Authorities seal up Amnesty International office in Moscow

The Moscow office of human rights group Amnesty International has been sealed up overnight by Russian authorities.Sergey Nikitin, the head of Amnesty International in Russia, said that when employees arrived at the office, "they found that the door was broken and there were new locks".Photographs showed the door sealed up with an official notice from Moscow city authorities.

Mr Nikitin said International Amnesty has rented the office from the Moscow city government for more than 20 years.
Human rights organisations in Russia have complained of official pressure in recent years, including the intimidation of their staff and controversial legislation regulating the operation of non-governmental organisations.