Turkish journalists facing unprecedented surge of physical assaults

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In Turkey, the government uses national security and terror legislation to censor journalists. Arrests, detentions and trials of media workers are frequent.

Turkey’s freedom of the press was curbed after the attempted military coup in July 2016, when over 150 media outlets were shut down. Many journalists working in Kurdish territory were subject to physical violence and threats, and Rohat Aktaş, a journalist who covered the Kurdish-Turkish conflict in the town of Cizre, was killed. 

Physical attacks on media workers have become rare in recent years. However, Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating Media Freedom project documented seven assaults in Turkey in May, and another one in June 2019. This surge has raised concerns about the continuing pressure on media professionals in the country.

Özgün Özçer is a Turkey researcher for the monitoring project partner organisation Platform for Independent Journalism (P24). He attributes the physical violence to internal divisions within the nationalist and conservative political movements ahead of the second round of the mayoral elections in Istanbul, which took place in late June.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-times” color=”black” background_style=”rounded” size=”xl” align=”right”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project documents, analyses, and publicises threats, limitations and violations related to media freedom in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, in order to identify opportunities for advancing media freedom in these countries. The project collects, analyses and publicises limitations, threats and violations that affect journalists as they do their jobs. Its staff also advocate for greater press freedom in these countries and raises alerts at the international level.

The project builds on Index on Censorship’s 4.5 years monitoring media freedom in 43 European countries, as part of Mapping Media Freedom platform.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Yavuz Selim Demirağ assaulted outside his home” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”108007″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 10 May, journalist Yavuz Selim Demirağ, a prominent columnist for the nationalist newspaper Yeniçağ, sustained serious injuries from an assault in front of his house in Ankara. 

The attack took place late in the evening, when Demirağ was returning home after hosting a political show on a private TV broadcaster. The assailants, a group of seven men, fled the scene in a car after beating Demirağ with baseball bats.

Demirağ’s relatives took him to the hospital. Six people were arrested during the following week in connection with the attack, but all were released on 13 May after giving their statements to a prosecutor.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”İdris Özyol attacked outside local newspaper” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”108008″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 15 May, a group of three unidentified assailants attacked veteran journalist İdris Özyol in the coastal city of Antalya. Özyol was hospitalised following the attack, which took place in the evening in front of the office of the local newspaper, Akdeniz’de Yeni Yüzyıl, where he worked. He suffered injuries to his head and left arm. 

Özyol’s assailants were arrested on 17 May. Özyol said that one of his attackers, who he identified as Taner Canatek, was the driver of Talu Bilgili, a prominent local politician from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). MHP allied itself with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) during the general and presidential elections in 2018, and the local elections in March 2019. Özyol claimed that Canatek had worked for an AKP candidate during the local election campaign, and had visited the newspaper’s office with Bilgili, during which they had a heated exchange over a critical article by Özyol. Journalist associations condemned the attack.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Tuüçe Ünsal and Serkan Çinier attacked at Ankara cemetery” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 16 May, the crew of conservative news channel Beyaz TV was attacked in Beypazarı district of Ankara, online news website T24 reported. Reporter Tuüçe Ünsal and cameraman Serkan Çinier were harassed and battered while filming a news story about the rundown state of a local cemetery. There they were assaulted by a group of people, allegedly supporters of the city’s new opposition mayor Mansur Yavaş. 

Çinier was taken to the hospital following the attack. At least one of the perpetrators was arrested. 

Mansur Yavaş had served as a mayor of a small Turkish town for 10 years before his first run for the Turkish capital’s mayorship in 2014. Beyaz TV is an Ankara-based news channel founded by Osman Gökçek, the son of former Ankara mayor Melih Gökçek.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Ergin Çevik tracked and beaten” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”108023″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 20 May 2019, three people attacked Ergin Çevik, editor-in-chief of Antalya-based news portal Güney Haberci, in Antalya near a restaurant in the Aksu district. They approached Çevik, asked him if he was Ergin Çevik, and, upon confirmation, attacked him. The beating lasted several minutes, after which the attackers fled the scene. 

