On 28 May 2023, the human rights defender and leader of the Garifuna community in Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras, Martín Morales Martínez, was found dead after having been reported as missing by his family on 27 May 2023.
On 4 May 2023, representatives of the General Administration for Combating Extremism (Center ‘E’) in the city of Krasnodar raided the office of Crew against Torture in Krasnodar, in southern Russia. After the raid, law enforcement brought human rights defender and lawyer, Ilya Platonov, who was present at the office during the raid, in for questioning as a witness; he was let go later the same day. This is the third raid on Crew against Torture’s regional offices since 14 April 2023.
On 2 May 2023, the woman human rights defender Teresa Magueyal was shot dead by a group of unidentified armed men while riding her bike in the area of San Miguel Octopan, in the municipality of Celaya, Guanajuato.
On 21 March 2023, Russian law enforcement authorities raided apartments of at least eight former staff members of International “Memorial” and Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial.” The raid happened at the apartments of human rights defenders Oleg Orlov, Yan Rachinskii, Nikita Petrov, Alexandra Polivanova, Alexander Gurianov, Irina Ostrovskaya, Galina Iordanskaya, and Alyona Kozlova. Since the raids, former staff members brought in for questioning to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Tverskoy District in Moscow.
On 14 April 2022, unknown persons carried out the third break-in this month into the home of environmental human rights defenders Juan Carlos Flores Solís and Miryam Vargas Teutle in the community of Santa María Zacatepec in the municipality of Juan C Bonilla, in the state of Puebla. The environmental human rights defenders are members of the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa del Agua y de la Tierra de Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala (FPDATMPT) in the municipality of Zacatepec de Hidalgo, in the state of Morelos.
On 5 April 2022, unknown persons broke into the home of environmental human rights defenders Carlos Flores Solís and Miryam Vargas Teutle, members of the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa del Agua y de la Tierra de Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala (FPDATMPT). The raid occurred in the community of Santa María Zacatepec in the municipality of Juan C Bonilla, in the state of Puebla.
On 15 August 2022, the woman human rights defender Maryam Karimbeigi was informed via SMS that she has been banned from travelling. This is following the announcement made on 1 August 2022, when the lawyer of Maryam Karimbeigi announced that branch 26 of Tehran Revolutionary Court has sentenced the woman human rights defender to three years and seven months in prison on the charge of “gathering and colluding against national security;” with a complementary punishment of a fine and 74 lashes. The woman human rights defender and her lawyer have appealed this sentence.
On 20 June 2022, human rights defenders and priests Joaquín César Mora Salazar and Javier Campos Morales were shot dead by gunmen, along with another person inside a church in the indigenous community of Cerocahui, Chihuahua state.
On 16 June 2022 law enforcement officers raided woman human rights defender Irina Putilova’s apartment. The raid was sanctioned as a part of the criminal case on “hooliganism motivated by political and ideological hatred” under article 6.1.213 of the Criminal Code launched against human rights project Open Space. It is an article that assumes jail time, up to 7 years if sentenced, yet, the individual who will receive the persecution remains unidentified. On the same day, the law enforcement officers arrived at the office of human rights project Open Space in St.
On 20 June 2022, human rights defenders and priests Joaquín César Mora Salazar and Javier Campos Morales were shot dead by gunmen, along with another person inside a church in the indigenous community of Cerocahui, Chihuahua state.
On 5 April 2022, unknown persons broke into the home of environmental human rights defenders Carlos Flores Solís and Miryam Vargas Teutle, members of the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa del Agua y de la Tierra de Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala (FPDATMPT). The raid occurred in the community of Santa María Zacatepec in the municipality of Juan C Bonilla, in the state of Puebla.
On 5 and 6 of March 2022 three human rights defenders, Youseif Yagoub Ahmed, Mohamed Ibrahim Yahya and Mohamed Eldai Musa were killed in Jabal Moon, West Darfur by armed militia while they were doing an assessment on the human rights and humanitarian situation in West Darfur. The three human rights defenders were members of Darfur Human Rights Monitors network, a network of human rights monitoring groups in the five states of Darfur.
On 5 and 6 of March 2022 three human rights defenders, Youseif Yagoub Ahmed, Mohamed Ibrahim Yahya and Mohamed Eldai Musa were killed in Jabal Moon, West Darfur by armed militia while they were doing an assessment on the human rights and humanitarian situation in West Darfur. The three human rights defenders were members of Darfur Human Rights Monitors network, a network of human rights monitoring groups in the five states of Darfur.
