[/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Apply for Free Speech Training and Mentoring” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
>> Applications for Free Speech Is For Me have now closed <<
Following a successful initial pilot of Free Speech is for Me we are now preparing to offer our free speech training to a wider group of the public. We hope to make this next group bigger than ever, and the training will be free and online. If you are interested in these free sessions on free speech and free expression, with links to advocacy, activism and defending human rights please fill in this form to express your interest today.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/_pmpc3CpGn0″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Free speech has been critical to social movements throughout history. It has consistently been used as a powerful tool for marginalised groups to articulate their grievances and demand to be heard.
But today discussions surrounding “free speech” have unfortunately been dominated by a small number of people who seek to use it primarily to curtail the rights of others and spread hate, leading many to question it as a value.
However, when the principle of free speech is abandoned, those who already face oppression are hurt most: including people of colour, religious and ethnic minorities, and those who campaign on sex and gender issues. Free Speech is for Me aims to show how freedom of expression furthers democracy and individual liberty and benefits everyone. If we allow free speech protections to be weakened, we lose our greatest tool in advocating for change.
We are now supporting these advocates in reclaiming free speech as a fundamental right that must apply to everyone by offering training and mentoring on freedom of expression issues. This will include one on one support from leading free speech experts plus media, communications and public speaking training. They will end the programme with a clearer understanding of the challenges of censorship and the tools to overcome them.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1565187480669{background-color: #e52d1c !important;}”][vc_column_text]
We are recruiting six people in the US and six people in the UK, from groups whose belief in the value of free expression principles has been challenged in recent years.
We are seeking applicants who would bring a different angle to discussions around free speech.
Applicants may come from all age groups and particular consideration will be given to activists who have experienced the shutting down of speech. We want applicants who will champion free speech as a right that benefits them and their peers and is essential to their cause but is also a right shared by all.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_separator color=”white”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1565187500255{background-color: #E52D1C !important;}”][vc_column_text]
If your application is successful you will receive:
Mentoring: Advocates will be paired with experienced free speech advocates who will act as an advisor and mentor to each individual over the course of the training. You will have 4-6 meetings delivered either face to face or virtually, plus additional support as needed.
Media training: Advocates will receive one full day of professional media training plus regular training on public speaking/writing as necessary.
Public events: Advocates will be given the skills to talk about issues of free speech at public events, in private meetings and in the media. We will work with you to identify these opportunities. We will pay for your expenses to attend training and a speaker fee for events and writing.
Please complete the following application form and submit to us by Friday 27 September 2019.
If you are shortlisted you will also be asked for full resume and may be invited to an interview, which will take place during the last week of September.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_separator color=”white”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][gravityform id=”42″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”false”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Free Speech is for Me: Class of 2020 US
See what this year’s American intake have been doing as part of their programme.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”112393″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”112394″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”112395″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”112396″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Free Speech is for Me: Class of 2020
See updates from the first intake of the programme, featuring interviews with mentors and advocates.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”111324″ img_size=”large” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2019/12/free-speech-is-for-me-class-of-2020/”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qc8MSYLkQg”][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Meet the mentors” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
Through training and mentoring, Free Speech is for Me is equipping people from all backgrounds and beliefs to speak out against censorship. The mentors will work with the 13 advocates to help them defend and champion the issue of free speech.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Jodie Ginsberg” title=”CEO, Index on Censorship” profile_image=”104110″]Jodie Ginsberg is the CEO of Index on Censorship. Prior to joining Index, she worked as a foreign correspondent and business journalist and was previously UK bureau chief for Reuters. She sits on the council of global free expression network IFEX and the board of the Global Network Initiative, and is a regular commentator in international media on freedom of expression issues.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Will Gore” title=”Columnist” profile_image=”110641″]Will Gore is the head of partnerships for the National Council for the Training of Journalists and former managing editor of The Independent, i, Independent on Sunday and the London Evening Standard. He writes on a wide range of topics, including politics, the media and cricket, and writes a weekly column for the Independent on memorable journeys.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Kiri Kankhwende” title=”Journalist and campaigner” profile_image=”110611″]
Kiri Kankhwende is a Malawian journalist and political analyst based in London who writes primarily about politics and immigration. She has worked in human rights campaigning and is a member of Writers of Colour. She is also a member of Index on Censorship’s board of trustees.
[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Meera Selva” title=”Journalist” profile_image=”110962″]Meera is an accomplished senior journalist with experience in Europe, Asia and Africa, currently the Director of the Journalism Fellowship Programme at the Reuters Institute. She joined the Reuters Institute from Handelsblatt Global where she had been working out of Singapore, having helped launch the digital daily business paper in Berlin in 2014. Her previous experience includes several years as a London based correspondent for the Associated Press, and three years as Africa correspondent for the Independent based in Nairobi, along with stints in business journalism at a range of publications including the Daily Telegraph.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Nadine Strossen” title=”Professor of law” profile_image=”111384″]New York Law School professor Nadine Strossen, the immediate past President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), is a leading expert and frequent speaker/media commentator on constitutional law and civil liberties, who has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. Her acclaimed 2018 book HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship was selected by Washington University as its 2019 “Common Read.”[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Kenan Malik” title=”Writer, lecturer and broadcaster” profile_image=”82874″]Kenan Malik is a British writer, lecturer and broadcaster. His main areas of interest are the history of ideas, philosophy of science, religion, politics, race and immigration. His books include The Meaning of Race (1996), Man, Beast and Zombie (2000) and Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides Are Wrong in the Race Debate (2008). He writes a column for The Guardian and the New York Times.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Xinran” title=”Author and journalist” profile_image=”106837″]Xinran is a British–Chinese author, journalist and activist. Her first book, The Good Women of China, was published in 2002 and became an international bestseller. She has written two novels, Miss Chopsticks (2008) and The Promise (2018) and four other non-fiction books: Sky Burial, China Witness, Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother and Buy Me the Sky. She is an advocate for women’a issues and is a contributor to Index on Censorship magazine.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Konstantin Kisin” title=”Comedian” profile_image=”110630″]Konstantin Kisin is an award-winning Russian-British comedian, podcaster and writer. In 2018 he refused to sign a university “behavioural agreement form” which banned jokes about religion, atheism and insisted that all humour must be “respectful and kind”. He is also the creator and co-host of Triggernometry, a posdcast and YouTube show where comedians interview economists, political experts, journalists and social commentators about controversial and challenging subjects.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Emily Knox” title=”Professor in the School of Information Sciences” profile_image=”111712″]Emily Knox is a professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and teaches on information access, intellectual freedom and censorship. She is also the author of Book Banning in 21st Century America and recently edited Trigger Warnings: History, Theory, Context. Knox serves on the boards of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Beta Phi Mu, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and the National Coalition Against Censorship.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Will Creeley” title=”Lawyer” profile_image=”111713″]Will Creeley is a lawyer and senior vice president of Legal and Public Advocacy at Fire (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education). Creeley has appeared on television and radio and has spoken to thousands of students, faculty, administrators and lawyers at events across the country. He is a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association. Creeley’s writing has been published by The New York Times and The Washington Post, amongst others. Creeley edited the second edition of Fire’s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice, coedited the second edition of Fire’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus and has coauthored amicus curiae briefs submitted to a number of courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Chris Finan” title=”Executive director, National Coalition Against Censorship” profile_image=”111714″]Chris Finan is executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of 56 national non-profits that defends free speech. Finan has been involved in the fight against censorship throughout his career. He is former president of American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. He is author of From the Palmer Raids to the PATRIOT Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][staff name=”Emma Llansó” title=”Director, Centre for Democracy and Technology Free Expression Project” profile_image=”111767″]Emma Llansó is the director of the Center for Democracy and Technology Free Expression Project. Llansó leads CDT’s legislative advocacy and amicus activity around freedom of expression in the USA and the EU. Llansó serves on the board of the Global Network Initiative, an organisation that works to advance individuals’ privacy and free expression rights in the ICT sector around the world. She is also a member of the Freedom Online Coalition Advisory Network, which provides advice to FOC member governments aimed at advancing human rights online.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Meet the advocates” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Ash Kotak” profile_image=”111138″]Ash Kotak is an award-winning playwright & film maker. He is also a curator and journalist. Free speech is at the core of all his work as he is often challenging and questioning popular narratives to illuminate greater truths.