Çevik told Evrensel that the assailants had come to his office before the attack and spoken with his secretary. Their visit was caught on camera, and the police are now working with the footage to identify the attackers. Çevik was reportedly assaulted because of his recent investigation of unearned income in the municipality of Aksu. In the article, Çevik called on the mayor of Aksu, Halil Şahin, who was re-elected on 31 March, to address the allegations.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Hakan Denizli shot in the leg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”108010″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 24 May, Hakan Denizli, founder of a local newspaper Egemen, was shot outside of his home in the southern province of Adana in front of his 4-year old granddaughter. “I got in the car and the window was open. They came, shot me in the leg and ran away”, Denizli told Arab News. He was immediately hospitalised. The gunman escaped and could not be identified, though the police launched a search. 

This is the 29th attack on Denizli throughout his career.

“This brutal attack against Hakan Denizli–the fourth assault on a journalist in two weeks–appears to signal an alarming cycle of violence against critical voices in Turkey,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said, as quoted on CPJ’s website. “We call on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to strongly condemn the attacks and to instruct his law enforcement to bring those responsible to justice and to ensure the safety of journalists”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Sabahattin Önkibar assaulted” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”108011″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 25 May, Odatv web portal columnist Sabahattin Önkibar was attacked by a group of unknown individuals near his home in Ankara. Three people got out of two cars parked nearby and attacked Önkibar with their fists, daily Odatv reported. Önkibar filed a complaint with the police about the attack. He became the fifth journalist to be targeted in Turkey within two weeks.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Hasan Ceyhan beaten up by police” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 28 May, Hasan Ceyhan,  a distributor for the pro-Kurdish newspaper Yeni Yaşam, was beaten by security and police at a metro station in Istanbul, Mezopotamya Agency reported. Ceyhan, who is epileptic, fainted in the metro and was taken out of the train at the central Gayrettepe station. An ambulance was called while he was still unconscious at the station.

Ceyhan told Mezopotamya Agency that the security and police officers at the station checked his bags and saw the copies of the newspaper. They took him to a room inside the station, he said, where one security officer and two police officers beat and insulted him for an hour. They let him go after they forced him to sign a piece of paper stating that he would not file a complaint. Ceyhan said he got a medical report from the hospital and was planning to file a formal complaint to the police. [/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Murat Alan attacked leaving mosque” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 14 June Murat Alan, news editor of the ultraconservative daily Yeni Akit, was attacked in Gaziosmanpaşa district of Istanbul, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported. Four people armed with baseball bats and knives attacked Alan as he came out of a mosque after Friday Prayers with his 6-year-old son, a family member and his two children. 

“I said ‘I have children, I have children with me, don’t do this’”, Alan told AA. As he grappled with the attacker who had a knife, one with a baseball bat started hitting him on the head. The assailants were scared off by the worshippers.  

Alan received a head injury as a result of the attack, and was taken to a hospital for treatment. The attackers were caught and detained by the police. A week later, they were released by the court, NTV reported. Prosecutors charged the four men with “actual bodily harm” following a forensics report.

Presidential spokesperson Fahrettin Altun condemned the attack. Alan was under investigation for allegedly “insulting the commanders of Turkish Armed Forces.” [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”“Impossible to talk about democracy in a society where there is no freedom of the press“” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Turkey Journalists’ Society (TGC) condemned the series of attacks in a statement.

TGC said, “We expect that the impunity imposed on all attacks on newspapers and journalists will not be applied in this case. It is impossible to talk about democracy in a society where there is no freedom of the press. Social peace cannot be achieved in an environment where newspapers and journalists are constantly targeted. Attacks on the press are direct attacks on the public’s right to receive information and learn the truth. We want those responsible to be found and punished as soon as possible”.

A letter signed by 20 international organisations–led by the International Press Institute and Committee to Protect Journalists–following the attacks on Demirağ and Özyol on May 16 called on Erdoğan to condemn the assaults and make sure that the perpetrators are brought to justice, reported Hurriyet Daily News. “Attacks like those against Demirağ and Özyol, if left unpunished, will have a serious chilling effect on the country’s journalists and further strengthen a climate of fear, which seriously hinders Turkey’s credibility as a democracy,” read the letter.

“A brief analysis of these attacks reveals that the frequency of such moves against journalists increase at times when the country passes through politically-troubled straits and is open to provocations. Besides journalists, prominent politicians from different lines become targets of such physical attacks at these times. A lynch attempt attack against Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu by a nationalist crowd during a funeral of a fallen soldier in early April should be interpreted within this frame.

