Human Rights Watch

Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz announced charges against an army colonel and eight soldiers for the deaths of 6 protesters on October 4. The killings occurred when protesters blocked a highway in Totonicapán to protest a number of changes promoted by the government.

The Turkmen government imposes draconian restrictions on freedom of expression, say Human Rights Watch, Freedom Now and the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights.

Serbia’s ban on the Belgrade Pride Parade, based on a premise of security risks, violates freedom of expression and assembly rights, says Human Rights Watch.

Six medics jailed after court upholds prison sentences against nine medical personnel for their support of pro-democracy street protests and medical care provided to demonstrators in early 2011.

The lengthy prison sentence handed to opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov highlights a free speech crackdown in Kazakhstan, says Human Rights Watch.

Threats made against Human Rights Watch’s senior Russia researcher Tanya Lokshina included details about her pregnancy and her unlisted home address.

Saeed Mortazavi has been charged with involvement in the deaths, torture, and arbitrary detention of dozens of protesters following the 2009 Iranian presidential poll.

Ahmed Mansoor was attacked twice in the span of a week by people seemingly targeting him for his criticism of the UAE authorities.

Thirteen Burmese activists face charges for violating the country’s 2011 public assembly law for leading a march of some 1,000 demonstrators calling for peace in Kachin State and elsewhere in Burma.

Human Rights Watch is concerned by reports of threats, harassment and arbitrary punishment of Belarussian political prisoners Ales Bialiatski and Zmitser Dashkevich.

The attack on 18 March 2011 in the Yemeni capital killed 45 people and wounded up to 200 others, and became a symbol of resistance to then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Police have arrested at least 28 people on administrative charges in Georgia as protests have swelled in response to a prison abuse scandal.

Hundreds of victims of the 2009 massacre by security forces in Guinea have yet to see justice done, Human Rights Watch said today. On 28 September, 2009, several hundred members of Guinea’s security forces burst into a stadium in Guinea’s capital and opened fire on tens of thousands of opposition supporters peacefully gathered there.

Antonio Trejo Cabrera, a lawyer who advocated for peasant land rights and publicly opposed the creation of special autonomous development zones, was shot and killed on September 22, 2012, after attending a wedding south of Tegucigalpa.

Bahraini human rights defenders reported threats against them as a result of their participation in a UN review process; while IFEX members call on authorities to follow through on free expression recommendations.

The Peruvian government should act to prevent the unlawful use of lethal force by security forces during crowd-control operations, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to President Ollanta Humala. Fifteen civilians were killed during protests, allegedly by security forces, in the first year of Humala’s presidency.