Russia: Press freedom violations July 2019

06 Aug 19 | Russia, Russia Incident Reports

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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=”32 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

MBH Media journalist charged for cooperation with “undesirable organisation”

30 July 2019  – In Ust-Labinsk, in the Krasnodar region, police searched the house of local journalist Alexandr Savelev and seized his phone, Mediazona reported.

Savelev was taken to the police station for questioning and later released. The next day he was detained and charged with cooperation with undesirable organisation, which is punishable with up to six years in jail.

The police believe that the news outlet MBH-Media that Savelev was reporting for is connected to Open Russia, which is considered an “undesirable organisation” by Russian authorities.

The journalist believes that the criminal case against him is connected to his professional activities, including his investigations into corruption in the region.

Links: https://ovdinfo.org/articles/2019/08/19/zhurnalist-aleksandr-savelev-zanimaetsya-rassledovaniyami-na-nego-vozbudili?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR3jdUh5n_SETmBFQlkokQb7qu1Yz0GhfJEPvsJbYJWYqGySrgtu3JnFnEA

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/na-zhurnalista-yug/?fbclid=IwAR1b0t7u_KCbkpcLidW6_0LFlh2WzB9ttR_krcjXL28YftutlzPkgCYrjIg

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source(s) of violation: Police/State security

Police detain journalists reporting on Navalny’s alleged poisoning

28 July 2019 – Daniil Sotnikov, reporter with independent broadcaster Dozhd, and photographer Gerogy Markov were detained, despite carrying valid press cards, while reporting on the alleged poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Police detained the journalists near the hospital where Navalny was taken. 

Markov said he was also beaten by policemen and his camera was broken. 

Background:

28 July 2019 – Opposition leader Alexey Navalny was allegedly poisoned in jail, where he was under 30 days arrest for organising unsanctioned protests. He was hospitalised on the fourth day of his arrest with symptoms initally described as an “acute allergic reaction.” Later the main immunologist-allergist in Moscow diagnosed him with “contact dermatitis in the facial area and angioedema of the paraorbital area”.

Navalny’s doctor published a post on Facebook criticising the official diagnosis. She said she had attempted to examine Navalny, but was not allowed to. She wrote that, since Navalny does not suffer from any allergies, that he ate the same hospital food as the rest of the patients and did not use any new perfume or hygiene products, this could be “the result of the damaging effects of unspecified chemicals”.

Links:

https://zona.media/news/2019/07/28/razgon?fbclid=IwAR1TP3JwGalq7EMY13aaGsGM9h5Hwr9gvDj139JEXdJ3MIYsjSiU8AiSrYE  

https://t.me/mbkhmedia/11668 

Background links:

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2431075110337317&id=100003045553668 

https://t.co/rAhclAYeoq 

https://meduza.io/feature/2019/07/28/aleksey-navalnyy-vo-vremya-ocherednogo-aresta-popal-v-bolnitsu-ego-lechaschie-vrachi-somnevayutsya-v-ofitsialnom-diagnoze-chto-proishodit

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Physical Assault/Injury

Source of violation: Police/State security

Journalists assaulted while covering mass protests in Moscow

Evgeny Feldman

22 July 2019 – At least six journalists were injured by policemen during a violent crackdown on demonstrators, who took to the streets to protest against the disqualification of independent candidates to the Moscow City Parliament, Meduza reported.

Evgeny Feldman, a photographer who was covering the protests for Meduza. Feldman’s camera was struck by a policeman and his nose was injured in the process. 

Alexandr Soloukhin, a cameraman working with YouTube vlogger Ilya Varlamov, said that he was also hit in the nose when the police surrounded the protesters and started beating them with the batons.

Balaram Usov, editor of student magazine DOXA, was hit in the head with a baton and then his arm was injured when he was pushed and pinched by a door; later he sent to a hospital from a police station. 

Photographer Valery Tenevoy was beaten in a police van, wVD-Info reported. 

RBC journalist Elena Sheveleva reported that she was hit by a policeman and a reporter working for Meduza said that an officer twisted Sheveleva’s arm. 

Links:

https://twitter.com/EvgenyFeldman/status/1155159056908214277

https://twitter.com/varlamov/status/1155150622406168577

https://ovdinfo.org/news/2019/07/27/miting-u-merii-moskvy-27-iyulya-2019-goda-i-ego-posledstviya-onlayn#wtf_1188525

https://ovdinfo.org/articles/2019/07/27/dopuskay-itogi-akcii-storonnikov-kandidatov-v-mosgordumu

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

Source of violation: Police/State security

Dozhd website suffers DDoS-attack

27 July 2019 – Independent broadcaster Dozhd reported a DDoS attack on its website during live coverage of mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament.

Links:

https://tvrain.ru/news/sajt_dozhdja_podvergsja_ddos_ataka-490401/

Categories: DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

Source of violation: Unknown 

Police summon TV Dozhd editor-in-chief for questioning

27 July 2019 – Policemen raided a studio belonging to independent broadcaster Dozhd while it was covering mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament, Meduza reported.

The broadcaster’s editor-in-chief Alexandra Pospelova was summoned for questioning as a witness in a criminal case opend under the article 141 of the Criminal Code of Russia – obstruction of the activity of elections committees. This case had been opened after mass protests in support of the independent candidates to Moscow city parliament, who revealed widespread inconsistency in the election commission’s actions after they were rejected the registration on the grounds of submitting false signatures.

Links:

https://meduza.io/news/2019/07/27/politseyskie-prishli-v-studiyu-dozhdya

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security

Police detain Navalny Live host during live coverage of mass protests

27 July 2019 – Policemen broke into a studio of YouTube channel Navalny Live, run by the team of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny during the live coverage of mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament – the video of the incident was posted by Ilya Pahomov on  Twitter. Later the host of the channel’s Vladimir Milov reported that he was detained at a police station. 

Видео, как полиция врывалась в студию @navalnylive, откуда велась прямая трансляция акции на Тверской. pic.twitter.com/4Wbh0sP8cK

— Ilya Pahomov (@ilyapahomov) July 27, 2019

Links: 

https://twitter.com/ilyapahomov/status/1155098701712494592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1155098701712494592&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmeduza.io%2Fnews%2F2019%2F07%2F27%2Fpolitsiya-vorvalas-v-studiyu-navalnyy-live

https://meduza.io/news/2019/07/27/politsiya-vorvalas-v-studiyu-navalnyy-live

https://twitter.com/v_milov/status/1155104996062629889

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security

Ilya Azar detained in Moscow at mass protest

27 July 2019 – Novaya Gazeta special reporter and a municipal deputy Ilya Azar was detained in Moscow during the mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament, despite presenting his press-card to the police – which was recorded in the video published by witnesses. 

Links: 

https://meduza.io/news/2019/07/27/zaderzhan-zhurnalist-novoy-gazety-ilya-azar 

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security

Police told journalists to get accreditation to cover mass protests in Moscow

25 July 2019 – The press-service of Ministry of Interior Affairs of Moscow published a statement, asking media managers to send to the police the data of the journalists who would be covering the mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament on 27 July. 

The director of the Center of Defense of the Rights of Media, Galina Arapova, called it “meddling into professional independence of the editorial offices” and stressed that according to the law, journalists can cover protests and other actions without any coordination with the police. Arapova also warned that submitting such data to the police may threaten the security of the journalists: “We understand, that there were cases when police came to the organisers or alleged participants ahead of the mass actions. Where is the guarantee that they will not come to a journalist ahead of the event, that something won’t happen to him/her and he/she won’t get to the event place? Why does the police need to know the names of those people?” 

The police also asked the journalists to carry with them not only press-cards but a printed editorial assignment from their publication. If they don’t have such assignments, police threatened them with sanctions. Arapova also believes the requirement is illegal: “Detention in this case will be absolutely illegal. According to the Article 47 of the Media Law, journalists have special rights. This is an inalienable professional right. Even without a special assignment. You walked, saw something happening, and started filming. This right is granted to you by the specifics of the professions and the federal law.” 

Links: 

https://77.мвд.рф/news/item/17697354/https://whitenews.press/?p=5798&fbclid=IwAR3CgUp0WfT8DzpEh7wQ96A30onTcZcePuqk5RLu7IqhDP24Zp2Iu8GxKMc

Categories: Intimidation

Source of violation: Police/State security

Administrative case about “participation in the activity of undesirable organisation” opened against the founder of Samara newspaper

26 July 2019 – Yulia Illarianova, director of the founding organisation of Park Gagarina, a local newspaper in Samara, was handed a protocol about the opening an administrative case against her about “participation in the activity of undesirable organisation” because of two news articles mentioning Open Russia (recognised as undesirable organisation in Russia since April 2017) that ran in Park Gagarina. One of the articles appeared in October 2017, the other in January 2019. 

Links: 

https://www.facebook.com/GlasnostDefense/photos/a.849220988467446/2591652674224260/?type=3&theater

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Police/State security

Yakutsk journalists fined for article about torture

25 July 2019 – A Yakutsk city court fined Mikhail Romanov, a journalist with local weekly newspaper Yakutsk Vecherny, 30,000 rubles ($473) for “for abusing the freedom of information”, Interfax reported. 

In April, Romanov wrote and published the an artucle with the headline “The victim of the regime” about an employee of a local university who was kidnapped and tortured by Federal Security Service (FSB) officers for leaving critical comments on social media. After the publication, a district police officer came to the editorial office several times to question Romanov, but the journalist refused to testify without official summoning.

Then the policemen opened an administrative case against the journalists under the article 17.7 (insubordination to the legal requirements of a representative of the authorities) and later another one under the article 13.15 (abusing the freedom of information). According to the officer, Romanov’s phrase in the published article “This is a story about the fact that everyone can get into the millstones of the state machine. And about the fact that Big Brother watches, reads all the comments on the forums…” contained hidden inserts, affected people’s subconsciousness and had a harmful effect on them.

Links: 

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/670353

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/07/25/153649-v-yakutii-oshtrafovali-zhurnalista-obvinennogo-v-vozdeystvii-na-podsoznanie-lyudey-iz-za-stati-o-pytkah-sotrudnikami-fsb

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4041316

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Court/Judicial; Police/State security

Two reporters charged with failure to comply with judge’s orders

24 July 2019 – Reporters of Telegram-channels AvtozakLIVE and Bessrochny Protest were charged with failure to comply with the order of the judge or bailiff to ensure the established order of the courts and pushed out of the court room, where they were covering trial of Alexandr Archagov, charged with organisation of unsanctioned protest against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament, OVD-Info reported. 