“More striking is the fact that this increase in attacks against dissident journalists comes on the eve of the Istanbul election rerun, which has fuelled political tension once again following the cancellation of March 31 polls for Turkey’s largest metropolis. Although there is no direct link between these mentioned attacks on journalists and Istanbul’s renewed elections, an increase in the tension would further complicate the political climate”.

“Having monitored media freedom issues and impunity towards crime committed against media representatives for 25 years, this is the first time I noticed that a government circle has provoked a hostile climate for journalists, at this extent, kept observing intimidations and violence against ‘recalcitrant’ media representatives”, Erol Önderoğlu, a Turkey Representative for RSF who is facing trial, told Index.

“President Erdogan, the AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party circles remained silent, although the first attack occurred on May 11, and everybody knew it would be contagious. In fact, the government was complicit in allowing MHP militants to silence criticism coming from nationalist or secular parts of the society. It is not a coincidence, then, that two parliament enquiry demands submitted by Iyi Party (Good Party, born from a division within the MHP) and by the main opposition party CHP aiming to investigate this hostile environment for journalists have both been rejected by AKP and MHP votes. Since May 11, no less (sic) than 10 journalists, columnists and reporters were physically attacked in this post-local-election process. All perpetrators were arrested but released pending trial, except for one case in which four men involved in a gun attack were sent to jail. The question is, how shall we expect to fight against impunity if the government itself is clearly involved in the propagation of violence?”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Press Freedom Violations in Turkey” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]

Number and types of incidents recorded between 1 February and 30 June 2019

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0

Death/Killing

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5

Physical Assault/Injury

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7

Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

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96

Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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0

Intimidation

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

0

Blocked Access

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0

Attack to Property

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3

Subpoena/Court Order/Lawsuits

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0

Legal Measures/Legislation

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0

Offine Harassment

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0

Online Harassment

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0

DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

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1

Censorship

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114

Total

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Source of the incidents recorded between 1 February and 30 June 2019

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0

Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)

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7

Police/State Security

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0

Private Security

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

95

Court/Judicial

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2

Government official(s)/State Agency/Political Party

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2

Corporation

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0

Known private individual(s)

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0

Another Media Outlet

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0

Criminal Organisation

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6

Unknown

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In Ukraine, violence is the tool of choice against journalists

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The majority of violations in Ukraine catalogued by Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project from 1 February to 30 June 2019 were categorised as physical assaults, attacks to property or blocked access. Most frequently, these actions were taken by agents of the state — whether law enforcement or other governmental structures.

The Monitoring and Advocacy for Media Freedom project has recorded 16 incidents in which journalists have been subjected to physical assaults, and 17 incidents in which journalists has their equipment and property damaged since February 2019, 4 of which are in both categories. The project’s numbers are corroborated by the National Union of Ukrainian Journalists (NSJU), which recorded 36 incidents targeting journalists since 1 January 2019, including physical assaults and attacks on property, as part of their Index of Physical Safety of Ukrainian Journalists.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-times” color=”black” background_style=”rounded” size=”xl” align=”right”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project documents, analyses, and publicises threats, limitations and violations related to media freedom in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, in order to identify possible opportunities for advancing media freedom in these countries. These limitations, threats and violations, affect journalists as they do their jobs, so the project’s staff advocate for greater press freedom in these countries and raise international awareness.

The project builds on Index on Censorship’s 4.5 years monitoring media freedom in 43 European countries, as part of Mapping Media Freedom platform.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Vadim Komarov murdered” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]The 20 June death of journalist and blogger Vadim Komarov is a severe and frightening example of the violence that Ukrainian journalists encounter in their work. Komarov was attacked with a hammer in the centre of Cherkasy on 4 May. His is the first recorded death of a journalist in Ukraine since the murder of Pavel Sheremet, whose car was blown up in 2016.  

Komarov was struck in the head several times by an unidentified individual, in broad daylight, near the town’s busy central market. The assailant then fled. Komarov was found unconscious and bloodied by passers by, who called emergency services. According to the doctors who treated him, Komarov had suffered a grievous open head injury, and slipped into a coma shortly after surgery. He never regained consciousness.  

