By now people the world over have heard about Pussy Riot and the "Arctic 30" of Greenpeace. But few outside Russia have heard of the so-called Bolotnaya prisoners. The Bolotnaya case is no less important, though. In fact, it may be Russia’s trial of the year.
In Bahrain, a landmark report on human rights abuses during the 2011 protests risks becoming nothing more than a record of blood-spattered facts rather than a blueprint for justice. It's hight time the government of Bahrain implements the recommendations of the report and commute the sentences of imprisoned peaceful protesters. The democratic nature of the internet is threatened by a "growing tide of surveillance and censorship", according to the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee. His foundation today releases a new index looking at online censorship around the world. Among other findings, it reveals that 94% of countries do not adequately monitor online state snooping.After heated negotiations, the United Nation's draft resolution on digital privacy, initiated by Brazil and Germany, emerged relatively undamaged, despite efforts by the United States and other members of the “Five Eyes” spy collective to weaken its language. A vote on the resolution, expected next week, would be the first major statement by the UN on privacy in 25 years and comes at a critical moment for the protection of privacy and the need for 21st-century protections for 21st-century surveillance technologies.
France has echoed the UN and others in warning that the Central African Republic is "on the verge of a genocide". The crisis in the country stems from a brutal, yet mostly forgotten, conflict, but is the worst violence between the country’s Muslims and Christians could be yet to come.
In Angola, a leaked Interior Ministry report describes the role of police and the domestic intelligence service in the abduction, torture, and killing of António Alves Kamulingue and Isaías Cassule, two protest organizers who have been missing since last year.
It was the worst single attack in history against members of the media, but judicial proceedings against the alleged perpetrators of the Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines are moving at a glacial pace, and witnesses continue to be threatened.