Links: 

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/07/24/na-korrespondentov-dvuh-telegram-kanalov-sostavili-protokoly-za-semku-v-sude?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR0xEedt9R61uafD9jGP1WwyXmBH4Vmmce1QppvGuqbQ6E6nSKqhB6o7WDg

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Court/Judicial

Grani.ru reporter expelled from court for real time reporting

24 July 2019 – Alim Suleimanov, a reporter with Grani.ru, was expelled from North Caucasus District Military Court for live reporting for Facebook group “Crimean Solidarity” on the trial of Crimean activist Nariman Memedinov, according to journalist Anton Naumlyuk. 

Suleimanov was expelled on the grounds of not getting permission to conduct real time reporting, however such permission is not needed for real time text reporting (only for video). Suleimanov was not charged officially.

Links: 

https://www.facebook.com/anton.naumliuk/posts/2623886230979634

https://zona.media/news/2019/07/24/txt?fbclid=IwAR0hL72rZL0Af5miYT2VPtiufgkZrmBZVQsqexKD1EKE9DdXRnNinoUKgX8

Categories: Blocked Access

Source of violation: Court/Judicial

Dagestan-based journalist charged with financing terrorism

23 July 2019 – Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, a journalist with Dagestan regional newspaper Chernovik, was charged with financing terrorism, according to Pavel Chikov, the head of human rights group Agora. 

According to the offical investigation, Gadzhiev conspired with others, including an exiled Islamic preacher Israil Akhmednabiev to fundraise money for the Islamic state in 2011. Investigators allege that as part of the scheme Gadzhiev published news reports on the charitable activities of Akhmednabiev’s Ansar fund  between 2011 to 2019. The investigators said they believe that Gadzhiev knew that part of the funds was being transferred to the Islamic state in Syria. Authorities believe that over 6 million rubles (almost $95,000) were donated to Ansar by deceived members of the public. 

Gadzhiev was detained on 14 June. The journalist and his colleagues claim that he is innocent. The investigators said that his guilt is confirmed by testimonies of others accused in these case – a lawyer of one of them said that he testified under torture. 

Links: 

https://zona.media/news/2019/07/23/ansar?fbclid=IwAR1nWvGOmAULYtDk2rJIc4o7PpCGSuCGwoU2a7f6zB4daIIDwAhebsNbW-k

https://zona.media/news/2019/06/16/dagestan

https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/337733/?fbclid=IwAR1DLcgWr39E2hQvMmdysnacAvlO8Tl22XBfGARjBAZonEUiAXo7BpderJo#.XSdd1r18lDU.facebook

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Court/Judicial; Police/State security

The court blocks Snob’s test about corruption

19 July 2019 – The Kirovsky district court of Tomsk ruled the Russian state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, could block access to a “test” about corruption, published by Snob magazine in November 2017. 

The lawsuit against Snob was filed in May 2019 by a city prosecutor of Asinovsk, who demanded to block access to the test — “How to give and take bribes properly. Test-instruction for a beginner official” — because “committing actions posted on the website are punishable with criminal and administrative responsibility, and the distribution [of such information] violates … the constitutional rights of an indefinite number of persons to freely seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information in any legal way guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation”.

Snob argued that all the questions in the test are based on real corruption cases, and the test was published as a response to the news that the state budget lost 19 billion of rubles ($300 millions) due to the corruption. 

Links: 

https://snob.ru/selected/entry/130778/

https://snob.ru/news/180189/

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4034634?fbclid=IwAR1Ea5mnFMxEZ13O1hMNuGXwdEWCtbRvi975aVCAP7Ml_6ezw2F_4TQzs9E

Category: Censorship

Source of violation: Court/Judicial

Court bars journalists from covering public trial

18 July 2019 – In Tyumen, Justice of the Peace Natalya Buslovich barred journalists from covering the open trial of Timur Muratov, an alleged son of the former head of the police in Kalininsky city district, who is accused of murder threats, Znak.com reported.

Muratov’s lawyer filed a motion with the court to bar journalists, which was supported by the prosecutor in the case. Despite the objection from the victim’s lawyer, that the trial was open, the justice of the peace asked attending journalists to leave the court room and said prohibited press outlets from publishing about the trial before the final hearing.  

Links: 

https://www.znak.com/2019-07-18/v_tyumeni_sudya_zapretila_smi_osvechat_otkrytyy_process_nad_synom_eks_policeyskogo?fbclid=IwAR3U7qLg2L28MFcpes7Zz4Yjlkib_nToCKIt8QwSTo3BLrlpLg7suM9eyQw

Categories: Blocked Access

Source of violation: Court/Judicial

SotaVision journalist assaulted and detained by police during protest in front of Reutov court

17 July 2019 – Oleg Elanchik, reporter with online-broadcaster SotaVision, was detained during a crack down on a demonstration in support of an opposition activist that took place front of Reutov court, OVD-Info reported. 

According to Elanchik, who was accredited to work in the court, he saw about 16 officers of Rapid Response Group of the Bailiff Service of the Moscow Region  disperse about 30-40 people who came to support opposition activist Evgenoy Kurakin, whose case was being heard in the court that day. Elanchik started to film the aggressive tactics of the officers, when three of them attacked him and tried to take away his phone.

According to the journalist, they “inflicted weak blows, applied a suffocating technique, twisted arms, stepped on the foot”, then dragged him to a police station and drew up a protocol against him about “disobeying a bailiff’s legal order”. Elanchik said that he saw another journalist with “a press-card hanging on his neck” among other detainees. 

Elanchik said he received minor injures and has filed a report with the police: “I have abrasions, bruises, scratches. I went to the emergency room, I have a certificate”.

Links:

https://ovdinfo.org/stories/2019/07/17/kak-specnaz-razgonyal-lyudey-v-reutovskom-sude-rasskaz-zaderzhannogo-zhurnalista?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR2Wh_2TNEh_yGrELIvRdb8zWcUMRdX_OinYMgLijf-5ZwApGx-bJFw50QE

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/v-reutovskom-sude/?fbclid=IwAR08kJ7hJPI_-TfJneYJ107P_LKRHdo8A5XSCWBcaUVdtZv6ifOqDTS-bnA

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Court/Judicial

Journalists detained on request from Vilyusk mayor

16 July 2019 – A film crew working for local broadcaster Yakutia 24 was detained by police in Vilyusk while interviewing people on the state of the city’s roads, the broadcaster reported. 

“We were surveying the residents of Vilyuisk about the condition of the roads. A precinct policeman approached us and said that the mayor, Nyurgustan Afanasyev, filed a complaint with police against me and the cameraman, and asked us to go to a police station with him. We agreed and asked about the reason for the detention”, reporter Evgeniy Toytonov said. 

Earlier the same day the journalists visited the mayor Afanasyev to ask about the condition of the roads. “The mayor was not inclined to give us any comments from the very beginning, he prohibited to film him”, Toytonov said. After the journalist asked Afanasyev about the road works, the mayor asked to talk “about something good” instead and then pushed the reporter and the cameraman out of his office and called the police. 

UPDATE:

17 July 2019 – Afansyev said that he called the head of Yakutia 24 and apologised for the incident, explaining that he called the police to ask them to identify the journalists, whose credentials he did not believe to be real. “We worked well with the broadcaster before that incident. I did not think that the journalists were its employees”.

The press-office of Vilyusk police confirmed the mayor’s complaint asked the police to “identify two unknown men who conducted video recording in the city administration without his agreement and despite his refusal to give an interview”.

Alexandr Kalugin, representative of the media holding company that owns Yakutia 24, said that it is clear in the video that the journalists identified themselves. 

Links:

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4033541?fbclid=IwAR0qEWDxHTnf-CcGW1m0xQ7hi8MqYVPed3KLdb7pt_xibdIojE3LVIRD14I

http://yk24.ru/index/proisshestviya/sotrudnikov-telekanala-yakutiya-24-zaderzhala-policziya-za-vopros-o-dorogax-vilyujska?fbclid=IwAR3u0ocGF0kZsDiTw8vXQt0Ggf2fshMyQgHsS5_h0jiL6_QWPH16rM-1fFo

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security; Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Ingush journalist arrested for 2 months on drug charges

16 July 2019 – A court in Magas ordered the arrest of Rashid Maysigov, a journalist with Ingushetia regional media outlet Fortanga,  who was covering mass protests in the republic, his lawyer Magomed Aushev told Kavkaz Uzel. Maysigov faces two months in detention on the drug charges.

Maysigov was detained on 12 July and accused of drug dealing in larged quantities under the article 228, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Russia. After the detention, the journalist filed a complaint saying he had been tortured by policemen. 

Maysigov’s lawyer said that supporters of the journalist were not allowed to attend the hearing, despite the trial being open to public. 

Links: 

https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/337931/

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security; Court/Judicial

Journalists barred from meeting of independent candidates and elections committee

15 July 2019 – Mikhail Mokrov, the press-officer of the Moscow City Elections Committee, said that the journlaists would be barred from covering a meeting with independent candidates to the Moscow city parliament, who were earlier rejected for registration on the grounds of submitting false signatures in support of their candidacy, Dozhd reported. 

The candidates claim that the Moscow City Elections Committee’s officials purposely disallowed valid signatures to bar independent candidates from running in the election. The conflict resulted in a mass protest in support of the independent candidates.

After the protests, the Moscow City Elections Committee officials invited the candidates to a meeting. One of the candidates, Lyubov Sobol, invited journalists to attend, saying such meeting should be open and public. 

However, the Moscow City Elections Committee said that it doesn’t plan to organise any events “for press”.

Links: 

https://tvrain.ru/news/na_vstrechu_glavy_mosgorizbirkoma_s_nezavisimymi_kandidatami_otkazalis_puskat_zhurnalistov-489575/?fbclid=IwAR2O8gOh676t53WwKw-3CsbaXzhnMUQBtoZu-Pt8wKMx67FoeOHUn7z_aU4

Categories: Blocked Access

Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Dozhd reporter detained at mass protest in Moscow

14 July 2019 – Alexey Korostelev, a reporter with independent broadcaster Dozhd, was detained by police while covering mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to the Moscow city parliament.

Dozhd published the video of the incident. Korosteleve identifies as press, but was nevertheless detained. 

Links: 

https://tvrain.ru/teleshow/here_and_now/video_zaderzhanija_korresponenta-489542/?fbclid=IwAR3PszHzloMBRuMTkTE-WyuqkyGKZfFIg98BhnQLr1GdFC2aDtGCZq-dc5o

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security

Roskomnadzor blocks Ingushetia regional media outlet Fortanga

14 July 2019 – Ingushetia regional media outlet Fortanga, which covered mass protests in the republic caused by a border dispute, was blocked by Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state media regulator, journalist Izabella Evloeva told MBH-Media. According to Evloeva, Fortanga had not received any prior notifications from the regulator. 

According to Roskomnadzor’s list of banned websites, the blocking relates to a ruling by the Batay city court from 29 November 2013; however Fortanga was founded only in 2018.

