Association of Groups for Public Investigations

This three-year grant of $300,000 to Agora Human Rights Association will support a project to strengthen Internet freedom in the Russian Federation. Agora, a Russian non-profit based in Kazan (about 450 miles east of Moscow), has taken the lead nationally in defending Russian bloggers in court and publicizing violations of freedom of the Internet. The proposed project will provide legal support to individual Internet users and activists, Internet Service Providers, and Internet media. Through strategic litigation the project will challenge unlawful restrictions on freedom of the Internet and generate a positive judicial practice. The project will use monitoring, educational activities and advocacy to raise public awareness of the need to protect Internet freedom in Russia.

To promote human rights protection in the Russian Federation (over three years).

In support of a project titled: Resistance to Violations of Human Rights: Murders, Tortures, and Arbitrary Arrests (over two years).