On 5 and 6 of March 2022 three human rights defenders, Youseif Yagoub Ahmed, Mohamed Ibrahim Yahya and Mohamed Eldai Musa were killed in Jabal Moon, West Darfur by armed militia while they were doing an assessment on the human rights and humanitarian situation in West Darfur. The three human rights defenders were members of Darfur Human Rights Monitors network, a network of human rights monitoring groups in the five states of Darfur.
On 7 and 8 May 2021, individuals linked to political parties and the Nahuatzen town council, broke into the Nahuatzen Communal House where they destroyed the facilities and work equipment with stones and sticks, looted and attacked members of the Nahuatzen Indigenous Council (CCIN).
On 29 January 2022, unknown individuals placed offensive posters on the door of the apartment where human rights defender Igor Kalyapin is registered, in Nizhny Novgorod. One of the posters displayed "Igor Kalyapin defends terrorists! Shame on foreign agent!", while the other one stated "Igor Kalaypin is a foreign agent! Sold the Motherland for German and American grants!". The human rights defender reported that the person inhabiting the apartment is his 84-year-old mother.
On 20 January 2022, Chechen law enforcement officers physically attacked human rights defenders and lawyers Sergey Babinets and Oleg Khabibrakhmanov and woman human rights attorney Natalia Dobronravova, while they were providing legal assistance for their clients in Nizhnii Novgorod. During the incident, Chechen officials abducted the human rights defenders client, Zarema Musaeva, who is the mother of human rights defender Abubakar Yangulbayev. Front Line Defenders believes that these attacks and the abduction is related to the human rights defenders human rights work.
On 20 January 2022, Chechen law enforcement officers physically attacked human rights defenders and lawyers Sergey Babinets and Oleg Khabibrakhmanov and woman human rights attorney Natalia Dobronravova, while they were providing legal assistance for their clients in Nizhnii Novgorod. During the incident, Chechen officials abducted the human rights defenders client, Zarema Musaeva, who is the mother of human rights defender Abubakar Yangulbayev. Front Line Defenders believes that these attacks and the abduction is related to the human rights defenders human rights work.
On 29 September 2021, Rohingya human rights defender Mohib Ullah was shot and killed by unidentified individuals in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Mohib Ullah arrived at his office in the Kutupalong camp around 8:30 PM when three armed individuals attacked him. The human rights defender sustained at least three gunshot injuries to his chest and was pronounced dead by the doctors after being taken to Kutupalong MSF Hospital.
On 3 September 2021, at least twenty members of the National Guard, forcibly and without a warrant, entered the home of a woman human rights defender Paula Rojas Nieto, and carried out a violent raid during which personal items were confiscated and she and several of her family members were attacked.
On 4 August 2021, around noon, two unidentified armed men broke into the shed where Movimenta Caxias Collective is located. Movimenta Caxias Collective is based in Duque de Caxias, a municipality of Baixada Fluminense region, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The shed also hosts other social movements from the region.
On 5 July 2021, LGBTQI+ rights defenders had been forced to cancel the "March for Dignity", the final event of the Tbilisi Pride week, after far-right groups stormed the offices of Tbilisi Pride, Shame Movement and Human Rights House Tbilisi, and attacked a number of journalists. As a result, more than 50 people, including journalists and one human rights defender, were injured, many of whom needed medical treatment in hospital. On 11 July 2021, one of the journalists who was attacked, cameraman Alexander Lashkarava, was found dead in his home.
Since 26 May 2021, a series of attacks and violent events have been taking place in Munduruku and Sai-Cinza Territory in the state of Pará, affecting both public officials and indigenous leaders who live in the region and stand against illegal mining in indigenous peoples’ territory.
On 18 April 2021, the Munduruku Wakoborũn Women's Association was the subject of another act of intimidation by miners from the local area. A group of miners that support mining activities on indigenous peoples’ lands, stole more than 830 litres of fuel and a boat engine belonging to the Association. The incident took place in the port of the municipality of Jacareanga, Pará.
On 25 March 2021, the premises of the Munduruku Wakoborũn Women's Association in Jacareanga, Pará was broken-into and vandalised by a group of miners associated with illegal mining on Munduruku territory.
On 20 April 2021, Nasa indigenous woman human rights defender Sandra Liliana Peña Chocué was shot dead by four unidentified armed men. The men violently abducted the woman human rights defender from her home in the indigenous reserve of “La Laguna-Siberia” in Caldono, Cauca, before killing her.