According to MBH-Media, that the court order relates to a post containing extremist content. Fortanga later reported that they found the referenced extremist content in a comment posted to Fortanga’s page on the Vkontakte social network. Fortanga deleted the comment and informed Roskomnadzor about it. The media outlet was unblocked later the same day.

Links: 

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/roskomnadz/?fbclid=IwAR2Q1hZJajZ6oOcdtY-topDl09PtvRiX3k3mnFFbOWx_nCOVg-8JJBtQyGQ

https://t.me/fortangaorg/4040

Categories: Legal Measures

Source of the violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Perm regional authorities proposed reform that would increase their influence on local media

11 July 2019 – Perm regional authorities proposed a reform that would consolidate the region’s media and broadcasters under a registered non-governmental organisation, Kommersant reported.

The authorities say that it would increase the funding for the regional media. Critics argue that it would monopolise the press market in the aread and would deprive private newspapers of state support, automatically redirecting state contracts to the newly formed regional outlets.

Links:

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4026763?fbclid=IwAR343pzgxsUuTYeFftNghPHG5IOMZ5nkOXxSrLkJ-dJQy2MQTO3LGQOVoAk

Categories: Legal Measures

Source of violation:  Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Journalist beaten in a fake queue to election commission in St Petersburg

9 July 2019 – Journalist Alexey Radkov was assaulted by members of fake queue at the election commission in Sergyevskoe district. The individuals wanted to prevent independent candidates from registering for municipal election, OVD-Info reported.

Radkov started filming the line when one of the men punched the journalist. Radkov punched him in return, and then all members of the queue – around 15 men – started beating him. The journalist managed to escape and called the police.

According to Radkov, one of the attackers was from Chechnya, two from Dagestan – they did not have St Petersburg registration and could not be in the queue to register as municipal candidates. 

Links: 

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/07/09/v-peterburge-uchastniki-feykovoy-ocheredi-v-izbiratelnuyu-komissiyu-napali?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR060tIJ68dIOHXKSc71RIF6m1F2xfhFP8PppRUoxRwNWk82FnIYNDt3zNk

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

Source of violation: Unknown; Known private individual(s)

Three MBH-Media journalists detained near Putin’s residence

8 July 2019 – Anastasia Kulagina, Mariya Pogrebnyak and Andrey Zolotov, journalists with MBH-Media, were detained near the residence of President Vladimir Putin in Moscow region, while they were trying to film video for a report about a dilapidated wooden house next to the president’s residence, MBH-Media reported. 

Policemen explained that the reason for the detention was that the journalists walked into the zone marked with stop sign, which prohibits vehicler access. The police confiscated the journalists’ passports and took them to a police station. Later the journalists were questioned by the Federal Protection Service because they “were at the protected area of the first person”.

Links: 

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/zhurnalistov-mbx-media/?fbclid=IwAR2enYnebjBetl6pr7iOVlRyIrelyu8_1tn3qkrDIll8prIPBhKasQOBc3I

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Blocked Access

Source of violation: Police/State security

Journalist detained while filming mass detention in Khokhlovskaya Square

7 July 2019 – Maxim Kondratyev, a reporter of Telegram-channel AvtozakLIVE, was detained in Moscow while filming a police raid at Yama, a public space in Khokhlovskaya Square.

The journalist was filming, but did not have a press card with him when he was detained. A policeman who interfered with him did not have a badge with a name. Kondratyev also said that he was kicked by a policeman and pushed against the police van. The journalist was taken to a police station and released after two hours with an administrative charge of jaywalking.

Links: 

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/07/05/v-moskve-v-yame-zaderzhali-zhurnalista-snimal-reyd-lva-protiv?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR2D3JxnFfOBG6mK_gZRrhejhOXDW2H644lYtHlxoq6FMB-xPXIPW07azAA 

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security

Journalists assaulted outside treason trial

5 July 2019 – Journalists who were covering the treason trial of Alexander Vorobyov, an assistant to the Plenipotentiary of the President in the Urals Federal District, were assaulted by an unknown man, who was pushing the journalists in attempt to prevent them from filming the defendant, MBH-Media reported. 

MBH-Media reporter Anastasia Olshanskaya was pushed so hard, she fell to the ground. According to Olshanskaya, the assaulter had a holster, presumably with a pistol. He refused to identify himself or answer any questions in the presence of TV reporters with video cameras, but later said “You all understand, whose trial you come to cover, right?”

Links: 

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/v-moskve-posle/?fbclid=IwAR3Nr-OQ6STylQbGS5FmolThdO3sXjf91piygqr0CQRH1gt_zxEEjjV-jSg

https://twitter.com/AsyaOlshanskaya?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1147138801581662208&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmbk-news.appspot.com%2Fnews%2Fv-moskve-posle%2F

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

Source of violation: Unknown

Koza.press editor-in-chief fined for mentions of ‘undesirable organization’

5 July 2019 – In Nizhny Novgorod,  Justice of the Peace Evgeny Zadkov imposed a fine of 5,000 rubles ($78) on Irina Murakhteva (Slavina), the editor-in-chief of the local media outlet Koza.press, for “participation in the activity of an undesirable organisation”, OVD-Info reported. 

The case against the journalist was opened after a report to the police from an anonymous citizen, worried that the press coverage of forum Svobodnye Ludi (Free People) is a danger to the constitutional rights of Russian citizens. The materials of the case included the screenshots of Murakhtaeva’s reposts of other media materials, including about the arrest of Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist of Open Russia that was recognised as an undesirable organisation in Russia since April 2017.

Links: 

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/07/05/glavnogo-redaktora-nizhegorodskoy-gazety-oshtrafovali-za-posty-o?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR0zgNPyXYPjIuvWB_LesfjNYGu9YJKAP2q7wg6csuJrXO9MLziVYhw1yzY

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Court/Judicial; Police/State security

Pskov journalist included in extremists and terrorists list

4 July 2019 – Pskov journalist Svetlana Prokopieva, a reporter with Radio Svoboda and former editor of local news outlet Pskovskaya Gubernia,  was included in the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists and terrorists, her bank accounts were blocked, Prokopieva said in a Facebook post. She suggested that it means that she would soon be charged with “justification of terrorism”.

A criminal case on “justification of terrorism” was opened against Prokopieva in February after a radio programme at Ekho Moskv on which she commented on a suicide bomb attack of 17-year old student in front of the local headquarters of Federal Security Service.  

Links:

https://zona.media/news/2019/07/04/prokopieva-spisok?fbclid=IwAR2qSZd-y1iKwHowA-qmQS2V2pQzJP_yjrOX-zqUAG_zePSbLjkPUqC34g8

http://www.fedsfm.ru/documents/terrorists-catalog-portal-add

https://www.facebook.com/svetlana.prokopyeva.9/posts/2362072540497708

Categories: Legal Measures

Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Masked men attempt to access Ekho Severa editorial office

3 July 2019 – A group of 11 masked men in sportswear came to a business center, where the editorial office of Ekho Severa, local media outlet in Arkhangelsk, is located, 29.ru reported. The group attempted to gain access to the floor containing only the Ekho Severa offices, which were empty at the time. 

Editor-in-chief Iliya Azovsky said that the goal of the intruders was intimidation of the journalists: “The editorial team has reasons to believe that this incident could be tied to some authors’ journalistic investigations. Almost everyday different so-called fixers come to us with requests, sometimes even with absurd ones at the first glance – to remove an article published a month ago or a new one. And I have to explain them how the internet works, that it is almost impossible to delete the information from it”.

The police launched an investigation of the incident.

Links: 

https://29.ru/text/gorod/66149389/?fbclid=IwAR0chNHrDztkUvZ9HCG-vK4vpGCQxTdT7DMJuWHNIW2daPtgSp1YDl-qR8g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvkqPZBGhPc

Categories: Intimidation

Source of violation: Unknown

Communal service company files a defamation case against Newsvo in Vologda

2 July 2019 – In Vologda, 14 employees of Magistral, a communal service company, including its director, filed a complaint with police against Newsvo, a local media outlet. The complainants accused the outlet of defamation for a post published in the blog section of the site’s website, Newsvo reported. 

On 2 July two policemen visited the Newsvo office to question journalists about how social media posts are transferred to the website’s blog section. The post in question titled “Road works at the embankment started again?” was published on the website on 18 June. It contained a phrase saying that instead of cutting off the illegal grillage (the concrete pavement above the project), some “khanuriki” made a wooden formwork for stones and concrete on it. Magistral employees said in the believe that the word “khanuriki” is defamatory. 

Links: 

https://newsvo.ru/news/121130?fbclid=IwAR2P5fPskD3Jw7yi6lVrrft2VlXRaxoc_uJz8IL6CE4efdHEb-Tifuk_uq4

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Source of violation: Corporation/Company

NGO files defamation lawsuit against local newspaper

3 July 2019 – Non-governmental organisation Deti Voiny (Children of War) filed a 500,000 ruble ($7,892) defamation lawsuit against local newspaper Narodnaya Gazeta Severskogo Raiona, The Center for Protection of Media Rights reported. 

The artcile in question was published in April and ran under the headline “Non-Childish Problems of ‘Children of War’ in The Region”. The article criticised the latest report on the organization’s activity. The organisation said in its suit that the article contained five defamatory phrase.

A lawyer of the Center for Protection of Media Rights says that all of them are either corroborated by evidence or phrased as an opinion.

Links: 

https://mmdc.ru/news-div/judge_history/v-krasnodarskom-krae-predsedatel-obshchestva-deti-voyny-trebuet-500-tys-rubley-s-glavnogo-redaktora-/?fbclid=IwAR35I1Rv_NeqCcMVlyA2a9AH1vpsRl4EWlVd6w-HCS3rIPCz3FP1IduekHA

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Source of violation: Corporation/Company

Homophobic group threatens journalists reporting on LGBT rights

2 July 2019 – Pila, a radical homophobic group, published an announcement that declared of the beginning of a new hunting season on LGBT-activists and journalists reporting on LGBT rights. The announcement included the editorial tearms of Novaya Gazeta and the Russian service of Radio Svoboda. Pila said the group had “prepared dangerous and cruel gifts” for those on the list, which was accompanied by images of a noose and a man with a speech bubble saying “maybe I should kill myself”.

