Vietnamese Activist and YouTuber Nguyen Chi Tuyen was sentenced to five years in prison by a court in Hanoi on Thursday for “anti-state propaganda,” according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Tuyen—also known as Anh Chi—was prosecuted under Article 117 of the Penal Code, which prohibits the “making, storing, spreading information, materials, or items [...]

European Union (EU) Commissioner Thierry Breton sent a letter to Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X (formerly Twitter), on Monday to ensure that X complies with the due diligence requirements specified in the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The letter preceded Musk’s interview with former US president Donald Trump, which has since been [...]

Algerian boxer and Olympic gold medalist Imane Khelif filed a complaint on Saturday over online abuse following a controversial gender debate that made headlines during Paris’s Olympic Games. Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, announced via a press release on the social media platform X that he filed a complaint with the anti-online hatred center of the [...]

Bulgaria’s National Assembly approved an amendment to its Pre-School and School Education Act on Wednesday, prohibiting its education system from promoting LGBTQ+ views in schools. The anti-LGBTQ+ law, introduced four weeks ago by far-right and pro-Russian party Vazrazhdane, received an overwhelming majority in Bulgaria’s 240-seat parliament, securing 135 votes in favor, 57 against and eight abstentions. [...]

The US recognized Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia’s claim to winning the presidential election against President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday in discrediting the results Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a press statement that it is clear to Venezuelans and the US that González won the majority [...]

Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court declared parts of the new electoral reform aimed at reducing the size of the Bundestag, the federal parliament, unconstitutional in a judgment on Tuesday. Set to be implemented for the upcoming federal elections in 2025, this change would have primarily disadvantaged smaller parties. In particular, the court held that the 5 [...]

The European Court of Human Rights unanimously held that Latvia’s removal of applicant Tatjana Ždanoka from the candidate list for its 2018 parliamentary elections did not violate Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights, on Thursday. Ždanoka was barred on the grounds of Article 5(6) of Latvia’s Parliamentary Elections Act [...]

The family members of Syrian-American Majd Kamalmaz filed a civil lawsuit against the Syrian government on Monday, seeking damages of at least $70 million for the unlawful detention, torture and killing of Kamalmaz. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Kamalmaz family by law firm Miller & Chevalier in collaboration with the Syrian Emergency Task [...]

Slovakia’s national parliament backtracked on its controversial criminal code following concerns from the European Union, with 77 deputies voting in favor of new amendments on Tuesday. This change comes after Slovakia’s Constitutional Court deemed some of the most contested amendments to the criminal code constitutional. Slovakia’s Minister of Justice, Boris Susko, stated in a press [...]

Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported via its Telegram broadcast channel that its forces captured the Ukrainian village of Urozhaine on Sunday. The village, located in the Donetsk region, was seized by Russian forces early in the February 2022 invasion but was liberated in August of last year, according to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar. “As [...]