His works as a playwright includes Maa (Royal Court); Hijra (Bush Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Theatre Du Nord, Lille (in French), New Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, USA); No Gain, No Pain (The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon). He is working on a new play entitled The AIDS Missionary. His latest film work includes: The Joneses(Exec Producer, USA, 90 mins, 2017); Punched By a Homosexualist (Exec Producer, Russia, 55 mins, 2018).
He set up an arts curating collective, Aesthesia, in 2014 which works with dehumanised, marginalised and disempowered communities to amplify individual voices through creative art projects.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Athena Stevens” profile_image=”111594″]Athena Stevens is an Olivier nominated writer and performer, a spokesperson for the UK’s Women’s Equality Party, and a human rights activist.
As both a creative and as an advocate she relies on free speech in the hopes that she and others will be able to give language to trauma, tell their story, and create a systematic change that leads to equality[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Dan Clarke” profile_image=”111595″]Dan Clarke is a master’s student of international public policy at UCL. He is interested in censorship issues around the world, especially in authoritarian countries such as China and many others in the Middle East and Africa.
Promoting freedom of the media and freedom of expression for all in society, including artists and critics, is vital for a fair, equitable and honest society where social issues can be addressed directly and without fear of repercussion. The protests in Hong Kong and the crackdown on the Uyghurs in China are two of the most important censorship issues for him. [/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Max Lake” profile_image=”111181″]Max graduated from the University of Birmingham in July 2019 and, as a liberal, was deeply alarmed at the student union’s censorious policies. He wants to change the culture of free speech, particularly on university campuses, where he and other students were fearful of speaking freely in seminars and lectures.
He has previously been constituency coordinator for Vote Leave in Rossendale and Darwen and is currently a constituency organiser for The Brexit Party. He would love to advocate for free speech, democracy and other constitutional issues as a future career.[/staff][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Rhiannon Adams” profile_image=”111207″]Rhiannon is a researcher and campaigner for human rights and technology. Educated at UCL and UC Berkeley, she trained at Amnesty International in their technology programme. She currently works in the legal sector, working with activists who have been targeted with spyware for their activism. She also works on the #NotYourPorn campaign to end revenge porn.
Her interests are targeted surveillance, spyware, online censorship and the issues that come with free speech on the internet, specifically self-censorship, internet shutdowns and blanket bans on certain types of speech. She hopes her insight into technology and human rights will bring an interesting perspective to the discussion on freedom of expression. [/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Maya Thomas” profile_image=”111601″]Maya is a third-year history undergraduate at Oxford University, and founder of the Oxford Society for Free Discourse, a group dedicated to countering censorship among students and academics. OSFD’s aim is to promote free speech as a universal value essential to facilitating constructive interaction between polarised ideas.
Maya’s work with OSFD varies from organising speaker’s events and public demonstrations, to informal debates and research. Linking her interest in free speech to her former presidency of the History Society, Maya has also become involved in the production of “Clear and Present Danger”, a podcast on the history of free speech.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Madeleine Stone” profile_image=”111605″]Madeleine recently completed an MA in human rights law at SOAS and is currently working with Big Brother Watch, where she has focused on technology, surveillance, data and free speech online. She is involved in the ‘Preventing Prevent’ campaign, which seeks to educate and organise resistance to the government’s intrusive counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent.
She is particularly interested in how counterterrorism, surveillance and policing combine to create a chilling effect that dampens free speech, particularly for those who have traditionally been at the sharp end of state power. She is also passionate about women’s rights and LGBT rights and seeks to amplify the voices of these communities in her work.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Marjory Wentworth” profile_image=”112016″]
Marjory Wentworth is the New York Times bestselling author of Out of Wonder, Poems Celebrating Poets (with Kwame Alexander and Chris Colderley). She is the co-writer with Herb Frazier and Bernard Powers of We Are Charleston, Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel, and also wrote Taking a Stand, The Evolution of Human Rights, with Juan E. Mendez. She is the current poet laureate of South Carolina. Wentworth serves on the board of advisors at The Global Social Justice Practice Academy. She teaches courses in writing, social justice and banned books at The College of Charleston.