UPDATE:

21 July 2019 – Elena Grigorieva, LGBT-activist mentioned on Pila’s list, was brutally killed in St.Petersburg. 

Links:

https://parniplus.com/news/pila-ugrozhaet/?fbclid=IwAR1TQQAFW-KBdTC4ORKraL366kMDQlhjrUrYY0mco56xq49EAtjY3g_835c

https://takiedela.ru/news/2019/07/24/pila-lgbt/

Categories: Intimidation

Source of violation: Unknown; Criminal organisation[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1567419957765-fe9e2033-c002-3″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Russia: Press freedom violations June 2019

10 Jul 19 | Russia, Russia Incident Reports

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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=”32 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Reporter detained in St. Petersburg while covering election registration scheme

29 June 2019 – Kasimir Vranski, a reporter with local media outlet Nablyudateli Peterburga, was detained while trying to enter the office of the election commission of the Yekateringof district, OVD-Info reported. Vranski was assigned to cover the detention of Polina Kostyleva, who was arrested while trying to register as a candidate with the election commission for the upcoming election. She, along with other independent candidates, could not access the commission for several days due to fake queues formed by unknown individuals pretending to be registering as candidates.

 Links:https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/06/29/v-peterburge-zaderzhali-kandidatov-v-municipalnye-deputaty-aktivistov-i?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR26lPGzB4kaqrVb65Tf0R1xJFPUEUy7iCM4y7YwDa8KPnNg3lVc74EQLtE 

20-zhurnalistov-poluchili-otkaz-v-akkreditacii-na-pmef/

Categories: Blocked Access

Sources: Police/State security

Journalist detained in Makhachkala

28 June 2019 – Idris Yusupov, a journalist with the Dagestan local media outlet Novoe Delo, was detained while covering a police raid that occurred next to the Makhachkala mosque, Tangim, Kavkazsky Uzel reported. 

Earlier, Makhachakala Muslims had complained about police raids occurring regularly on Fridays and mass detentions next to mosques. On June 26, Idris Yusupov took part in the series of solitary piquets against the arrest of Chernovik journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev. 

Links: https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/337230/?fbclid=IwAR1ajg-Vh-wkrKEuQMonc3X6OIWFAn5cHYS0o9CM6fCrp38R8-oKP2wgcpc#.XRZW0z8lBDU.facebook

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation, Blocked Access

Sources: Police/State security

Chechnya judge sued 18 media outlets for defamation

26 June 2019 – Igor Daurkin, a judge in Zavodsky district court of Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, filed defamation lawsuits against 18 media outlets, Glasnost Defense Foundation reported. 

Daurkin was wrongfully mentioned in an article of Kommersant news outlet, “Regions demand to eliminate gas debts following the example of Chechnya,” which covered the Zavodsky district court decision to forgive Chechnya’s 9 billion rubles (about $143 million) gas debt. Kommersant later corrected the article, deleting the mention of Daurkin, but his name remained in republications of the original Kommersant article in other media outlets.

In his lawsuit against Clerk.ru outlet, Daurkin wrote that Kommersant had not only spread false information about him, but also attempted to convince readers that “the judge’s decision was a contagious bad example.” According to Daurkin, the publication caused “social tension in Russia, and a flurry of demands and appeals to forgive gas payment debts.”

The lawyer for Clerk.ru Mikhail Benyash said in a blog post that judge Daurkin filed lawsuits against at least eighteen publications throughout the country, including media outlets from Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Stavropol, Krasnodar, Belgorod and Moscow regions. “If each lawsuit demands 10 million rubles (about $160,000) compensation, like the one against Clerk.ru, Daukin would value his moral damage at 180 million rubles ($2.8 million)”, Benyash said.

Links: http://gdf.ru/digest/item/1/1626#z4

https://civitas.ru/sudya-rajsuda-iz-groznogo-podal-iski-o-zashhite-chesti-i-dostoinstva-kak-minimum-k-vosemnadtsati-smi/

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Taiga.Info fined for link to a video containing profanity

26 June 2019 – A court ruled to fine Siberian regional media outlet Taiga.Info 5,000 rubles ($80) for including a hyperlink to a video of a mass beating of a local college student in their article covering the incident, Znak.com reported. The video contained profane language.

“We are going to appeal this decision and are currently preparing documents for trial. We believe that hyperlinks leading to third-party Internet resources are not our responsibility. Our case is not the only one like this, but such fines are very rare,” said Taiga.Info editor-in-chief Vasily Volnukhin.

Links: https://www.znak.com/2019-06-26/sud_oshtrafoval_izdanie_tayga_info_za_giperssylki_na_video_s_necenzurnoy_leksikoy?fbclid=IwAR0K5aLr67b8KUQfUU0u1bTk925j5dZQRXjZMRTmpSo1tTpzqTEyC8lhvBw

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Novorossiysk mayor’s aide punched local journalist

23 June 2019 – In Novorossiysk, Olga Makarenko, a reporter with the local newspaper NASHA, was punched by an aide to the mayor of Novorossiysk. She was covering an incident at a sewer collector, which resulted in sewer water pouring into a local lagoon, NASHA reported. 

When Makarenko tried to film the incident, she was blocked by an employee of the city’s Vodokanal company, who then grabbed the reporter. At that point, a woman, who turned out to be an aide to the mayor of Novorossiysk, grabbed Makarenko’s smartphone and tried to delete the video of the incident. When Makarenko managed to take her phone back, the woman punched her in the head. Makarenko succeeded to free herself and ran away. The head of Vodokanal subsequently approached her and offered to pay a fine for obstructing journalistic activity. 

Makarenko was hospitalized with a possible concussion and acute vertebral injury. The editorial office of NASHA filed complaints with the police and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

Links: https://ngnovoros.ru/posts/pomoschnitsa-mera-novorossiyska-udarila-zhurnalista-nashey-pri-popytke-snyat-na-video-sliv-kanalizatsii-v-prilagunie?fbclid=IwAR2-8LFaObJjRuDqhFNR3mxcPhPhr-PGL_Lgh683U–m3zXYgNyscemN1Fg

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Journalist detained at a picket in Makhachkala, other journalists threatened

 22 June 2019 – Shamil Abashilov, editor-in-chief of Dagestani local newspaper Molodezh, was detained in Makhachkala at a picket in support of Abdulmamin Gadzhiev, the local journalist arrested on charges of financing terrorism in what human rights activists believe to be a fabricated case, MBH-Media reported. 

The eyewitness of Abashilov’s detention, his colleague Saida Vagabova, said that the police did not initially explain why Abashilov had been detained. “He [Abashilov] was taken to the Soviet police station. The police said a common phrase – ‘we ensure order’. We, the journalists who were filming it, were told that they would sue us, and that the photos we took should not be published anywhere,” said Vagabova.

Links: https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/glavreda-gazety-molodyozh/?fbclid=IwAR3uG0zUhYuwiWqVuOGqf6NG_-BU5CPfdpFWFBM70KtbXozIQxSKfxTE5Nk

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation/Intimidation

Sources: Police/State security

Kremlin cut out mentions of Golunov and protests in Shies from transcript of Putin Q&A show

21 June 2019 – The transcript of president Vladimir Putin’s televised Q&A show, Pryamaya Liniya (Direct Line), published on the official government website Kremlin.ru, was edited to cut out any mentions of Ivan Golunov, an investigative reporter who was detained on fabricated drug-dealing charges and later released due to public outcry, and Shies, a railway station in Arkhangelsk region that became the center of anti-garbage protests when it became endangered by the decision to build a garbage processing site nearby to resolve the Moscow garbage crisis. 

The question about the Golunov case came from the show’s host, Elena Vinnik, but her words were edited out in the transcription, and any mention of Golunov was deleted. However, Putin’s answer to her question still references Golunov, as he says “….so there should not be cases like with that journalist you mentioned.”

During the show, Putin was also asked about the recently implemented law that criminalized “disrespecting authorities” by the editor of MDK group on Vkontakte social media platform, Roberto Punchvidze. Punchvidze said: “Only a few days ago, in Arkhangelsk region alone, this new law was used to hold six people accountable – six people! – because of the comments in a group on ‘VKontakte’. One woman was fined for commenting on the news about the dump in Shies. I quote her: ‘They are completely brazen’”. 

In the transcript this question was edited to not mention Shies at all. The version posted was: “Only a few days ago, in the Arkhangelsk region alone, this new law was used to hold six people accountable – six people! – because of the comments in the group in ‘VKontakte’. One woman was fined for a comment. I quote: ‘They are completely bummed’”.

Later, The Insider reported that the mention of Shies had been returned to the transcript, but that the mention of Ivan Golunov had not.

Links: https://theins.ru/news/162580?fbclid=IwAR0bydIu51iKLOmer7lAFVxgyx7ry7NT8ZW21WDSOJz4NzZjSiWM6CmxlyY

https://theins.ru/news/162611 

Categories: Censorship

Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party 

Court refused to grant journalist access to jailed ex-mayor of Yaroslavl

19 June 2019 – Zamoskvoretsky district court of Moscow ruled against Novaya Gazeta in the lawsuit they filed against the Federal Service for the Execution of Sentences (FSIN), which denied their journalist access to jailed former mayor of Yaroslavl Yevgeny Urlashov, Novaya Gazeta reported. 

In January, a representative of the FSIN twice denied Elizaveta Kirpanova, a reporter with Novaya Gazeta, access to Urlashov on the grounds that the planned interview was “inexpedient”, but could not explain why. The representative suggested that the refusal could have been motivated by messages of the operational situation, and stated that there was nothing that prevented journalists from applying for permission at any other time.

Kirpanova’s defense argued that the refusal to give her access to Urlashov should be prosecuted because it violated the right of a journalist to freely search, receive and disseminate information, and therefore violated the right to freedom of expression (Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). In addition, they argued that FSIN violated Part 3 of Art. 24 of the Penal Code of Russia, arbitrarily and unreasonably refusing Kirpanova an interview on a socially important topic and not providing an alternate time for her to visit a prisoner. “The position of the FSIN is to create obstacles to independent journalists’ access to the penal colonies. We intend to appeal the decision,” said Olga Podoplelova, lawyer at the Institute of Law and Public Policy.

Novaya Gazeta claims that FSIN has recently denied its journalists access to colonies and prisoners at least five times.

Links: https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/06/19/152619-sud-otkazalsya-dopustit-zhurnalistku-novoy-gazety-v-koloniyu-k-eks-meru-yaroslavlya-urlashovu?fbclid=IwAR2IjLrON8iDuP5RWR3ZAaMqoaSjfe4pLbceotLPw4hM71uvgPc4sgzXCYY

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/06/26/81036-fsin-vs-zhurnalisty?fbclid=IwAR1KKgByopECuMDvFuRnsn0rYTZzca1JSP00vKNGzMDWD4TifYvnZhWzurM

Categories: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party, Court/Judicial

Sources: Blocked Access

Journalist arrested on terrorism charges in Dagestan

18 June 2019 – Adulmumin Gadjiev, editor of the religion department of the Dagestan local media outlet Chernovik, was arrested on terrorism charges, Chernovik reported.

The Sovetskiy district court in Makhachkala ruled to arrest Gadjiev on two charges – participation in a terroristic organization and financial assistance to terrorism (205.5, part 2, and 205.1, part 4, of the Criminal Code of Russia), punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

The court banned journalists from covering the hearing on Gadjiev’s arrest, citing the secrecy of the investigation as a reason to close the hearing.