Sergey Tomilenko wrote on Facebook that Komarov’s family and colleagues “don’t feel like there’s (the) necessary attention to this case.” The cause of the murder, said Tomilenko, was Komarov’s journalistic work. “The murder of Vadim Komarov is a crime against all journalists in general,” he wrote. Tomilenko called for solidarity among journalists, because “this topic is important for the survival of a journalist as a profession in Ukraine.”

The police were investigating Komarov’s attack as an “assassination attempt” prior to his death.

Komarov was known for his investigations of corruption among Cherkasy city authorities and the region’s prison system. The journalist had been assaulted in the past: on 7 September 2016, an unknown gunman shot at Komarov in Cherkasy, but the bullet missed him and hit a wall. 

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his deep sorrow following Komarov’s death. “I am deeply shocked by the death of Vadim Komarov, who was brutally attacked last month in Cherkasy and suffered from serious head injuries,” Désir said. “I reiterate my call to the Ukrainian authorities to complete the investigation in a vigorous and swift manner. It is regrettable that about one-and-a-half months after the attack, law enforcement has not yet identified the perpetrators nor reported any progress on the investigation. Violence and attacks against journalists are unacceptable and must stop. Impunity would be a victory for those who wanted to silence Komarov and to intimidate the press. All OSCE participating states should take effective and resolute actions to prevent and end impunity for such crimes.” [/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Aliya Zamchynska” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 20 June, Aliya Zamchynska, a correspondent for online news outlet Dumskaya, was assaulted and threatened by Yury Reznikov, Dumskaya.net reported. Reznikov is the owner of a cable car next Otrada beach in Odessa.

According to Ukrayinska Pravda, local deputies, civil activists and journalists gathered at Otrada beach to remove an illegal fence restricting public access to the beach. The video recorded by Dumskaya shows Reznikov confronting the group armed with a machine gun and threatening them. “I’m not ready to kill for private property, but I’m ready to shoot [you] in the legs,” Reznikov told them. During the episode Reznikov pushed Zamchynska, who fell to the ground and was injured as a result.

Deputy Olexander Sheremet managed to disarm Reznikov, and the police were called to the scene. They discovered that the gun had been loaded.

This is not the first time that Reznikov and his family attacked journalists and activists. In 2012, his daughter assaulted activist Zoya Melnik in front of her child. In 2014, Reznikov pushed a cameraman for Pervyi Gorodskoi TV channel into a swimming pool with his camera. [/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Maria Gural and Volodymyr Tsyganov” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 13 June, two reporters from online news site Stop Corruption, Maria Gural and Volodymyr Tsyganov, were assaulted in Priluki, Chernihiv region. The attacker was identified as Olexander Chaly. Chaly is deputy head of politician Boris Prikhodko’s election campaign for Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, the Institute of Mass Information reported. 

According to Stop Corruption, the journalists were trying to access an open event where Prikhodko was meeting with members of the public. The crew were investigating alleged voter bribery and wanted to question the politician. 

Olexander Chaly first tried to snatch a microphone from Gural, and then began to assault her. Tsyganov tried to protect Gural and was assaulted as well. As a result of the beating, Gural received a concussion, and Tsyganov ended up with scratches and light injuries. The police arrested Chaly and charged him with “threat or violence against a journalist.” [/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Vadym Makaryuk” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]

On 7 June, Vadym Makaryuk was physically assaulted during a mass brawl at Barabashovo market in Kharkiv by unknown individuals, Channel 24 reported. Makatyuk is a TV operator for Channel 24 and Visti.News,

A group of unidentified people assaulted the cameraperson as he filmed the altercation at the market. They sprayed tear gas in his eyes, smashed his face, broke his camera and took away his memory card. The clash was between the right-wing National Corps (who are Donbass war veterans) and the merchants of Barabashovo. According to the market administration, their conflict was due to a property dispute.

The journalist was taken to an intensive care unit in a local hospital, where doctors diagnosed a hemorrhagic stroke as a result of a cerebral haemorrhage sustained after the beating. 