[/staff][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Lillian Bustle” profile_image=”112131″]Lillian Bustle is a TEDx speaker, burlesquer and body love activist. Bustle has lobbied the state of New Jersey and municipalities for trans rights and successfully removed laws prohibiting cross dressers in bars and obscenity laws statewide. She is an advocate for sex workers’ rights, the LGBTQ community, and intersectional feminism. She recently led an advocacy workshop at a national burlesque conference and is working to connect her advocacy to the protection and promotion of freedom of expression more directly. Bustle is based in New Jersey.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Mariana Nogales-Molinelli” profile_image=”112136″]Mariana Nogales-Molinelli is a human rights lawyer in Puerto Rico. She has a breadth of experience and is publicly active in diverse human rights (feminist, queer, environmentalist, anti-austerity) networks. Nogales-Molinelli’s recent free speech work has focused on protecting the right to protest through the organisation, Brigada Legal Solidaria. She is one of the founders of Humanistas Seculares de Puerto Rico, an organisation that advocates for the separation of church and state.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Maya Rubin” profile_image=”112058″]Maya Rubin is a sophomore at Wellesley College. She is passionate about free speech for students on college campuses, and has worked with the Wellesley Freedom Project as an Adam Smith fellow and senior fellow to further the intellectual diversity at Wellesley. She has also worked with Index on Censorship as an intern. She hopes to show students the importance of free expression to improve their ability to honestly engage with one another.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Obden Mondésir” profile_image=”112015″]Obden Mondésir is an archivist and oral historian at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn, New York. He is also active in the prison abolition movement. Obden’s parents are Haitian immigrants who lived under dictatorship and Obden saw firsthand how a culture of fear was sustained in the USA through self-censorship. Last year, he helped to organise a free speech series with the New School, NCAC and Article 19. As part of that effort, he began a research project on historic “seditious” speech.[/staff][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][staff name=”Adeline Lee” profile_image=”112263″]Adeline Lee is a graduate of Wellesley College. She is currently at the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project which works to advance and defend First and Fourth Amendment freedoms amid developments in technology and science. Prior to the ACLU, Lee helped establish PEN America’s Campus Free Speech Program, working with university officials, faculty and student leaders across the country to foster dialogue and understanding following major free speech controversies. She is the coauthor of Chasm in the Classroom: Campus Free Speech in a Divided America, analysing over one hundred instances of Trump-era free speech infringements and debates, and served in 2019 on education-technology company EVERFI’s first national advisory board for diversity, equity and inclusion.[/staff][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_zigzag][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project tracks press freedom violations in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Learn more.
[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”27 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Roskomnadzor organized “prophylactic workshop” for journalists on suicide reporting” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]30 May 2019 – In the Kostromskaya region, Russia’s state media regulator Roskomnadzor organized “a prophylactic workshop” for local journalists on suicide reporting, Zona.Media reported.
About 30 attendees were given a list with examples of what constitutes violations of the 2012 law about information, prohibiting description of means and motives of suicides. Examples included photos that were published on Facebook by Kiril Rubankov, the editor-in-chief of Kostroma.Today.
The examples included suggested distortion of facts. For instance, Roskomnadzor recommended journalists write “fell from a bridge (wanted to swim)” instead of “jumped from a bridge”; “was hit by a train by accident” instead of “jumped in front of a train”; “drown (wanted to swim)” instead of “drowned oneself”; “confused acetic acid with another liquid (for drinking)” or “got poisoned by something unknown” instead of mentioning substances that the person ingested; “suicide was accidental without motive” instead of description of the way one killed himself.
Categories: Soft censorship (government pressure on media groups)
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”St Petersburg governor left news conference without answering a single question” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]29 May 2019 – Alexander Beglov, interim governor of Saint Petersburg left a news conference without answering a single question and avoided journalists, Lenizdat.ru reported.
Lenizdat.ru notes that usually Belgov prefers to invite to only loyal journalists news conferences. This time all media outlets were allowed to attend. However, after an introduction speech, Beglov left the conference hall and canceled planned press questions at the last moment. When some journalists tried to follow him, he ignored their questions and walked away.
Source of Violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Roskomnadzor demands E1.RU to delete video streams of Ekaterinburg protests” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]29 May 2019 – Ekaterinburg local news website E1.RU received a letter from Russia’s state media regulator demanding to delete from E1.RU YouTube-channel two online video streams from the protests against construction of a church in a park, because of calls for extremist activity and unsanctioned rallies in users’ comments left below the videos, E1.RU reported.
E1.RU decided to delete all several thousands of comments left by YouTube users.
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Moscow police opened administrative case against journalist for filming protest rally” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]29 May 2019 – Moscow police opened a case about administrative offence against Denis Styazhkin, journalist with online media outlet SotaVision for filming an unsanctioned protest action, Stayzhkin said on his YouTube channel. The case is opened under the article “Violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picketing”
On 30 January, Styazhkin filmed a protest rally Bessrochny Protest, he was live-streaming video of the event and published a news report about it at SotaVision. According to police, the journalist was “filming the rally, therefore he was participating in it”. Styazhking found out about the admistrative case against him by chance, when a human rights activist Irina Yatzenko saw the related documents at Tverskoy district court. The first hearing of the case is planned on 13 June.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Students talk show cancelled ahead of episode with opposition activist” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]29 May 2019 – The Higher School of Economics shut down a student talk-show V Tochku.Persona ahead of a new episode with Lubov Sobol, a lawyer working with the Anti-corruption Fund and an opposition candidate at Moscow parliament election, MBH Media reported.
According to Sobol, she agreed to participate in the talk-show two weeks in advance and the filming was planned for 30 May. But a day before the agreed date, one of the talk show producers informed her about the project closure. “I was told that the project was shut down specifically by the university management”, Sobol told Medusa.
The editor-in-chief of V Tochku.Persona, Violetta Poludyuk confirmed that the project was closed without any explanations. The head of education programme of HSE and the head of the talk-show project, Sergey Korzun told MBH Media that the project was temporarily closed just for this academic year “because the exams session has started”. According to the official programme, project’s closure was scheduled for 31, May. However, in previous years summer break closure varied in dates, for example in 2018 the project was closed for summer on 17 June.
Sobol believes the closure of the talk show was ordered by HSE dean Yaroslav Kuzmenkov, who is also running for Moscow city parliament. “Dean Kuzminkov is very scared that I would talk about Moscow city parliament election and those who runs with support from the ruling party – a member of HSE academic council Valeria Kasamara and Kuzminkov himself. Kuzminov uses his administrative resource to shut down such show”, Sobol told Medusa, also accusing Kuzmenkov of involving HSE students in his political activity.
Kuzmenkov said that the project was already suspended in spring and the head of the project decided not to resume it in its current form. He also denied that Sobol was invited, saying that HSE did not send her an official invitation, “because inviting a politician running an active campaign for Moscow city parliament would be a violation of the university’s rules, that prohibit political activity inside the university”. The press service of HSE also said that invitation of new guests for the talk show was suspended in March because of the upcoming change of the show’s concept. The head of education programme of HSE and the head of the talk show project, Sergey Korzun told Medusa that the guests invitations are agreed jointly by him and students and Sobol was not invited at all, because the show was suspended. “It reminds me of a informational provocation, which could be stage by the campaign management of Sobol to hype on her plans to run for Moscow city parliament”, Korzun said.
Daria Fomenko, a student of HSE and a producer of the show V Tochku.Persona, told Medusa that despite a break in February caused by problems with the filming studio, the talk show continued to invite guests and publish talks with them on the show’s YouTube channel (the last episode was published on 21 May).