Gadjiev was detained on 14 June, 2019. The police searched his home and seized his phones and other equipment. Another figurant in the case, businessman Kemal Tambiev — whose testimonies were used to charge Gadjiev —  said that he had been beaten and tortured by policemen. Gadjiev said that Tambiev later apologized to him when they met in the court, where  visibly bruised Tambiev claimed that he testified against Gadjiev under pressure.

 “The decree on initiation of a criminal case is abstract, and does not specify anything about the crime: neither the time, nor the place, nor the circumstances. It is simply written in the abstract: organized fundraising to finance ISIS. All of the questions were only about a man whom he interviewed in the past”, Gadjiev’s lawyer Arsen Shabanov told MBH Media.

Chernovik’s editorial office called the charges against Gadjiev ‘absurd’. “The accusation that Gadjiev financed terrorism is absurd and the police’s statement that ‘Gadjiev is suspected of transferring money to the accounts of [exiled Russian Islam preacher] Abu Umar from Sasitli village’ is twice as absurd. Gadjiev did not have any contacts with Umar – he nearly had no contacts at all”.

“We will fight to drop every absurd charge against Gadjiev, and will demand to bring to justice to those who openly fabricate accusations and empty criminal cases that break people’s lives”, Chernovik said in a statement published in its official Telegram channel.

Links: https://zona.media/news/2019/06/18/gadzejev-sizo

https://meduza.io/news/2019/06/18/sud-otpravil-pod-arest-redaktora-dagestanskoy-gazety-chernovik-abdulmumina-gadzhieva-zhurnalista-obvinyayut-v-terrorizme-on-otritsaet-vinu

https://meduza.io/news/2019/06/18/sud-otpravil-pod-arest-redaktora-dagestanskoy-gazety-chernovik-abdulmumina-gadzhieva-zhurnalista-obvinyayut-v-terrorizme-on-otritsaet-vinu

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Sources: Police/State security

Ivanovo journalist Sergey Kustov remains under investigation for almost three years

            17 June 2019– Sergey Kustov, the editor-in-chief of the Ivanovo-based media group Bars, published an open letter asking investigators to either give the documents on his case to a court or close the case, Kommersant reported. 

            Kustov was detained in August 2006 on charges of commercial bribery. According to the investigation, he received 4 million rubles ($64,500) from then-deputy governor of the Ivanovo region, Vitaly Ilyushkin, for “actions aimed at creating a positive image of the [ruling] political party [United Russia] and its candidates”.

            Kustov believes that his case is motivated by the desire for revenge for his journalistic activity: “The prosecution was provoked by the former deputy governor of the region, Vitaly Ilyushkin, both for personal revenge against me for criticizing him in the media, including his corrupt activities, and for the purpose of carrying out a raider seizure of the Bars TV channel”, Kustov claimed. Kustov also believes that the case was fabricated by the head of the regional department of  the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bulayev.

            Kustov spent the first two months after his detention under house arrest, but was released on a 4 million rubles bail ($64,500). Kustov told Kommersant that he took out a loan for his bail and has already accumulated 700,000 rubles of debt ($11,110). Kustov claims that the investigators’ inaction lasted between  August 2016 to December 2018. Currently, his case is undergoing a third investigation, as the prosecutor’s office refused three times to give the documents to the court. “They all already understand that it is unlikely the case will reach the court, and they have told me this openly in the Investigation Committee. But everything rests, as far as I understand, in the hands of the head of the regional department of the Investigative Committee, [Alexander Bulayev], who believes that the case cannot be closed and will remain until the last”, Kustov told Kommersant.

Links: https://www.svoboda.org/a/30004322.html

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party, Police/State security

Founder of Kaliningrad-based newspaper charged with arbitrariness, after spending 593 days under arrest on extortion charges

            17 June 2019 – Igor Rudnikov, an ex-deputy of the Kaliningrad parliament and the founder of the Kaliningrad-based newspaper Novye Kolesa, was charged with extortion, punishable by up to 10 years in jail, which would have made his case the most severe prosecution of a journalist in Russia. However, the court changed his charge to a much lighter one “arbitrariness”, punishable by a maximum of only6 months, which the Rudnikov’s defense believes was due to public outcry for the release of Ivan Golunov. Eventually, Rudnikov was found guilty and charged with 550 hours of public labor. The journalist, who had been under arrest for 593 days, was released in the courtroom. 

            Rudnikov was arrested on 1 November 2017 because of a complaint by the head of the Kalinigrad regional department of the Investigative Committee, Viktor Ledenyov. According to Ledenyov, Rudnikov demanded $50,000 to stop publishing defamatory articles about Ledenyov. 

The publication at the heart of the case, “Paradise life of general Ledenyov”, reported on the lavish lifestyle of the state official, whose declared yearly income was 75 times less than the cost of his luxurious property. On 1 November, police stormed the newspaper’s office and detained all of the journalists present for over 7 hours. At the same time, police stormed Rudnikov’s apartment and took him to the editorial office, where he fainted. He was taken to a police station unconscious two days after the court ruled to arrest him. Rudnikov has maintained his innocence, claiming that his case was revenge for the published article.

            While Rudnikov was under arrest in spring 2018, policemen seized all copies of the print edition of Novye Kolesa. After this, the editorial office decided to stop issuing print newspaper and focus on the website.  On 1 February 2019, the Kaliningrad court shut Novye Kolesa down on the orders of Roskomnadzor, the Russian state media regulator. 

Links: https://www.svoboda.org/a/30004322.html

https://meduza.io/feature/2019/06/18/ya-stal-nastraivatsya-chto-budet-srok

http://www.rudnikov.com/article.php?ELEMENT_ID=28941

https://zona.media/article/2019/06/17/rudnikov

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences, Court/Judicial

Sources: Police/State security, Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party 

New attempts to hack Telegram accounts of Ekaterinburg journalists

            17 June 2019 – The Telegram accounts of Rinat Nizamov, the head of a network of online local media in Ekaterinburg, Hearst Shkulev Digital, and Axana Panova, the founder of the regional media outlet Znak.com, faced hacking attempts, Znak.com editor-in-chief Dmitry Kozelev reported in his Telegram-channel.

            Earlier, at the end of May, seven journalists who were covering the mass protests against the construction of a church in a local park in Ekaterinburg reported similar hacking attempts to their Telegram accounts. 

            On 25 May, the founder of Telegram messenger, Pavel Durov, accused Russian authorities of the hacking attempts on the accounts of four journalists who covered the mass protests.

Links: https://www.svoboda.org/a/30003317.html

https://echo.msk.ru/news/2447011-echo.html

https://m.news.yandex.ru/turbo?text=https%3A%2F%2Fzona.media%2Fnews%2F2019%2F06%2F17%2Fhack-tg

Categories: DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

Sources: Unknown

Police check Sota.Vision reporter on extremism

17 June 2019 – St.Petersburg police is conducting an investigation of Sota.Vision reporter Petr Ivanonv on suspicion of extremism, Sota.Vision reported.

According to Ivanov, policemen came to his home while he was absent and asked his parents about him and his whereabouts. A day later, a policeman called Ivanov’s father and told him that his son had to come to a police station for “a talk”, explaining that The Centre for Combating Extremism within Federal Security Service had requested to question the journalist about extremism.

Ivanov believes that the investigation may be connected to his coverage of protests by the Vesna movement.

Links: https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/06/17/v-peterburge-policiya-proveryaet-deyatelnost-zhurnalista-sota-vision?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR1Vsft–Bq2zXYmrDQRAmtF-GrSLXQOP5pw2xoYUgDr3PuFApYebd1opkI

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Sources: Police/State security

Meduza journalists summoned for questioning regarding Golunov case

17 June 2019 – Police summoned for questioning journalists at the Latvia-based news outlet Meduza, colleagues of the outlet’s investigative reporter Ivan Golunov, who was charged with drug dealing and later became a witness in drug-dealing case, Meduza reported. Golunov believed that his persecution was connected to his unpublished investigation on ties between top secret service officers and shady funeral businesses.

Links: https://meduza.io/news/2019/06/17/sotrudnikov-meduzy-nachali-vyzyvat-na-doprosy-po-delu-ivana-golunova?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=main&fbclid=IwAR37IFdkoiGaqHfldSnMbB9rP713YeobrxDs2k69CnuAV-t7Zihontm4O_M-p

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Sources: Police/State security

National broadcasters ignored mass protests in Moscow

13 June 2019 – Four main national broadcasters that are directly or indirectly controlled by the government ignored mass protests in Moscow in support of Ivan Golunov and against criminal cases fabricated by police, where over 540 people were detained, Afisha.Daily reported.

There was no mention of the protests or mass detentions in newscasts from the news outlets Perviy, Rossiya 1, NTV and Ren-TV.

Links: https://daily.afisha.ru/news/27740-federalnye-telekanaly-nichego-ne-rasskazali-o-marshe-v-podderzhku-golunova-i-sotnyah-zaderzhannyh/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=navernoe–reshili-ne-portit-lyudyam-prazdn

Categories: Self-censorship

Sources: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)

40 journalists detained in Moscow at rally in support of Ivan Golunov

12 June 2019 – 40 journalists were detained in Moscow at rally in support of Ivan Golunov, according to OVD-Info.

Among the detained journalists are:

Iliya Zhegulev and Andrey Pertsev, reporters for Medusa

Leonid Marantidi, a videographer for Medusa

Veronika Kutsylo, the editor-in-chief of MBH-Media

Vasiliy Polosnkiy, a reporter for the independent broadcaster Dozhd TV

Alexandr Chernyshev, a producer for the German media outlet Der Spiegel

Vitaly Petlevoy, a reporter for the Vedomosti newspaper

Evgeny Snegov, a reporter for the Ekho Moskvy radio-station

Andrey Mozzhukhin, a reporter for Lenta.ru

Sergey Dik, a reporter for the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle

Daniil Primak, a photographer for Afisha.Daily

Nikita Grinin, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta

Mikhail Shevelev, a journalist for MBH-Media

Yury Zhalin and Roman Dorofeev, journalists for the Kommersant newspaper

Yan Potarksy, a journalist for Moloko Plus magazine

Pavel Yablonsky, a reporter for The Village

Anna Narinskaya, a publicist

Varvara Babitskaya, an editor for Snob.ru

Andrey Kovalev, a journalist for ROMB

Semen Sheshinin, the editor-in-chief of Batenka,Da Vy Transformer

Andrey Urodov, a journalist for Takie Dela

Anastasia Lotareva, the editor-in-chief of Takie Dela

Nadin Lakhbabi, a producer of Dozhd TV

Elizaveta Tyurina, a SMM-editor for Dozhd TV

Anastasia Chumakova, a reporter for Telegram-media Baza

Tatyana Voronova, a journalist for the international news agency Reuters

Petr Parkhomenko, a reporter within Kommersant FM

Emmanuel Grinchamp, a reporter for the Swiss newspaper Le Temps

Mikhail Kazinik, a journalist for Arzamas

Yulia Koshelyaeva, a freelance journalist who has written for Mel, Yod, Profil, Spektr, etc.

