In Azerbaijan, imprisonment is increasingly being used as a tool to pressure independent media, according to the international human rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which launched an international protest to clearly demonstrate the conditions in which Azerbaijani journalists are held.

The ECHR has once again defended renowned Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova, finding her criminal prosecution in 2014-2015 unlawful. The court found that the charges of tax evasion and illegal entrepreneurial activity (working for foreign media without accreditation) were unfounded and violated Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Kazakh authorities have denied entry to Zelimkhan, a Chechen native who fled Russia to escape forced conscription. He has been held in the airport transit zone for a month, Kavkaz.Realii reports.

A memorial plaque dedicated to murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been vandalized in Moscow for the seventh time. A foam board plaque was stolen from the facade of a building on Lesnaya Street, and a photograph of Politkovskaya was also stolen.