Oleg Sentsov

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was nominated on Monday (27 September) for the European Parliament's annual human rights prize as European Union lawmakers sought to keep the public spotlight on his pro-democracy network, which has been banned in Russia.

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov on Tuesday entered day 100 of his hunger strike, as he languishes in a Russian Arctic prison on terror charges with little hope of release.

The 42-year-old Kremlin opponent announced the hunger strike in May, demanding the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners being held in Russia.

Turkey, the United States, France, Britain and 34 other countries asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on June 14 to raise the case of jailed film director Oleg Sentsov and dozens of other Ukrainian prisoners during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.    

The Council of Europe on Jan. 24 voiced concern at the rising levels of violence against journalists throughout the continent, notably in Turkey and Russia.