Konstantin Cherrnozatonskiy, a journalist who has written for Afisha, Kommersant, etc.

Ruslan Shaveddinov, a tv-host of the Navlny-live YouTube channel

Tatyana Malkina, a prominent journalist and the founder of Otechestveniye Zapiski magazine, who was detained with her daughter, Agata Gilman

All of the journalists were detained despite carrying valid press-cards, although some lacked written editorial assignment confirmation. Some journalists were released quickly after detention, while others were taken to police vans and police stations. All of the journalists mentioned were released after several hours without any charges.

Journalists Elizaveta Nesterova and Ilya Azar, who were among the organizers of the rally, were also detained and later charged with “participation in unsanctioned action that caused traffic disturbance”, punishable by up to 15 days in jail.

UPDATE: On 14 June, the editor-in-chief of the Takie Dela media outlet, Anastasia Lotareva, and the head of special projects for Takie Dela, Sergey Karpov, were fined  10,000 rubles ($155) each for violating the rules of public gathering.

Links: https://meduza.io/short/2019/06/12/rabota-politsii-moskvy-s-zhurnalistami-dva-dnya?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=main  

https://meduza.io/live/2019/06/12/marsh-ot-chistyh-prudov-do-petrovki-hronika

https://zona.media/online/2019/06/12/rossia-everyday

https://t.me/mbkhmedia/9771

https://takiedela.ru/news/2019/06/14/lotareva-karpov/

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation, Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Sources: Police/State security

Oblastnaya Gazeta editor-in-chief accused police of breaking his office door

12 June 2019 – Dmitry Polyanin, the editor-in-chief of the Ekaterinburg-based regional newspaper Oblastnaya Gazeta, accused policemen and officials from the regional department of information policy of breaking into his office. He posted photos of the broken door to his Facebook page.

According to Polyanin, policemen and regional officials who control the region-owned Oblastnaya Gazeta came to search the office while he was absent, broke the door to his office and seized documents, without providing a list of the seized items. The vice-governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Sergey Bidonko, called the incident “a regular check on the spending of state funding”.

Until recently, Oblastnaya Gazeta had an exclusive contract to publish the legal actions of the Sverdlovsk regional government.

Links: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2207664499268674&set=a.456249167743558&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/polanin/posts/2207816555920135

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZxKN2JWmxs&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0T4Y-3NySPpYcJettHnn4EE4ttt81nbxnWkSPkDdDWfOZ3NC7ovZTZez4

Categories: 

Sources:  

Nevskiye Novosti fired reporter for supporting Ivan Golunov

11 June 2019 – St. Petersburg based news agency Nevskiye Novosti dropped its contract with freelance reporter Oleg Dilimbetov after he made a public comment in support of Ivan Golunov, an investigative journalist who was detained on fabricated drug-dealing charges.

Nevskiye Novosti published a statement saying that it considers unprofessional the “emotional statements of the journalist [Dilimbetov], who did not understand the situation or see the criminal case documents”.

On the same day, 11 June, Ivan Golunov was released and his case was closed. Two top policemen were fired for multiple process violations incurred during the journalist’s arrest.

Links: https://nevnov.ru/681356-nevskie-novosti-prekrashayut-sotrudnichestvo-s-avtorom

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/06/11/nevskie-novosti-prekratili-sotrudnichat-s-korrespondentom-vystupivshim-v?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3D6wxooUVxESa3O_0g8NtQDJRqGCHN3b6bvDI0nayHpAm49UCVeA8pLoY

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/664773

Categories: Loss of Employment

Sources: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)

Snob office vandalized in Moscow

10 June 2019 – The editorial office of the Snob media outlet was vandalized, the editor-in-chief of Snob, Ksenia Chudinova, reported.

Security cameras recorded a moment around midnight when a seemingly drunk intruder broke into the office and went directly to Chudinova’s desk, where he smashed furniture and took her desk computer and a laptop. Afterward, he went downstairs and vandalized the office of another company. He then left the office, threw Chudinova’s computer away on the street and gave the stolen laptop to passers-by. Chudinova assessed the overall damage to be 500,000 rubles ($7,932), and police assessed the damage to be 90,000 rubles ($1,427). Chudinova could not connect the attack to any conflicts regarding Snob publications.

The police later detained a suspect, identifying him as a 24-year-old man from a post-Soviet country. His motives were not clarified.

Links: https://snob.ru/news/178228/

https://meduza.io/feature/2019/06/10/ya-dazhe-ne-mogu-peredat-chto-on-nachal-tvorit-tam

https://meduza.io/news/2019/06/11/v-moskve-zaderzhali-podozrevaemogo-v-pogrome-v-redaktsii-snoba

Categories: Attack to Property

Sources: Known private individual(s)

Investigative journalist detained in Moscow on suspicion of drug dealing

UPD: 11 June – Ivan Golunov has been released and all charges against him dropped, and an investigation is ongoing. Golunov’s sentence of house arrest was never overruled, however he is ot required to remain on house arrest due to the closure of his case. 

6 June 2019 – A special reporter for Medusa known for his investigative reporting, Ivan Golunov was detained in Moscow on suspicion of attempted of drug dealing, Medusa reported.

According to Golunov’s lawyer, Dmitry Julay, Golunov was detained around 14:30 near Tsvetnoy Bulvar metro station. Several policemen stopped him and searched his backpack, finding a package with an unknown substance. Golunov said that the package did not belong to him. Another package and a scale were reported to have been found in Golunov’s apartment. Golunov was taken to a police station and told that he was suspected of attempting to sell mephedrone. He denied the accusations.

Golunov asked for examinations to be conducted of his hands and nails to determine if he had touched or consumed drugs, but police refused to do so. They also refused to conduct an examination of Golunov’s backpack. After his detention, Golunov was denied his right to call his lawyer or any friends or colleagues for more than 12 hours. According to the Golunov, police  punched and kicked him during his interrogation at the police station. He was also denied the right to call an ambulance.

The press-service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow told BBC Russian that the police found five packages of a powdery substance in Golunov’s backpack, and later found three more packages of the substance and a scale in his apartment. Golunov is suspected of illegal production and trade of drugs in high volumes, punishable by up to 20 years in jail and a ban on particular professional activities.

Golunov is known for investigative journalism, and has written about topics such as the businesses of a relative of Moscow vice-mayor, the embezzlement of state funds through contracts on street decoration, micro-credit companies’ schemes for illegal evictions, and shadowy funeral businesses. According to BBC Russian, before his detention, Golunov was working on an investigation about the ritual business in Moscow.

Galina Timchenko, CEO of Medusa, and Ivan Kolpakov, its editor-in-chief, published the following statement: “We are convinced that Ivan Golunova is innocent. Moreover, we have reason to think that he is being prosecuted for his journalistic activity. We know that in recent months Vanya had been receiving threats; we know which upcoming publication the threats were related to; we can guess who they were from. Medusa will be closely watching every action of the investigators in Golunov case. We will find out who is behind the prosecution of Vanya, and will make this information public. We will defend our journalists with every available means”.

Planting drugs on activists or independent journalists is a well-known police tactic to fabricate criminal cases. For example, in March, Oyub Titiev, the head of Memorial, a Chechen human rights organization, was sentenced to four years in a penal colony for possessing drugs. In 2016, Zhelaudi Guriev, a reporter for Caucasian Knot, was arrested in a similar case over marijuana possession and sentenced to three years in jail.

Links: https://meduza.io/news/2019/06/07/v-moskve-zaderzhan-korrespondent-meduzy-ivan-golunov

https://meduza.io/feature/2019/06/07/v-moskve-zaderzhan-korrespondent-otdela-rassledovaniy-meduzy-ivan-golunov-zayavlenie-galiny-timchenko-i-ivana-kolpakova

https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-48553589

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation, Physical Assault/Injury

Sources: Police/State security

Russian Bandy Federation officially prohibits journalists to criticize judges and sports officials

6 June 2019 – The Russian Bandy Federation adopted amendments to the rules of national competitions, censoring journalists who cover games, Sports.ru reported.

The document, dated 14 May, contains the following paragraph: “Media representatives are prohibited from commenting, discussing and / or speaking negatively about the judging of championship matches, the officials of the Russian Bandy Federation and its Clubs, participants in the Championship and the Championship as a whole, as well as provoking such comments or discussions”. According to the document, journalists who do not comply with these rules can be deprived of accreditation and banned from covering the Championship.

The document also introduced new rules for the process of press accreditation. From now on, every journalist’s accreditation must be supported by a specific club, and if the journalist publishes something negative about the game, the club he/she accredited will be fined 100,000 rubles ($1,586). Moreover, the updated rules disqualify or ban from the competitions players who are suspected by the Russian Bandy Federation of “discrediting the Federation” by criticizing it in the media.

Links: http://www.rusbandy.ru/files/2680.pdf

https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/allresp/2473025.html?fbclid=IwAR0NBlUhPQ3GO0fNGwky64IPYeolD1PviC1kqJcWbOAJMLsEs-SfofC7UBc

Categories: Censorship

Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Editor-in-chief of Znak.com got his car smashed

6 June 2019 – Dmitry Kozelev, the editor-in-chief of the Ural regional media outlet Znak.com, found his car smashed and an unknown man sleeping in the front seat, Kozelev reported in his Telegram-channel. He suspected it was a regular hooliganism until he asked the man who he was. The man replied “I am for the park”, referring to mass protests against the construction of a church in a local park, which had been widely covered by Znak.com.

The intruder appeared drunk or otherwise intoxicated, and claimed that the car was his and he had not broken the back window. He then walked away. He was soon detained by police and identified as local 25-year old Evgeny Bratsun. A security camera video showed Bratsun attacking several cars before Kozelev’s, and then specifically targeting it,breaking the back window with a trash bin. The motives of the attack were not clarified by the police. Bratsun said he did not remember how he got into Kozelev’s car.

Journalists at Znak.com had previously faced hacking attempts due to critical coverage of the planned construction in the park.  Kozelev himself was pressured by police to delete an image of a policeman, whose complaint spurred a criminal case against one of the protesters.

Links: https://zona.media/news/2019/06/06/kolezev?fbclid=IwAR0IEYrJ3yBbY_8e8mdcRFgpizLNYXei5efLx1L7RErUALPiOYaLhd3ZmJo

https://t.me/kolezev/4645

Categories: Attack to Property

Sources: Known private individual(s)

Over 20 journalists denied accreditation for St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

6 June 2019 – Over 20 journalists were denied press accreditation for the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Open Media reported.

