March 2023

A call to OVD-Info hotline or a message to our Telegram bot are the easiest ways to report persecution and get a free consultation. Specialists will advise you on how your situation may develop, and instruct you about your next steps.

• 297,945 users were connected to our Telegram-bot
• our legal instructions were viewed 25,874 times
• we received 1,308 calls on our hotline

In total, our operators and volunteers spoke on the phone for 56 hours, 10 minutes and 49 seconds. 

Lawyers of the hotline

• conducted 95 consultations by phone;
• responded to 166 letters received at legal@ovdinfo.org;
• audited 11 appeals received through the generator;
• prepared and submitted 4 cassation appeals.

Legal aid

We provide and coordinate legal assistance in cases related to the restrictions of freedom of peaceful assembly or freedom of speech. Our attorneys visit those detained in police departments, support defendants in Russian administrative and criminal courts, and file complaints with the European Court of Human Rights.

Assistance on cases of administrative offences

In March and April, our lawyers, jurists, and defenders:

• went to the police departments 21 times, where they helped 59 detainees.
• helped 192 people in court sessions on administrative cases.
• managed to terminate, cancel or return at least 22 cases of administrative offence.

Criminal cases

Our lawyers and jurists in March 2023

• Were present during 2 searches;
• Accompanied clients on 8 interrogations;
• Entered into 6 new criminal cases;
• In total, at the end of March, lawyers from OVD-Info worked on 64 criminal cases against 80 people in 34 cities.

We consider all the charges and criminal cases brought in connection with them to be illegal and politically motivated.

European Court of Human Rights complaints campaign

• We have sent 40 complaints to the European Court of Human Rights.
• A total of 2,791 complaints were submitted during the campaign.
• On 263 complaints, ECHR issued judgements — all in favour of the applicants; the remaining complaints are pending trial or registration.

News and media

The authorities that violate human rights prefer to avoid publicity. But as they say, silence in the face of evil is itself evil. We believe that information protects, and that media and social attention can prevent violations and change the whole picture.

We have prepared and released:

• 452 express news about political persecution in Russia;
• 5 longreads on political persecution

What you should pay attention to

• «And only Allah will help us in this». Convict in Russia’s crackdown on Crimean Tatars dies in pre-trial detention
  On 10 February, Dzhemil Gafarov, a 60-year-old resident of Crimea convicted in the Hizb ut-Tahrir case, died in a pre-trial detention center in the Rostov Region. The prisoner had a Group II disability due to chronic kidney disease and related heart disease. In January he was sentenced to 13 years. Here is an insight into how the Russian authorities persecute Crimean Tatars.
• «This is not Christ-like at all»: meet the father of four from Buryatia who opposes the war
  In February Evgeny Vlasov, a father of four, was fined 30,000 rubles (US$368) by a court in Buryatia. He was charged with «discrediting» the Russian army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences) for posts on Vkontakte, a Russian social network. There are many mistakes in the offence report: for example, it is not stated which publications were seen as grounds for prosecution. We are publishing his story.
• The Dissident Digest — free weekly newsletter in English!
  The Digest is your window into the dark world of the Kremlin’s war on human rights and civil society in Russia. The Dissident Digest informs you through data, news and explainers. The newsletter is by no means all-encompassing but we strive to provide you with a snapshot of most important developments.

If you want to be informed about political repressions in Russia you can subscribe to our Digest, follow us on Twitter or visit our website! Everything helps.

Reports, research, and advocacy

At our organisation, we examine emerging problems from various angles, which helps us work out present-day tactical solutions and lay the strategic foundation for future systemic change. The results of our analyses are published as reports, data sets, or special projects.

• Human Rights and New Technology in Russia
  In this report, we highlight the lack of any standards for the application of new technologies in Russia and the consequent human rights violations.
• The Report on Civil Rights and Freedoms of Children
  This report focused on civil rights and freedoms of children. Children’s civil rights and freedoms in Russia are restricted no less than civil rights and freedoms of people in general, which are now undergoing a systemic crackdown. However, there are specific restrictions aimed only for the children that severely restrict their rights.

Our research team is very active, and it is difficult to put all of their work into one letter. Therefore, we have a newsletter available in English. You can subscribe to follow our news and publications of upcoming reports and datasets:

Subscribe to the newsletter

How much we collected

Total transfers

• 19,612 donations
• RUB 26,556,413 

The figure includes

• 3,432 donations made through the GlobalGiving platform (RUB 15,180,516). These donations were received by us during the spring and summer of 2022. As per our agreement with GlobalGiving, we are currently receiving deferred transfers from the previous year.
• 769 direct transfers made to OVD-Info clients through the Zaodno platform, totalling RUB 791,420.

How much we spent

In March, we expended a total of RUB 24,005,807, all of which was funded by your donations and transfers from various sources. Here’s a breakdown of how the funds were used:

• RUB 9,624,701 — legal assistance. Our lawyers and human rights defenders worked tirelessly to provide legal aid to detainees in police departments and courts, and coordinated assistance in criminal cases throughout the month.
• RUB 2,509,120 — work of our hotline operators and reporters. Our monitoring group received calls to the hotline and messages in the telegram bot every day, and reported news to aid detainees, not only during large-scale actions, but also for regular detentions that occur almost every day in Russia.
• RUB 1,679,251 — the work of our media team. We believe that information can be a powerful tool in protecting political rights. To make information about political rights violations public, we prepared and published significant articles, created guides for major criminal cases, launched special projects, gave interviews, and talked about it on all available social networks.
• RUB 1,452,253 — data projects, reports, research, and advocacy. We collect and analyse data on political persecution to make informed decisions and help journalists and researchers understand the situation. Based on the collected data, we prepare comprehensive reports that analyse how legislative practices and repressive laws enable political persecution.
• RUB 2,051,593 — the work of our IT team. We developed tools and services that help to protect ourselves and others, ensure the stable operation of our entire system, and share our work with other initiatives.
• RUB 819,260 — volunteer coordination. Our volunteers are our backbone and the best team of like-minded individuals. We are committed to expanding our community and ensuring that volunteers actively participate in the project’s life.
• RUB 4,301,499 — operational support of the project. Thanks to this work, which is not always visible, we continue to help those who need help and spend our energy and resources more efficiently. It includes the costs of team members who ensure the daily work and planning of the project and are responsible for the sustainability of OVD-Info in the long term, budget planning, strategic goals, communication with donors and financial transparency. This also includes the costs of caring for team members: psychological assistance, development of the competencies of participants and their safety.
• RUB 373,923 — infrastructure costs (office rent, phone and Internet). This helps us to work more cohesively and efficiently, as well as to take calls to the hotline and write news stories.
• RUB 415,452 — bank account maintenance and payment systems commission. We use several payment systems, and the interest rates are all different. This amount is calculated as a percentage of donations and expenses on the account. It depends not only on our expenses but also on the amount of income. The increase in the amount was also influenced by an increase in the commission from the payment system that we use to accept and process donations.
• RUB 778,755 — additional taxes and fees. We have separated this portion of fees in the expense structure to cover taxes that are not included in other expense items.

Thank you so much for being with us!