Russia’s politicised and corrupt court system is being used by the authorities to harass the few remaining independent journalists who dare to criticise widespread abuses by the regime, according to an annual report on global media by Freedom House, a leading human rights organisation.

The report overview, which can be read here in English and Russian, highlighted a series of worrying developments in 2012 that led Freedom House to downgrade Russia’s press freedom ranking yet again.

At the European launch of the report in Brussels, Freedom House said that the media environment in Russia in 2012 was ‘characterised by the use of a pliant judiciary to prosecute independent journalists, impunity for the physical harassment and murder of journalists, and continued state control or influence over almost all traditional media outlets’.

The report noted that in 2012, following Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency, ‘the regime enacted a series of laws that could be used to further restrict media freedom, included a broadly worded measure allowing for the censorship of internet-based content that took effect in November [2012]’.

The report also highlighted the increasingly perilous situation facing bloggers and users of social media, pointing out that ‘new media users have yet to achieve a real breakthrough in reaching the general public in Russia, and face an uphill battle against a range of political, economic, legal and extra-legal tools at the disposal of the authorities’.

Some journalists face daily dangers in doing their work, according to the report, including the ‘threat of intimidation or physical attack when covering sensitive topics such as the situation in the restive North Caucasus, government corruption, organized crime, police torture, electoral violations, and opposition activities and protests.’

The Freedom House report in English and in Russian.