According to Open Media’s source among the organizers of the forum, the barred journalists did not pass the Federal Protective Service check that is protects high-ranking state officials.

Among the barred journalists was RBC editor Tymofey Dzyadko, who found out that he was denied a press accreditation without any explanation after he had already arrived to St. Petersburg.

Links: https://openmedia.io/exclusive/bolshe-20-zhurnalistov-poluchili-otkaz-v-akkreditacii-na-pmef/?fbclid=IwAR0q7YJZupEBLSBW0Ugjn4bhzGuBGzWr-LVrCAQBCbYq6TEBuIvWtnwmxKY

https://zona.media/news/2019/06/06/spb-forum?fbclid=IwAR1LG7r0rIl7dUCqcRQjJfCpdFZwfHOrAC5iioh5-shdmvHUTgVBIg7WkOg

Categories: Blocked Access

Sources: Police/State security

German journalism student fined and expelled from University for interview with eco-activists

05 June 2019 – Lukas Latz, a German exchange student from at Saint Petersburg State University, was fined, questioned and then expelled from the university for reporting on Chelyabinsk environmental activists protesting factory construction, OVD-Info reported.

According to Latz, on 28 May, he was visited by two policemen who told him that he had violated immigration rules by interviewing environmental activists while being in Russia on a student visa. Latz explained that the interview was conducted for his studies, specifically his thesis about the environmental movement in Russia. The policemen told him that he had to pay two fines 2,000 rubles each ($30). The next day after he was summoned to the police station, although he had not received an official note The policemen called him several times and told him to come to the police station urgently. After he paid the fines, he was questioned at the police station about his articles in the German media about Chelyabinsk environmental activists. He was specifically asked if he considered the environmental activists “extremists”, and if he covered Russian politics, after the police cited his mentions of the ruling party in his articles.

The same day, Latz was urgently summoned by his curator at Saint Petersburg State University and asked to sign back-dated documents about the conditions of his stay in Russia.

Two weeks later, on 14 June, he was expelled from Saint Petersburg State University and ordered to leave the country in five days. Latz is appealing his expulsion with a lawyer.

Links: https://www.facebook.com/echomsk78/photos/a.1375908909398574/2385833871739401/?type=3&theater

https://ovdinfo.org/stories/2019/06/05/pro-politiku-ne-pishesh-nemeckogo-zhurnalista-oshtrafovali-iz-za-tekstov-o?fbclid=IwAR1GOyiwo4JZz6jAKi_qM8kg14-1_kMIdUcGyoRVOWBA_L-bJoVbjfmfVII

https://www.dw.com/ru/%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%86%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE-%D1%81%D1%82%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0-%D0%BE%D1%82%D1%87%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%B8%D0%B7-%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B1%D0%B3%D1%83-%D0%B7%D0%B0-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8C%D1%8E-%D0%BE%D0%B1-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%85/a-49221430

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Sources: Police/State security

Rosderzhava reporter detained in Moscow, his colleague questioned and menaced

4 June 2019 – Boris Ivanov, a reporter with Rodershava media outlet who reports on the abuses of power by policemen and judges, was detained near his home in Moscow, OVD-Info reported.

According to Ivanov, the policemen did not identify themselves or explain the reason for his detention. The police twisted the journalist’s arm and took away his phone. Ivanov was taken to the Tverskoe police station. Ivanov’s colleague, Anton Yadrov, a reporter with the local media outlet Krasnaya Moskva, tried to enter the police station as Ivanov’s defender but was violently ejected from the building by a policeman.

After the arrival of Ivanov’ lawyer, the policemen released the journalist without any charges.

Links: https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/06/04/v-moskve-u-doma-zaderzhali-korrespondenta-proekta-rosderzhava?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR2oFHVW_Qm44kWI8WHRlWH6Ak9K_TKKlpzDlheCF2FAUexW7V1AbJylmzc

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Sources: Police/State security

Police asked Znak.com editor-in-chief to delete a photo of policeman

4 June 2019 – The Ministry of Interior Affairs in Ekaterinburg asked Dmitry Kolezev, the editor-in-chief of Znak.com, to delete a photo featuring police major Evgeny Krukov from his Instagram account, Zona.Media reported.

Kolezev published a photo of Krukov from a protest against the construction of a church in a local park to accompany a story about Krukov’s lawsuit against one of the protesters, Stanislav Melnichenko, for insulting a representative of authority. In the photo, Krukov is dressed in plain clothes and has no signs of being a police officer, which accompanied a caption asking how protesters would know that he was a policeman. 

According to Kolezev, he received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as police major Evgeny Krukov and asked Kolezev to delete the photo, or at least to cover Krukov’s face. Kozelev also received a similar request in the form of an Instagram message from the account “uvdekb”, supposedly an account of Ministry of Interior Affairs in Ekaterinburg.

Kozelev refused to delete the photo. He wrote in his Telegram-channel, “You want a criminal case, but don’t want a photo. Well, sorry. He should bear some burden of publicity. Otherwise, he wants to perform as a victim, but doesn’t want to be a public figure. We need to know our heroes”.

Links: https://zona.media/news/2019/06/04/udoli-ekb?fbclid=IwAR3MaY6NDJn5XQJRmMMw7Kash93wKvAAzAvW3y5ZbZJw5UvhYGPAfxE_hu0

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/mvd-ekaterinburga/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BySJi7mC43W/

Categories: Intimidation

Sources: Police/State security

Journalists barred again from covering Novoe Velichie trial

4 June 2019 – For the second time in one week, journalists were barred from covering the trial of the extremist organization Novoe Velichie (“New Greatness”), the charge of which the defendants claim was fabricated by secret services, Zona.media reported. 

According to a Zona.Media reporter, the journalists were not allowed into the courtroom, and the video streaming the proceedings, which was organized by the court, was of such poor quality that the journalists could not hear anything. A similar situation ocurred at a previous hearing of the trial, on 27 May.

Links: https://zona.media/news/2019/06/04/nv?fbclid=IwAR24zV4ewr4Z3wbN79ckQCzk1jFKAwdmx-oiLkstnZOBFR06i0QRbKtidR0

Categories: Blocked Access

Sources: Court/Judicial

Kommersant threatened with lawsuit on disclosure of state secrets; deletes publication in question

3 June 2019 – State news agency TASS reported that the Kommersant newspaper may be sued for disclosure of state secrets, citing an anonymous source close to the courts. 

According to the source, a lawsuit had already been filed in court to charge Kommersant with article 7, part 13.15 of Russian Criminal Code, “Use of mass media, as well as telecommunication networks, for disclosure of information that constitutes a state secret or other secret protected by law”, punishable by a fine up to 1 million rubles (15,360 USD).

On 5 June, Kommerant deleted the article “Su-35 will reinforce Egyptian power”, about the $2 billion contract for Russia’ to export several dozen Su-35 fighter jets to Egypt. The article was published in March, and was allegedly the publication at the heart of the lawsuit about disclosure of state secrets, Radio Svoboda reported.

In March, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s sole state intermediary agency for military exports and imports, denied that the contract with Egypt had been approved. Kommersant published an update citing the previously published article, based on two sources from the top management of companies in the military industry.

In April, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the USA will sanction Egypt if it buys Russian jets, since Rosoboronexport has been sanctioned by America since last year.

Links: https://tass.ru/obschestvo/6503307?fbclid=IwAR1nuLcRira0nIQmeTQ2V2h-X70DNz5aD5senSLVO94ALJJJ6TF-0kpyacg

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:I40RH1DqVkQJ:https://www.kommersant.ru/gallery/3915483+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=cz

https://www.svoboda.org/a/29981564.html

Categories: Censorship, Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party 

Production company sues YouTube blogger over film review

3 June 2019 – The film production company Kinodanz filed a copyright lawsuit against YouTube blogger Evgeny Bazhenov, the creator of the channel BadComedian, over his review on the film Za Graniyu Realnostu (“Beyond Reality”), Bazhenov reported in a video posted to his channel. 

Kinodanz claims that Bazhenov used more than the acceptable amount of footage from the film, which revealed the film’s plot and lead to a decrease in views on legal platforms. Kinodanz demanded compensation of 1 million rubles (15,360 USD) and the removal of the video from YouTube. Bazhenov argued that Russian laws do not define the acceptable amount of footage for review purposes, and believes that the lawsuit is related to his criticism of the films by Kinodanz, which were produced with Ministry of Culture sponsorship and were unpopular among audiences. 

“The situation is absurd, because every film [by Kinodanz] was produced using funding from the Ministry of Culture. That is, we – the taxpayers – pay for an attempt to censor critics”, Bazhenov said. 

After public outcry, Kinodanz announced that it was ready to settle with Bazhenov.

Links:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI1PWsRZIgY

https://daily.afisha.ru/news/27432-k-badcomedian-podali-isk-na-1-mln-rubley-za-obzor-na-film-za-granyu-realnosti/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=isk-k-blogeru-podala-kinokompaniya-kinoda

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3992271?from=main_8

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Sources: Corporation/Company 

Ekaterinburg journalist detained for visiting department of bailiff service

3 June 2019 – Anton Bulgakov, a journalist for the online media source Zakon I Poryadok, Pryamoy Efir (“Law and Order, Live Stream”), along with three human rights activists, was detained in Ekaterinburg for visiting a department of the bailiff service to inquire about the illegal eviction of a family, OVD-Info reported. 

Bulgakov and the human rights activists brought to the bailiffs a court decision prohibiting the eviction of a mother of two whose mortgaged apartment was sold to new owners. The head of the bailiff service called the police, and Bulgakov and the human rights activists were detained without any explanation. They were taken to a police station, where all four were charged with “disobeying police officers”. They were detained for six hours, and taken to a Leninsky court, which returned their cases to the police.  Bulgakov and the human rights activists were again taken to the police station, and were left there overnight without food and water. 

The next morning they were taken to the court again, and their lawyers filed several motions asking to use witnesses and videotapes, and to give them time for preparation. All cases were postponed, and Anton Bulgakov’s case will be heard on 17 June. 

Links: https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/06/03/v-ekaterinburge-zaderzhali-obshchestvennyh-zashchitnikov-i-zhurnalista-za?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR1BMPlsg8YGbBbzMHZJjvqwp4JkZNiZm2OlW1fQ3uQeILAWt-CUa8Oy0A0

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation, Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Sources:  Police/State security, Court/Judicial

Research institute filed defamation lawsuit against Kommersant

3 June 2019 – The research institute Masshtab filed a defamation lawsuit against Kommersant over an article about the embezzlement of state funds through a contract with the Defense Ministry, RNS reported. 