The talk show V Tochku.Persona has been produced for three years. In March 2018 it hosted Dmityr Peskov, the press officer of the president Vladimir Putin. Later the record of the episode with Peskov was deleted on his request.
Source of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Arkhangelsk journalist fined twice for the same protest coverage” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]28 May 2019 – Dmitry Sekushin, an environmental activist and reporter with local media outlet Svobodnaya Rech, was detained and charged with violation of mass actions rules for the second time for covering the same protest on 7 April 2019, 29.ru reported.
On 14 May Sekushin was detained for the first time and charged with repeated unsanctioned rally participation, punishable with fine of 200,000 roubles (around 3,055 USD). In a police station the journalist felt sick and was hospitalized. Two weeks later, as soon as Sekushin left the hospital, a police major met him outside and demanded he go to a police station again, where Sekushin was charged for the same protest for the second time – for the following demonstration.
All together the journalist has to pay 400,000 roubles (around 6,110 USD) for covering the protest against sanitation reform, despite the fact that he was accredited with Svobodnaya Rech and had a press badge.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Police seized print copies of regional communist party’s newspaper” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]28 May 2019 – In Novomoskovsk, Tula region, police stopped a car of distributors of Tulskaya Pravda, newspaper of regional communist party, and seized printed copies without any explanations, OVD-Info reported.
According to Vera Serebrovskaya, press-secretary of regional communist party, the incident took place at 2am, when the car was travelling from a printing house in Dzerzhinsk. The car was stopped by traffic patrol service officers. Later other policemen arrived, including the head of the regional criminal search department. He ordered a seizure of the newspaper copies. Police did not seize printed copies of other media oultets that were transported in the same car. Later the seized copies were delivered to the police station in Novomoskovsk. According to Serebrovskaya, the were registered with an inspection protocol, nota seizure protocol.
The seized issue of Tulskaya Pravda was dedicated to sanitation reform and its criticism; it also included a publication of the agreement between Moscow and Tula regions about close cooperation in the field of waste disposal, which suggests that Moscow garbage could potentially be sent to the Tula region.
According to Serebrovskaya, a few days before the seizure, a representative of the local branch of the ruling party United Russia called the printing house and offered money for information on the date of printing of the next issue of Tulskaya Pravda. The printing house’s employees refused to disclose such information.
Earlier in May, police seized Tulskaya Pravda copies several times and accused one of the newspaper’s distributors of “production and distribution of extremists materials”.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Banker sues Kommersant for the article about embezzlement” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]28 May 2019 – Russian banker Valdimir Kvasnyuk, who was named by Kommersant as one of the owners of Promsberbank that lost a license in 2015, filed a defamation lawsuit against Kommersant, RNS reported.
Kvasnyuk said the article was false and defamatory. The piece — “Loans written off on Kaluga land. The case about the embezzlement in Taurus bank submitted to the court” — was published on 21 Janury 2019 on the Kommersant website and in the print version of the newspaper. The article described the embezzlement of 235 million roubles (3,5 mln USD) from Taurus bank with fake land deals in the Kaluga region. According to the paper the scheme involved Promsberbank and Kvasnyuk was named as one of the three people, who was giving orders to provide knowingly bad loans to a number of firms for the purchase of land; as a result the deals were not closed and the money disappeared. Officially Kvasnyuk is involved in the case as a witness.
Georgy Ivanov, the head of Kommersant legal department, said that they did not receive notice of a lawsuit by Kvasnyuk, but earlier the banker sent them a complaint demanding to delete the article.
The hearing of the case is planned on 25 June 2019.
Source of violation: Known private individual(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalists barred again from covering Novoe Velichie trial” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Journalists were barred from covering the trial of the extremist organization Novoe Velichie (“New Greatness”). Defendants claim the charges were fabricated by secret services, Zona.media reported.
According to Zona.Media reporter, the journalists were not allowed to be in the courtroom and the video streaming organized by the court was of a poor quality and the journalists could not hear anything.
Source of violation: Court/Judicial[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Roskomnadzor demands to delete YouTube video about Ekaterinburg protest” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Nikolay Bondarenko, a member of Saratov regional parliament from Communist party, recieved a request from Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor to delete video about Ekaterinburg protests from his YouTub channel Dnevnik Deputata (Eng: Deputy Dairy), Zona.Media reported.
Bondarenko received a letter, saying that the General Prosecutor’s Office decided on 21, May to restrict access to the video named “Fight with police in Ekaterinburg! Riot police, National Guard”
because of calls for extremist activity in users’ comments left below the video. In the video Bondarenko was speaking about the protests in Ekaterinburg against construction of a church in a park and showing some footage of the scuffles of the activists and policemen.
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Dagestan journalist summoned for questioning, put on “prophylactic” black-list” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Idris Usupov, reporter with Dagestan regional weekly newspaper Novoe Delo, was summoned for questioning due to being registered in “prophylactic” black-list, which existence the Russian authorities deny.
In his Facebook post Usupov said that he was traveling to Saint Petersburg for social media marketing course and already after returning to Makhachkala received a phone call from St Petersburg Center to Counter Extremism: “You were visiting us, while you are registered in prophylactical list in the category “extremist” – we received a document about it from Dagestan colleagues”.
In March, Usupov was also detained for “prophylactical talk” in Moscow airport due to request from “regional colleagues”, as policemen explained it. Earlier he got detained several times for filming mass detention of Muslims near Makhachkala mosques.
Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs claim that they do not register people in prophylactic lists and all the order about it from the past were destroyed.
Source of the violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Man with a knife attacks newspaper office after his article about Stalin was not published” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – A man with a knife attacked the office of Rodina, official newspaper of Communist party in Stavropol region, the governor of the region Vladimir Vladimirov reported.
The editor-in-chief Nikolay Bondarenko and three employees of the local headquarter of the Communist party were injured, two of them, Viktor Zinovyev and Vladimir Taziy, are members of the editorial council of Rodina newspaper.
The attacker was detained, he turned out to be 72-year old , who has been registered with a local psychiatric institution since 2012. According to Baza, his name is Konstantin Sidneev and he was announced missing on 22,May while disappearing on his way to a library.
The investigators believe, that the motive of the attack was a refusal to publish the attacker’s article. According to Baza, it was dedicated to Josef Stalin, the leader of the Communsit party Gennady Zuganov and the former presidential candidate from the Communist party Pavel Grudinin. Accodring to regional parliament member Viktor Lozovoy, the editors did not refuse to publish it, but postponed discussion of the article until the editorial council meeting.
