shown that the Russian public may be losing its traditional passivity.

In the two years since Ukraine’s Maidan protests, Ukrainian society has become increasingly politically active — with unintended consequences. Русский, Українською

Twenty five years after the separatist wars that shook Georgia, 265,000 displaced people still struggle to make ends meet — and their voices heard. 

Creating the appearance of stability is the Russian political elite’s primary goal. Yet colonial-like rule over the country’s regions, combined with a lack of civic activity, harms the Kremlin’s legitimacy on the ground. Русский

Farm workers in the depths of southern Russia are hardly a protest constituency, but corruption and corporate raids have pushed them to the brink. They may even take their grievances to Moscow — by tractor. Русский

The sentence against Nadiya Savchenko is absurd. Where do we go from here? Русский

Tajikistan’s government doesn’t hesitate to go after its critics abroad. Intimidation, beatings and murder — this is Central Asia’s authoritarianism without borders.

Protests have broken out in Azerbaijan against rising prices and falling living standards. Will the regime respond with anything but brute force?

Из-за теорий заговора люди становятся покорными, а правители перестают чего-либо бояться. В Азербайджане всех диссидентов считают агентами скрытого «армянского лобби». English

The Russian state wants payback for the mass protests of 2012. But the arrest of another political activist in Russia has attracted the attention of neither the west, nor the European left. Русский

The first sentences under a new law limiting freedom of association in Russia are coming into effect. Their target? ‘Malicious picket-holders’. Русский

Despite claims of impartiality, judges in Central Asia often incorporate neoliberal economic and moral values into their judgements on illegal settlements.

Who receives refugee status or temporary asylum in Russia – and how.