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On 22 September 2025, Azerbaijani human rights defender and political prisoner Anar Mammadli delivered his defence statement at the Baku Court on Grave Crimes. In his address, Mammadli stated “I do not recognise this court, and I consider it a political show staged by the repressive ruling regime in Azerbaijan.” Mammadli denounced the charges against him as baseless and politically motivated, and called for the Court to terminate the case. This article was written by human rights lawyer Emin Abbasov.

On 8 October at the OSCE Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, HRHF amplified the voice of imprisoned Azerbaijani election monitor Anar Mammadli, urging OSCE Member States to act against reprisals targeting human rights defenders and journalists.

At the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation highlighted the situation for human rights in occupied Crimea, where over a decade of Russian occupation has erased civic space, imprisoned hundreds on political grounds, targeted journalists, persecuted Crimean Tatars, and used the peninsula as a platform for war crimes against Ukraine.

“The Georgian Dream government is still sensitive to international pressure. It is still acting as though international legitimacy is important and responding to international monitoring and reporting. But this window will close and the international community will lose some of its leverage. This is the moment to apply maximal pressure,” writes HRHF’s Head of Advocacy Dave Elseroad in New Eastern Europe.

2 October 2025 marks six months since former political prisoner Andrei Chapiuk was released from prison in Belarus, and since he left the country for his safety. This month also marks five years since he was imprisoned. In this interview with HRHF, Chapiuk discussed adjusting to life outside of prison and in a new country, as well as the human rights situation in Belarus and his colleagues still behind bars.

In May 2025, Human Rights House Tbilisi (HRHT) was forced to suspend all activities as a result of the ongoing crackdown on civil society in Georgia. This follows the Georgian authorities’ decision in March to freeze all of HRHT’s bank accounts.

“This year’s Václav Havel Prize must signal the Council of Europe to turn praise of courage into action against autocrats, even within its own ranks,” argues Emin Abbasov (Independent Lawyers Network), Maria Dahle (Human Rights House Foundation), and Natallia Satsunkevich (Human Rights Centre Viasna) in International Politics and Society.

In a statement at the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights House Foundation and Human Rights House Yerevan urged the Armenian authorities to investigate attacks against civil society and tackle disproportionate use of force at assemblies, and to address the growing threat of SLAPPs (Strategic lawsuits against public participation).

Since the Human Rights Council established the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation in 2022, the human rights situation inside Russia has rapidly deteriorated.