Source of violation: Known private individual(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Khakasia official assaulted TV reporter because of questions on housing for wild fires victims” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Ivan Litomin, reporter of Vesti.Dezhurnaya Chast news programme at state owned Russia 24 channel was physically assaulted and thrown to the ground by Sergey Zaytsev, the head of Shirinsky district in Khakasia region, Russia 24 reported.
Accompanied by a filming crew of two people, Litomin was interviewing Zaytsev, asking questions about the official’s luxurious mansion and about poor-quality houses provided by the government to those, who lost their houses in 2015 wild fires. Zaytsev was talking to the journalist in high voice and then tried to take away Litomin’s microphone, grab him and threw him down to the ground, shouting “Go away, I’m telling you, out from here”. After that aids of Zaytsev pushed the journalist out of the official’s office and were trying to prevent and an accompanying cameraman from filming.
After the video of the incident went viral, Evgeny Revenko, the secretary of the ruling party United Russia, a member of which Zaytsev is, publicly apologized; United Russia excluded Zaytsev. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on obstruction of journalistic activity.
Zaytsev himself called the incident “a planned provocation” of the journalists and claimed that Litomin fell by himself. “They broke into my office outside of working hours and started immediately accusing me, calling me a corrupted thief, telling that I have criminal past and asking if I am ashamed of being the head of the district. It lasted 10 minutes. It was impossible to talk to the journalist. I tried to push him out of my office. He was actively protesting. How can it be an assault, when three big men broke into my office, where I was alone, and two of them were physically stronger than me?”, Zaytsev told RIA Novosti. The official filed a complaint to police, asking to prosecute Litomin under the article “Offence to a representative of the government”.
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Federal Tax Service threatens to jail Klerk.ru owner, demands to remove caricatures and articles” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Boris Maltsev, the owner of a specialized accounting media outlet Klerk.ru, with a monthly audience of 3 million visitors of mostly accountants and entrepreneurs, reported threats from Federal Tax Service (FNS) because of caricatures on state officials.
Maltsev said that in one day last week three tax inspections came to check his companies and he was summoned to Krasnodar department of Federal Tax Service (FNS) to “provide explanations regarding entrepreneurial activity”. When he came to FNS department the day after, the tax officers started questioning him as a witness, he refused to testify and suggested to send an official subpoena.
Later the same day, he got a call, saying that the tax officers “received an order” to jail Maltsev for a year and they had enough information on him to do so. To prevent this, the caller demanded to remove four caricatures on state officials published by Klerk.ru. Maltsev did so, and then received another demand to remove 96 collages from Klerk.ru and one image published at his personal page at Vkontakte social network. Maltsev did so too, and then received a new demand – to delete at least 5 articles published at Klerk.ru and follow a set of rules.
The rules were: 1) not to publish caricatures on acting state officials, including Federal Tax Service officials, not to use state symbols and officials names of state institutions in such caricatures; 2) not to criticize the work of Federal Tax service’s information systems, including AIS Nalog 3, and not to mention facts about failures in work of such systems, unless it was published in official press-releases by FNS; 3) not to hurt the reputation of state institutions, including FNS, by criticizing their actions and decisions.
At this point, Maltsev realized that following these rules would mean to destroy Klerk.ru. He refused to delete the mentioned articles and follow the mentioned rules. After that he started recieving several calls per day, demanding to delete the articles and follow the rules, and Matsev decided to publish a story about these threats.
According to Maltsev, two years ago the critique of FNS at Klerk.ru already drew the attention of tax officers to his companies and they became a target of a series of a year-long tax checks, however no violations were found.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Telegram founder confirms attempts to hack accounts of four journalists; three more claimed hacking attempts” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]25 May 2019 – The founder of Telegram messenger app, Pavel Durov, accused Russian authorities of attempts to hack the accounts of four journalists, who were covering the mass protests against a church construction in a local park in Ekaterinburg.
“It reminds us that the authoritarian governments will stop at nothing to violate the privacy of their citizens”, Durov wrote, saying that the hacking attempts failed due to the two-steps authentication.
Earlier attempts of hacking Telegram-accounts were reported by Dmitry Kolezev, the editor-in-chief of Ural website Znak.com; Nataliya Vakhonina, the editor-in-chief of news agency Mezhdu Strok’ based in Nizhny Tagil; Anton Olshannikov, the editor-in-chief of Ura.ru; Ludmila Savitskaya, reporter with MBH Media and Radio Svoboda; Andrey Varkentin, the author of Telegram-channel Glavny Kanal Ekaterinburga; Dmitry Andreev, reporter with Medusa website; Platon Mamontov, director of communications agency Magic Inc.
Source of violation: Police/State security; Unknown[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Yugorsk local official threatens journalist over article about him” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]23 May 2019 – Anton Pantin, journalist with Yugorsk local media outlet Tochka News, filed a complaint to police about threats from Alexander Bekker, member of Yugorsk city parliament from the ruling United Russia party, MBH Media reported.
“I believe that these threats are connected to the investigations about members of the city parliament. They do not like that I am publishing these materials”, Pantin said. According to him, Bekker told him in obscene and brutal way that he would rape and injure the journalist, if he does not stop writing about him. Pantin gave MBH Media the record of the call from Bekker, saying “If I hear one more time that you wrote something about me, I will f**k you, I don’t know how, but everything happens”. The deputy also promised to “cut the face” of Pantin.
Pantin said that he takes Bekker’s threats seriously as he is a powerful and affluent man, and asked police to open a case about obstruction of journalistic activity.
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Lipetsk journalist fined for offending prosecutor” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]23 May 2019 – Lipetsk court fined Dmitry Pashinov, a journalist with local Pravda newspaper, 30,000 roubles (around 458 USD) for offending prosecutor Andrey Pazhetnykh, OVD-Info reported.
The journalist has also spent 13 days in remand prison, although, he was charged under article 319 of the Criminal Code “Insulting a representative of the goverment” does not imply any detention. Because of jail time, the court said Pashinov did not need to pay the fine.
Pashinov calls his case “an attempt to put pressure on press freedom” and believed that the trial was controlled by prosecution: the judge rejected around 30 defence motions. Pashinov, who pleaded not guilty, said he will appeal the court’s ruling.
Pashinov is known for independent investigations and has had personal conflicts with Pazhetnykov. The journalist believes that the reason of the conflict is that he filed multiple complaint about Pazhetnykov’s actions or inaction related to checks initiated on Pashinov’s reports. When the journalist came to Pazhetnykov’s office to check the progress on one of such checks, the prosecutor tried to push the journalist out of the office and squeezed his hand by the door. Pashinov called the police, but Pazhetnykov said that the journalist insulted him and filed a complaint against him.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Roskomnadzor initiates administrative case against Taiga.Info for ‘profanity'” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]21 May 2019 – Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor’s department in Siberian Federal District notified local website Tayga.info about an administrative offence report and summoned the media outlet’s editor-in-chief for “explanations and (or) drawing up a report of administrative offence”, Tayga.info reported. It may lead to the loss of the site’s media license.
