In what Amnesty International is calling a show trial, eight defendants in the Bolotnaya Square case have been given a guilty verdict. The verdicts in the Bolotnaya case are part of a wider clampdown on freedoms of assembly, association and expression since Vladimir Putin resumed the Russian presidency on 7 May 2012. Amnesty International is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Artiom Saviolov, Stepan Zimin, Denis Lutskevich, Aleksey Polikhovich, Sergey Krivov and Yaroslav Belousov. They are prisoners of conscience, and all charges against them should be dropped. Amnesty also calls on the Russian authorities to repeal legislation introduced following Vladimir Putin’s return to the Presidency restricting the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.