Human Rights Watch published this cry for help recently. A new article by their Russia Researcher Damelya Aitkhozhina makes the case. Take a look at this excerpt:

Today, a court in Moscow sentenced Sergei Smirnov, editor-in-chief of the independent “Mediazona” news outlet, to 25 days in detention for “repeated violation” of the public assemblies’ rules.

His offense? Retweeting a humorous tweet about Smirnov’s physical resemblance to the leader of a Russian rock band. The tweet featured a picture of the rock artist, stating he was pro-Navalny, and contained the date and the time of the January 23 protest.

The “repeated” nature of the violation was based on an earlier charge that Smirnov had attended a  peaceful protest held by fellow journalists in support of detained colleagues.

Read the full article here. Also see our section on World Democracy or our articles on Worldwide Corruption.