Roskomnadzor found violations in three articles published after 15 May about a collective beating of a student of a local college, citing the video record of the incident, in which one person said “Kill him, *****”.
Tayga.info published a quote with stars instead of a swear-word and included a hyperlink to a video of the incident. Roskomnadzor accused the media outlet of “production and distribution of media materials containing profanity”.
“It remains unclear what Roskomnadzor saw in the text. Our editorial office meticulously follows the media law and has a right to demand similar behavior from the controlling institutions”, said Vasily Volnukhin, the editor-in-chief of Tayga.info.
Earlier Sergey Averyaskin, a member of pro-government All-Russia People Front and the director of local architectural construction college, where the victim of collective beating was a student, wrote in his Facebook that he would file a complaint to Roskomnadzor about publications on the incident by Tayga.info and another local media outlet NGS.
“Today at the media forum of All-Russia People Front in Sochi, I am meeting the head of Roskomnadzor to talk about over the top actions of some of our regional media. NGS, Tayga.info and some other yellow press… they pissed me off”, Averyaskin wrote. He also published an image of buttocks on legs with a sign “Towards adventures!” and a caption “Greetings to Tayga”.
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party; Known private individual(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Ministry of Interior Affairs sues reporter and media outlets over publication on sexual harassment in police” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]20 May 2019 – The Chelyabinks department of Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) sued Lenta.ru, Komsomolskaya Pravda-Chelyabinsk, Sibirsko-Uralskaya Mediacompania and Lenta.ru reporter Larisa Zhukova for an article about sexual harassment in the Chelyabisnk police force.
Zhukova recorded former police officer Lubov Gerasimova, who described how she was sexually harassed by a police regiment commander and then abused and forced to quit after rejecting him. When she reported harassment to higher management, the commander openly threatened her and received a promotion. The recording was published by Lenta.ru on 2 November 2018.
On 8 November 2018 the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that it conducted the check of mentioned facts and found them false. MVD sued Lubov Gerasimova for defamation, demanding 80,000 roubles of compensation (about 1,230 USD). After that Gerasimova publicly apologized and accused Zhukova of making up the story, and MVD decided to sue the reporter herself and media that published or picked up the story.
Zhukova published unedited audio recordings of her talk with Gerasimova on Facebook, claiming that she has other proof of her story too.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Two Kommersant journalists fired over publication about Federation Council’s speaker” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]20 May 2019 – Kommersant’s reporter Ivan Safronov and deputy editor of the politics department Maxim Ivanov were fired over a publication about expected changes in the Federation Council, the journalists said in Facebook posts.
The publication “People To Make Speakers From” was published on 17, April and suggested that, according to the sources, the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko could soon be replaced with the head of Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergey Naryshkin. The journalists were told that the decision to terminate their contracts was made by Kommersant’s stakeholder, who exactly it was and what caused displeasure with the mentioned publication was not disclosed.
Kommersant belongs to oligarch Alisher Usmanov, the owner of USM Holdings and the 9th richest man in Russia, according to Forbes.
Vladimir Zhelonkin, the chief-editor and general director of Kommersant, told BBC Russian Service that he personally made a decision of firing Safronov and Ivanov because the mentioned publication “was not written within the standards” of Kommersant. He refused to provide any further explanations.
An anonymous source in the Kommersant editorial office told BBC Russian Service that after the article in question was published, there were discussions about possible firing of Zhelonkin himself. Another source said that Matvienko complained about the mentioned publication to Kommersant’s owner Usmanov and after that the newspaper’s politics department had an urgent meeting.
At least 11 other journalists of Kommersant, including all 10 journalists of the politics department, publicly announced that they will quit the newspaper to show protest against firing of Safronov and Ivanov.
Source of violation: Employer[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Photographer assaulted by policeman during protests in Ekaterinburg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]15 May 2019 – Vladimir Zhabrikov, a photographer with Ura.ru news agency, was kicked by a policeman, who threatened to “take away your lenses”. Zhabrikov had a press badge on him.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalist detained during protests in Ekaterinburg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]15 May 2019 – Vladislav Postnikov, civil activist, who was live-streaming from a protest for social media group Tipichny Ekaterinburg, was brutally detained by police. When he showed his press card to police maior Svetlana Babinova, she told him “Shovel this card into your ass”.
Her words were recorded by Postnikov’s live-stream. Later he was also denied a right to call his lawyer from the police department; policemen told him that he didn’t need a lawyer.
Source of Violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Photographer assaulted during protests in Ekaterinburg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]14 May 2019 – Anna Mayorova, photographer with Ura.ru news agency, suffered a tear gas attack while covering protests in Ekaterinburg against the construction of a church in a local park, Ura.ru reported. Mayorova did not see who sprayed the tear gas.
Source of violation: Unknown[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”FSB officers visit parents of Open Media journalist” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]8 May 2019 – Two men who self-identified as FSB officers came to the Moscow apartment of the parents of Yulia Koshelyaeva, a journalist working for Open Media, the website reported.
The journalist’s mother, who was alone in the apartment at the time, refused to open the door. The men said that they had to talk to Yulia Kosheleva about her alleged membership in a terrorist organization Narodnaya Samooborona (the organization with such name is absent in the list of terrorist organizations maintained by Russia’s justice ministry). The men refused to show a subpoena for Kosheleva and and left a phone number and an address of FSB department, where they said Kosheleva had to come for questioning.
“I don’t know what they could come for. I was a member of group chats of Narodnaya Samooborona, because I was gathering information for articles about the organization. I have nothing to do with it”, Kosheleva said referring to open chat that has over 670 members.
Narodnaya Samooborona emerged in media, after an MSU student said that he was detained, tortured and forced to admit he was a leader of this anarchists’ organization. Kosheleva was covering the developments of this case for Open Media.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Simferopol journalist arrested for 10 days for refusing to undergo medical examination” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]8 May 2019 – In Simferopol, journalist of local news outlet Primechaniya Evgeniy Gayvoronskiy was arrested for 10 days for refusing to undergo medical examination during his detention on 26, March, Novaya Gazeta reported. Previously Gayvoronskiy was arrested for 12 days for drugs usage in relation with the same detention.
Earlier in March Gayvoronskiy’s house was searched and his documents, notebooks, phones and computers were seized.
Gayvoronskiy is known for investigations about Yalta mayor Andrey Rostenko.
Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Distributors of communist newspaper detained in Tula” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
8 May 2019 – In Tula, five members of communist party of Russian Federation were detained while distributing party’s regional newspaper Tulskaya Pravda, OVD-Info reported. Policemen said they were acting by “the order from the management”.
Police seized 7,000 copies saying that the newspaper will be checked for extremist materials, despite the fact that for the seizure of printed copies a court decision is needed. The police also said that the detained activists will be checked for illegal trade, but later released all the activists without any charges.
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Attack to Property
Source of violation: Police/State security
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Three journalists detained at opposition rally in St. Petersburg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
1 May 2019 – At least three journalists were detained while covering a sanctioned opposition rally in Saint Petersburg, OVD-Info, Zona.Media and MBH-Media reported.
Freelance photojournalist who works under the name George Markov and photojournalist with St. Petersburg-based online news outlet Dva Stula Oleg Nasonov were brutally detained despite identifying themselves as press.
Makarov was also beaten by police. According to him, he got beaten with rubber buttons in the ribs and the head, his arm was bleeding. He was held at a police station for 2.5 hours and then was hospitalized without a protocol about any violations.
Nasonov was charged with violating public order and released after about four hours of detention. He will be required to appear in court and may be fined between 10,000 and 20,000 rubles ($152 to $305) if found guilty
In a separate incident journalist with local online broadcaster Sota VisionPetr Ivanov was detained as well. Ivanov, who is under 18 years old, was also held in a police station. He was told that he was detained for violating traffic rules as he was walking in a traffic lane, Rosbalt reported
UPDATE: 2, May – St Petersburg police is searching photographer George Markov, who was beaten and detained while covering 1 May demonstration, Zona.Media reported. The policemen came to Markov’s apartment when he was not home, however Markov’s neighbours let the police in and said that they were questioned about Markov. The photographer also said in Twitter that he received multiple phone calls from a deputy head of the police department №76, who demanded Markov to come to the police department to testify about the 1 May demonstration, threatening to otherwise come to the journalist.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We, the undersigned members of the Civic Solidarity Platform (CSP), a coalition of human rights NGOs from Europe, the former Soviet Union region and North America, and other non-governmental organisations decry the mass detentions of peaceful demonstrators, journalists and human rights defenders, as well as the use of violence and abusive treatment targeting them in Belarus on 25-26 March 2017. These events were the culmination of a series of repressive measures taken by the authorities of the country since the beginning of March to stifle the public expression of grievances. Given the severity of this human rights crisis of unprecedented scale since December 2010, it is crucial that the international community takes resolute action to push for an end to the crackdown in Belarus and justice for those targeted by it.
We condemn the gross violations of the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, freedom from arbitrary detention, and the right to fair trial in Belarus in connection with the recent peaceful protests, and call on the international community to use all available means to put pressure on the Belarusian authorities to immediately end these violations.
Such measures by the authorities should include:
immediately releasing those currently behind bars because of their involvement in the peaceful protests or their efforts to monitor them;
dropping charges against all those prosecuted on these grounds;
carrying out prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all allegations of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and other violations of the rights of protesters, passers-by, journalists, human rights defenders and political activists in connection with the protests; and
bringing those responsible for violations to justice.
We call in particular for the following concrete actions by international community in response to the current crackdown in Belarus:
To the OSCE:
The OSCE participating States should initiate and support the renewal of the Moscow Mechanism in relation to Belarus and the appointment of a new rapporteur for this process, in view of the fact that the current developments mirror those on the grounds of which this mechanism was invoked in 2011;
The OSCE Chairmanship should appoint a Special Representative on Belarus, whose mandate should include investigating the recent violations;
The Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights should monitor the trials of those facing charges because of their participation in the recent peaceful protests, or their efforts to monitor and report on them;
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly should reconsider holding its annual session in Minsk in July 2017 and identify another host country and city for this event.
To the Council of Europe:
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe should replace its current rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, ensuring that the individual holding this position forcefully speaks out against human rights violations in the country.
To the UN:
Members of the Human Rights Council should extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, continue urging the Belarusian authorities to allow the Special Rapporteur to visit the country, and adopt a strong resolution on the human rights situation in Belarus at the next session of the Council;
High Commissioner on Human Rights should publicly condemn the crackdown in Belarus and engage in direct contact with the Belarusian authorities on this matter.
To international financial institutions:
International financial institutions should apply strong human rights conditionality in the implementation of their programs in Belarus and refrain from allocating funding to government projects until the human rights situation in the country has substantially improved. Specifically, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development should reinstate its calibrated strategy on Belarus.
To the EU:
The EU member states and institutions should apply stronger and more consistent human rights conditionality to the development of its relations with Belarus and consider the prospects of reinstating sanctions similar to those applied in 2011-12 for widespread human rights violations.
To the USA:
The US government should consider reinstating the sanctions against Belarus that it suspended in 2015-16.
Background information, based on reports from the ground:
In the afternoon of 25 March 2017, people took to the streets in the Belarusian capital of Minsk for planned peaceful protests on the occasion of the Day of Freedom, which commemorates the Belarusian declaration of independence in 1918. There was as a heavy police and security presence in the city, the downtown area where protests were due to be held was cordoned off, and traffic was blocked on the main Independence Avenue. Local and international human rights monitors representing the CSP member organisations documented the use of heavy-handed tactics by the law enforcement and security authorities to prevent the peaceful protests, for which authorities had not given advance permission as required by Belarusian law and in violation of international standards. At least 700 people were detained on 25 March, including elderly and passers-by. As can be seen on available photos and footage, police forcefully rounded up and beat protesters with batons, although these made no resistance. More than 30 journalists and photographers from both Belarusian and international media outlets were detained; cameras and other equipment of some of them were damaged by police. Toward the evening, police started releasing detainees from the detention facilities, in many cases without charge. However, others remain in detention, and dozens of individuals are expected to stand trial starting Monday 27 March on charges relating to their participation in the peaceful protests.
The following episode requires particular attention: At 12.45 pm local time on 25 March, about an hour before the start of the planned peaceful protest, anti-riot police raided the offices of the Human Rights Center Viasna and detained a total of 57 Belarusian and foreign human rights defenders and volunteers as well as journalists. Human rights defenders and volunteers had gathered there for a training on monitoring the protests and were planning to go to the streets of Minsk for observation of the assemblies. Among them were representatives of Viasna, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the Belarusian Documentation Center, Frontline Defenders, International Partnership for Human Rights and other organisations. The police shouted at all present, intimidated them, and ordered to lie down on the floor face down. 57 people were detained without any charges, packed in the buses and brought to the Pervomaisky district police station, where their belongings were searched and their personal information recorded. The detainees were held there for two and a half hours and were released afterwards without charges. One of the detained needed medical treatment because of injuries sustained when being beaten by police. The raid of the offices of Viasna and the detention of the monitors were clearly aimed at intimidating and preventing them from observing the peaceful assembly and documenting possible violations.
