Dr. Boris Nemtsov, a physicist and former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, was arrested on December 31, 2010, while participating in a peaceful rally in Moscow. A court sentenced him to 15 days in jail for "disobeying police instructions." According to news reports, Nemtsov tried to appeal his sentence as violating his human rights to a fair trial but the court refused to hear ... Continue Reading>>
Russian Physicists Arrested
Drs. Svytoslav Bobyshev and Yevgeny Afanasyev, professors at Baltic State Technical University in St. Petersburg, Russia have been detained since March without a trial at Moscow’s Lefortovo maximum-security prison. The professors have reportedly been accused of spying and passing state secrets to unidentified Chinese citizens. The accusations stem from a cooperative relationship ... Continue Reading>>
Igor Sutyagin Released
We welcomed the release of Dr. Igor Sutyagin, the Russian academic, who served more than a decade in prison in Siberia on espionage charges that we protested starting in 2001 as unfounded. Sutyagin was an arms control researcher for a British company to which he provided published and openly available information. ... Continue Reading>>
Russian human rights activist in hiding
Journalist and human rights activist Alexandr Podrabinek has gone into hiding because of death threats after publishing an article about the current Government’s defense of the former Soviet Union’s crimes against the Russian people. His wife, Alla Podrabinek, has alleged that the entire family was the target of a campaign of intimidation “either on the direct orders of the Russian authorities or ... Continue Reading>>
Irina Brailovsky
Mathematician Irina Brailovsky's story typifies those of hundreds of Jewish scientists, engineers and physicians who applied to emigrate from the USSR in the 1970s and 1980s. In retaliation, they were dismissed (or demoted) from professional employment and were shut out from mainstream Soviet science. She, her husband Victor, a computer science expert, and family were first refused exit in ... Continue Reading>>
Yuri Orlov
The internationally distinguished high energy physicist Yuri Orlov held top research and honorary posts in the Soviet scientific world until authorities took note of his growing leadership role in the human rights movement.In retaliation for founding the Moscow chapter of Amnesty International in 1973, Orlov was dismissed from his post at Moscow's Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism. Undaunted, in ... Continue Reading>>