The article “New episode arises around Voentelekom” was published on 22 October 2018, and reported that according to Kommersant’s sources, a check by prosecutors found that Masshtab and another research center charged the Defense Ministry with artificially high prices on telecommunication equipment, embezzling 275 million rubles (4,22 mln USD). The intermediary contractor between the research centers and the ministry was the state company Voentelecom, whose management was affiliated with the management of the research centers. Masshtab is also a part of the Automatica group, which is owned by the state corporation Rostech.

According to the head of the Kommersant legal department, Georgy Ivanov, Masshtab demanded the refutation and removal of the article, though no financial compensation was requested.  

Links: https://rns.online/it-and-media/K-Kommersantu-podali-isk-iz-za-stati-o-hischeniyah-pri-ispolnenii-kontrakta-s-Minoboroni-2019-06-03/

https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/05f7e19c-ea17-4beb-ae1a-bdc02c02e11b

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3777863

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Sources: Corporation/Company, Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Krasnodar investigative blogger shot and stabbed

 1 June 2019 – Vadim Kharchenko, a Krasnodar-based blogger and creator of the YouTube channel “Lichnoe Mneniye” (“Personal Opinion”), was assaulted and shot at by two unknown men, he reported in his video blog.

Kharchenko reported that, about two weeks ago, he had received a call from an anonymous man who introduced himself as a policeman willing to give him a flash-drive with evidence that local policemen had tortured detainees and fabricated criminal cases against innocent people, planting drugs on them and filing fake protocols. Kharchenko agreed to meet the alleged whistle blower on 1 June. That day, the man called again saying that he had to leave the area urgently by plane and the only possible meeting place was near the airport in late evening. Kharchenko agreed, but the man did not come to the meeting. On his way back to his car, somebody called Kharchenko’s name and when he turned around, shot him twice. When Kharchenko ran towards the shooter and tackled him, another man kicked him. The first attacker shouted: “Cut him”, and the second man stabbed Kharchenko in the liver and right arm. While Kharchenko tried to battle the second attacker, the first one shot him again in the back. Both attackers then ran away, shouting, “Vadim, leave [the town]”. Kharchenko went to a hospital and documented his injuries – three gunshot wounds, two cuts and a head injury.

Kharchenko believes that the attack was motivated by the posts on his YouTube channel, which has over 180,000 subscribers, but does not know who could be behind the attack. Kharchenko has criticized local authorities, reported and commented on protests and politically motivated  detentions of activists, and has conducted investigations into alleged abuse of police power.

Krasnodar police launched an investigation of the incident.

In summer 2018, Kharchenko lost his job at a private security firm because of his blogging, and his car was destroyed. In 2017, he was assaulted twice — first, he was hit by a car, second, an unknown man hit him on the head with a metal tire lever and stabbed him with a 11-cm nail. Neither attacker was found.

Links: https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/06/03/v-krasnodare-pytalis-ubit-videoblogera-sobiravshego-kompromat-na-policiyu?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR0XOiG5CHudJrBigs1x7M2roE7xYBYg0AyR1NAG9nGnUnEeyFiWEPd-DPI

http://www.yugopolis.ru/news/menya-pochti-ubili-v-krasnodare-nachata-proverka-posle-zayavleniya-blogera-o-napadenii-120139

https://ria.ru/20190604/1555235630.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btw65pYCdLU&t=1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55n-qIpL5o4&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFaQT25MJ-8&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvzbq-Z0Kxk

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

Sources: Unknown[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1563183585001-0911e40e-6631-6″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Russia: Press freedom violations May 2019

01 Jun 19 | Russia, Russia Incident Reports

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

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.

Link(s)

https://www.facebook.com/kyril.rubankov/posts/2235781056514897

https://zona.media/news/2019/05/30/rkn-rkn?fbclid=IwAR2lnpynadRQTWWXE8wxAoR2xz6TGnVPeiz9h_93xG7B71HlwN2BLJSJtAU

https://tjournal.ru/news/99630-roskomnadzor-vydal-kostromskim-zhurnalistam-pamyatki-s-primerami-kak-nelzya-pisat-o-samoubiystvah

http://base.garant.ru/70511892/3/#block_1003

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.

Link(s)

https://lenizdat.ru/articles/1155783/

https://porebrik.media/2019/05/29/beglov-zhuranlisty/

http://www.interessant.ru/politics/bieghlov-ushiel-s-priess-ko

Categories: Blocked Access

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.

Link(s)

https://www.e1.ru/news/spool/news_id-66106057.html?utm_source=tme&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=e1

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/05/29/roskomnadzor-potreboval-u-izdaniya-e1ru-udalit-translyacii-protestov-v

Categories: Legal Measures

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.

Link(s)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w0iNHZmlSk&t=

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/05/29/v-moskve-na-zhurnalista-zaveli-administrativnoe-delo-za-videosemku-akcii?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR3b4ep5lsuz61roPJOkZeB-TEhUtnCTEd_RQTZiEJAomEqVevHHtQGhe_k

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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.

Link(s)

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/v-vshe-zakr/

https://meduza.io/news/2019/05/30/v-vshe-zakryli-studencheskoe-tok-shou-pered-efirom-s-yuristom-fbk-lyubovyu-sobol

https://www.hse.ru/org/hse/pfair/222774552.html

https://vk.com/@hse_university-tok-shou-v-tochku

Categories: Censorship

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.

Link(s)

https://29.ru/text/politics/66105163/?fbclid=IwAR1uW5tQlhvI07R2DWJlSqEMNRXf0yf_MhFbKRv1pdUzeGGhC28iuqTwvbs

https://29.ru/text/gorod/66088276/  

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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”.

Link(s)

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/05/28/v-tulskoy-oblasti-policeyskie-izyali-100-tysyach-ekzemplyarov-gazety?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR0kYFBf-rcvW2x4LCCeJGTzpcEXQD8PQFCorD_JkxmtgCGRc6BxXLnsehQ

Categories: Attack to Property

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.

Link(s)

https://rns.online/it-and-media/K-Kommersantu-podali-isk-iz-za-stati-o-hischeniyah-v-banke–2019-05-28/

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/bankir-vladi/

https://zona.media/news/2019/05/28/taurus

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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.

Link(s)

https://zona.media/online/2019/05/27/nove-1#24043

Categories: Blocked Access

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.

Bondarenko deleted the video.

Link(s):

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/05/27/roskomnadzor-potreboval-u-saratovskogo-deputata-udalit-video-o-protestah-v

https://zona.media/news/2019/05/27/youtube

https://www.e1.ru/news/spool/news_id-66103993.html

Categories: Legal Measures

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.  

Link(s):

https://www.facebook.com/idris.yusupov/posts/2648486565221682

https://zona.media/news/2019/05/29/jusupov?fbclid=IwAR2o4YFdsbMPkf-aIA5KcGS0wvD529Y39obip0qRq5LW-hfBVlKSGN41Suw

https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/332845/

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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.

The attacker pledged guilty.

Link(s):

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx9w86Di5hp/

https://meduza.io/news/2019/05/27/v-stavropole-prestupnik-s-nozhom-napal-na-sotrudnikov-gazety-raneny-chetyre-cheloveka

https://meduza.io/news/2019/05/29/v-stavropole-arestovali-podozrevaemogo-v-napadenii-na-redaktsiyu-gazety-kprf?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=share_fb&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR0DLSdh4MByAWD6VDAK068-O7qAVwUANGYwElnOWUdii1Z7fNRbqYig_fQ

Category: Physical Assault/Injury

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”.

Link(s):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u46j2RftOUc

https://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=3151444#

https://ria.ru/20190528/1554998919.html

https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-48419964

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury; Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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.

Link(s):

https://www.klerk.ru/buh/articles/485968/

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/05/28/152044-vladeltsu-izdaniya-dlya-buhgalterov-klerk-ru-prigrozili-tyurmoy-iz-za-karikatur-i-kritiki-fns

https://vc.ru/media/69461-vladelec-izdaniya-klerk-ru-rasskazal-ob-ugrozah-tyurmoy-iz-za-materialov-s-kritikoy-fns-nalogovaya-nachala-proverku

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits; Intimidation

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.

Link(s):

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/05/25/151986-durov-obvinil-rossiyskie-vlasti-v-popytke-vzloma-telegram-akkauntov-zhurnalistov-kotorye-osveschali-protesty-v-ekaterinburge

https://tjournal.ru/news/98863-durov-obvinil-rossiyskie-vlasti-v-popytke-vzloma-telegram-uralskih-zhurnalistov

https://www.the-village.ru/village/city/news-city/351391-telegram-vzlom

Categories: DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

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. 

Link(s): 

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/v-xmao-zhurnalist/?fbclid=IwAR1Xk8A1gUbx3vrgcjwk6L2hFYgIf3TQiELr4orRuIMTq3nUlqpRB2n2bwc

Categories: Intimidation

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.

Link(s):

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/05/23/v-lipecke-zhurnalista-dmitriya-pashinova-oshtrafovali-na-30-tysyach-po-delu?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR3jNuHx-usrOHZY644cZtLiZcUt-blzm-U6SC151P57-w59TKewmD_Mr_Y

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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”.

Link(s):

https://tayga.info/146549

https://novayareg.ru/news/v-smi-doljno-byt-vse-cenzurno

https://roskomsvoboda.org/47287/

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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.

Link(s):

https://www.facebook.com/100009825527438/posts/928435794160596/

https://lenta.ru/articles/2018/11/02/harassment/

https://www.chel.kp.ru/daily/26905.4/3950239/

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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.

Link(s):

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2225198390899838&set=a.562488627170831&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/isafronov/posts/10219767763932544

https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-48336039?fbclid=IwAR1sLqunNizqUWQKs9Rr_jdmQYuFj8sWkZmM4EWDIl7tRAONu3LCErWhUXQ

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/05/20/151810-dvuh-zhurnalistov-kommersanta-uvolili-posle-stati-o-vozmozhnoy-otstavke-valentiny-matvienko?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=novaya&utm_campaign=-iz-za-konflikta-s-aktsionerom-kommers

Categories: Loss of employment

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.

https://ura.news/news/1052384249?story_id=103

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

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.

Link(s):

https://www.facebook.com/Urales96/posts/1275278505968567

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

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.

https://ura.news/news/1052383993

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

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.

Link(s): 

https://openmedia.io/news/sotrudniki-fsb-prishli-k-rodstvennikam-zhurnalistki-otkrytyx-media/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=profsoyuz-zhurnalistov-osuzhdaet-deystviya-s&utm_content=29042760

Categories: Intimidation

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.

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/05/08/151495-v-krymu-na-10-sutok-arestovali-proukrainskogo-zhurnalista

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/05/08/v-simferopole-sud-na-10-sutok-arestoval-zhurnalista

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

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]

[/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]

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