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Following large amounts of criticism of President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s silence in the wake of the murders of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, Medvedev has finally responded and held a meeting with Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitri Muratov and former Soviet President and Novaya shareholder Mikhail Gorbachev.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the charge that was brought yesterday at the behest at interior minister Tomislav Karamarko against a journalist who writes about war crimes in the 1990s. Zeljko Peratovic is accused of “disseminating information likely to upset the population” under article 322/1 KZA of the criminal code, which carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison as well as a possible fine.

Index on Censorship and Article 19 are delighted to present ‘Burma: Between the lines’, a celebration of art and survival. This special night of theatre, performance, poetry, film and photography will celebrate the ongoing resistance and imagination of Burmese artists, writers and activists.

This week, policemen surrounded the premises of Radio Kalima, while its staff were threatened, detained and their equipment sabotaged. This is the latest development in the government’s continued policy of undermining freedom of expression through its harassment of journalists and human rights defenders.

HRHF has sent a statement to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, right, in which he is asked to repeal the new law on CSOs or, alternatively, amend all elements of it that are incompatible with international human rights law and standards including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The first case on domestic violence that B.a.B.e. has sent to the European Court for Human Rights has been solved positively. The Republic of Croatia is obliged to pay 40 000 Euros to the family, right, of the deceased, and 1 300 Euros of allowance for the expenses of the request and correspondence with the European court.

Somalia’s parliament, meeting in Djibouti, is expected to elect a new president on 30 January, to replace Abdullahi Yusuf, who resigned at the end of December, 2008, after prolonged differences with the prime minister.

The Ethiopian parliament has voted into law a controversial bill which bars any civil society organisation receiving more than 10 percent of its funding from foreign sources engaging in human rights issues.

-Sudan is in a state of high tension at the moment, and we face a dangerous month ahead…Parts of Darfur are again in flames, with the worst fighting in the region since the beginning of 2008.- Republic of the Sudan expert Alex de Waal, said.