The crackdown continued on 26 March, with dozens of people being detained by police as they gathered at October Square in Minsk at noon to express solidarity with those detained the day before. Among the detained on 26 March were at least one human rights defender, one civil society activist and one journalist. Representatives of national and international human rights NGOs, including members of the CSP, continue to document violations perpetrated in connection with the events of the last few days.
The detentions on 25-26 March followed the earlier detention of about 300 people, including opposition members, journalists and human rights defenders in the last few weeks. These detentions have taken place against the background of a wave of peaceful demonstrations that were carried out across Belarus since mid-February 2017 to protest against so-called “social parasites” law which imposes a special tax on those who have worked for less than six months during the year without registering as unemployed. The legislation, which has affected hundreds of thousands of people in the economically struggling country, has caused widespread dismay. On 9 March, President Lukashenko suspended the implementation of the law but refused to withdraw it, resulting in further protests. Many of those detained have been fined or arrested for up to 15 days on administrative charges related to their participation in the peaceful protests. Over two dozen people are facing criminal charges on trumped-up charges of preparation to mass riots.
Signed by the following CSP members:
Analytical Center for Inter-Ethnic Cooperation and Consultations (Georgia)
Article 19 (United Kingdom)
Association UMDPL (Ukraine)
Bir Duino (Kyrgyzstan)
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine)
Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights (Russia)
Committee against Torture (Russia)
Crude Accountability (USA)
Freedom Files (Russia/Poland)
German-Russian Exchange – DRA (Germany)
Helsinki Association of Armenia
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor (Armenia)
Helsinki Committee of Armenia
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)
Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan
Human Rights First (USA)
Human Rights House Foundation (Norway)
Human Rights Information Center (Ukraine)
Human Rights Monitoring Institute (Lithuania)
The institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (Azerbaijan/Georgia/Switzerland)
Index on Censorship (United Kingdom)
Institute Respublica (Ukraine)
International Partnership for Human Rights (Belgium)
Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law
The Kosova Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims
Macedonian Helsinki Committee
Moscow Helsinki Group (Russia)
The Netherlands Helsinki Committee
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Office of Civil Freedoms (Tajikistan)
Promo-LEX (Moldova)
Protection of Rights without Borders (Armenia)
Public Association “Dignity” (Kazakhstan)
Public Alternative Foundation (Ukraine)
Public Foundation Golos Svobody (Kyrgyzstan)
Public Verdict Foundation (Russia)
Regional Center for Strategic Studies (Azerbaijan/ Georgia)
Serbian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
SOLIDARUS e.V. (Germany)
The Swiss Helsinki Committee
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
World Organisation against Torture (OMCT)
Other organisations who have joined the statement:
Belarus Free Theatre
Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights (Switzerland)
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.
Turkey’s main internet regulator, Information and Communication Technologies, sent instructions to operators to close VPN services, according to technology news site Webtekno.
The ICT said it was acting within the scope of Article 6, paragraph 2 of law no 5651 in adopting a decision requesting Turkish operators to shut down VPN services.
The decision covers popular encryption services as Tor Project, VPN Master, Hotspot Shield VPN, Psiphon, Zenmate VPN, TunnelBear, Zero VPN, VyprVPN, Private Internet Access VPN, Espress VPN, IPVanish VPN.
According to Webtekno some VPN services are still available such as Open VPN.
“This is clearly detrimental to journalists and the protection of their sources,” Hannah Machlin, project officer for Mapping Media Freedom, said.
Turkey’s internet censorship did not stop with VPNs as the country faced a shutdown of the popular social media sites Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and more. This was the first time in recent years that the Turkish government targeted popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Instagram, according to Turkey Blocks.
The Independent states that it’s unclear whether the social media outage came from an intentional ban, an accident or a cyber attack. Turkey Blocks believes the outage was related to the arrest of political activists for the opposition party the previous night.
Turkey has increasingly utilised internet restrictions to limit media coverage in times of political unrest.
Spanish group Morera and Vallejo, has decided to slash contracts with photographers working for their newspaper, El Correo de Andalucía, according to the Sevilla Press Association (APS).
The three photographers working as “fake” freelancers for the newspaper were on a permanent contract without the benefits of being an employee. New contracts for the photographers worsened their conditions, lowering their pay and lessening the work photographers can put in daily.
APS additionally states that journalists working for El Correo de Andalucía are expected to act as photographers as well, doubling the amount of work they must put in. The newspaper pushed for the merging journalism and photography but journalists are unwilling to steal their coworkers’ jobs.
Four journalists from the Center for Investigative Reporting in Serbia (CINS) have noted that they have been followed and photographed on mobile phones by unknown individuals, NUNs Press reported.
CINS, which is known for reporting on corruption and organised crime in Serbia, believes the stalkers are an attempt to intimidate their journalists. Editor-in-chief Dino Jahic stated that they’re unsure who is behind the harassment, “We are working on dozens of investigations all the time, and each of them could trigger somebody’s anger.”
On its website, CINS wrote that they were determined to continue their investigations despite the intimidation. Their case has been reported to the Ministry of Interior and the public prosecutor’s office in Belgrade.
The online investigative news site Ukrayinska Pravda has reported that Ukrainian authorities wiretapped the outlet’s offices during the summer of 2015.
Editor-in-chief Sevgil Musayeva-Borovyk said in March of 2016, an unidentified person handed in an envelope with operational reports, activities and topics recently discussed by UP. The site has no evidence that wiretapping has continued since then.
According to Ukrayinska Pravda, the security service of Ukraine was carrying out orders from the president’s administration. Ukrayinska Pravda reported that it was not only its journalists that were targeted, claiming the staff of several other media sites have been tapped. Mapping Media Freedom does not yet know which other organisations.
Journalists have asked the security service of Ukraine, interior minister and chairman of the national police to respond to the information UP has gathered.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
30 May 2019 – In the Kostromskaya region, Russia’s state media regulator Roskomnadzor organized “a prophylactic workshop” for local journalists on suicide reporting, Zona.Media reported. 
29 May 2019 – Alexander Beglov, interim governor of Saint Petersburg left a news conference without answering a single question and avoided journalists, Lenizdat.ru reported. 
29 May 2019 – Ekaterinburg local news website E1.RU received a letter from Russia’s state media regulator demanding to delete from E1.RU YouTube-channel two online video streams from the protests against construction of a church in a park, because of calls for extremist activity and unsanctioned rallies in users’ comments left below the videos, E1.RU reported. 
Each week, Index on Censorship’s 