The Real Russia. Today. Human Rights Watch denounces Russia’s crackdown on free speech; a lavish wedding ceremony leads to a messy political scandal; and this is what happens when you report prison torture

The ‘80s are back! In a new report on Russia, Human Rights Watch argues that the freedom of speech has suffered a major assault since protests swept Moscow and much of the country in late 2011 and early 2012, thanks particularly to a series of repressive laws enacted by the federal government. HRW notes that the Russian authorities have used laws against extremism to punish members of the political opposition, and tried to take control over online correspondence. The organization’s report says, Russian “state intrusion in media affairs has reached a level not seen in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.” Story in English

Moscow okays protest against Internet censorship. The Moscow Mayor’s office will allow activists to stage a demonstration on July 23 in favor of Internet freedom, granting activists from the political party “Parnas” a permit to gather up to 10,000 people for a march from the Pushkinskaya subway station to Sakharov Prospekt. The demonstrators plan to protest against Internet censorship and demand the exoneration of Russians prosecuted for posting content online. Activists will also call for the resignation of Alexander Zharov, the head of Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal censor. Story in English

Pop stars, entrepreneurs, and state officials, oh my. On July 16, the public learned about the wedding of Sophia Khakhaleva (the daughter of Krasnodar regional judge Elena Khakhaleva) and local state investigator Vadim Badalov. The ceremony happened a week earlier, on July 10, when the couple welcomed crooner Joseph Kobzon, singer Nikolay Baskov, and several other Russian pop stars. According to a lawyer named Sergey Zhorin, who was the first to draw attention to this story, the wedding party cost an estimated $2 million. Judge Khakhaleva has sharply criticized Zhorin’s allegations, saying that her daughter’s ceremony was bankrolled by her ex-husband, a prominent real estate owner in the region. Local farmers, incidentally, accuse the Khakhalevs of abusing the courts to seize their lands. Meduza reviews what’s known about this wedding and the family behind it. Story in English

A threat from 19th century academia

• “Saying that this book is extremist is to ridicule the very idea of ‘fighting extremism.’” ~ Boruch Gorinm, spokesman for the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia

Russia’s Justice Ministry has banned a 19th century book by German Orthodox rabbi Marcus Lehmann about the forced conversion of Jews to Christianity in medieval Europe. According to the news agency Moskva, a district court in Sochi ruled on July 14 that Lehmann’s book, “Forced to Convert,” qualifies as extremist literature. Story in English

So much for what promised to be this September’s most interesting contest. Yekaterinburg Mayor Evgeny Roizman has withdrawn his candidacy for this September’s gubernatorial election in the Sverdlovsk region, explaining at a press conference that he was unable to overcome Russia’s so-called “municipal filter.” In other words, he failed to collect enough signatures from local municipal deputies. According to the news agency RBC, Yekaterinburg’s mayor plans to contest the legality of Russia’s “municipal filter” in the Constitutional Court. Story in English

A warning to anyone who considers reporting prison torture. Thirty-seven-year-old Alexey Galkin got out of prison just six months ago, but he’s headed back now, thanks to his complaint that guards tortured him. A regional court in Kirov has sentenced Galkin to two years in prison for filing a false report. He claims that he and other inmates were subjected to cruel and unusual punishments, especially after he began complaining about the mistreatment. Galkin’s police report cites a specific instance in January 2016, when he was supposedly beaten for complaining about the prison’s living conditions. Galkin says the guards broke his jaw, and then coerced him to sign a document claiming that he’d slipped while using a pullup bar. Story in English