The police opened a criminal investigation into whether the incident constituted “threats or violence against a journalist”, “obstruction of journalists’ legal activities”, and “robbery”. A court in Kharkiv refused to detain a man involved in the brutal beating, saying that round-the-clock house arrest was sufficient punishment, Interfax-Ukraine reported. The court also sentenced  Kozlyuk, a 26-year-old unemployed Kharkiv resident involved in the assault, to one month and 28 days under house arrest. Immediately after the hearing, the suspect’s lawyer said that he would appeal the decision. The prosecutor’s office also announced their intention to appeal.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Natalia Polishchuk, Maria Petruchyk and Vyacheslav Moroshko” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 9 May, customs officers at the Yagodyn border crossing with Poland assaulted Natalia Polishchuk, Maria Petruchyk and Vyacheslav Moroshko, journalists working for Avers TV.

The three journalists were investigating a large shipment of amber, which was alleged to have been smuggled to Poland through the Yagodyn customs station. The reporting crew entered a restaurant where customs agents were attending a party and began asking questions about corruption and the amber smuggling. According to Avers, the officers who were present behaved aggressively and assaulted the journalists. They bruised one journalist’s finger and broke the crew’s camera, 1+1 TV channel reported. 

“Two men approached me, they started tugging at me, tore my jacket, hit the cameraperson, hit the camera,” Polishchuk said. Petruchyk reported, “He (my attacker) wrestled my phone out of my hand, used brute force, my hand is damaged, he tore my journalist’s ID off me.” The officers also forcibly took the journalists’ driver’s licenses, car documents  and bank cards. A customs officer told one of the journalists he would “bury her”. The journalists managed to film a part of the incident.

The police have opened criminal proceedings on three articles. “It’s about interfering with the professional activities of journalists, robbery and causing intentional light bodily injuries,” Viktor Homol, spokesperson for the National Police in the Volyn region, said. The case is now being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigations.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Kateryna Kaplyuk and Borys Trotsenko” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 6 March, journalist Kateryna Kaplyuk and cameraperson Borys Trotsenko from the investigative TV project Schemes were assaulted in Chabany, a suburb of Kyiv. Schemes’s editor Natalie Sedletska reported the assault on her Facebook page. Sedletska wrote that the journalists had gone to Chabany village council to get information for an investigation on the illegal transfer of public land to private ownership. 

The pair were filming at the council’s office, trying to interview the council secretary, when they were assaulted. Their attackers were two deputies of Chabany’s village head, Volodimir Chuprina and Yuri Bondar, as well as Valery Prisyazhny, the head of the public organisation Rozvitok Kyevshiny. In their attempt to prevent journalists from filming, these men injured Trotsenko and broke his camera. 

Kaplyuk and Trotsenko called an ambulance. After a medical check-up at a hospital, Trotsenko was diagnosed with a concussion. The journalists filed a complaint with the police, who launched a criminal investigation. [/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Lack of “political will“ puts journalists at risk” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Despite the existence of legislation that aims to protect journalists, the NSJU said that Ukraine is notorious for impunity when crimes against journalists are committed.

Speaking at a conference held by the International Federation of Journalists in October 2018, Sergey Tomilenko, the head of NSJU, said that crimes against journalists had become the norm in Ukraine. He said that every four days there were acts of violence against journalists in the country, from brutal beatings to broken equipment.

In 2017-2018 NSJU recorded 175 physical violations against journalists in Ukraine, including minor acts of aggression and destruction of property. 

Artyom Shevchenko, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior, reported on 1 March that in 2018, the police opened 258 criminal investigations on interfering with journalistic activity. In January 2019 alone, there were an additional 21 investigations. At the same time, however, only 26 out of the 258 cases related to crimes against media workers were passed on to the court. 

“The lack of political will of the country’s leadership to really protect media workers leads to the fact that the attacks are not properly investigated, and those cases which still reach the court do not end with heavy punishment for the attackers”, head of NSJU Sergey Tomilenko told Index on Censorship’s project Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom. “Until recently, journalists, particularly investigative journalists, were viewed by officials as threats, and not as an important element of protecting democracy in the country.” Until recently, there has also been a political culture that legitimised humiliating journalists and the media, he added. 

Tomilenko said that the NSJU has noticed that ordinary Ukrainians now feel emboldened to physically assault journalists. This is likely due to the toxic attitude toward the press created by government officials, he says. “Over the past year, we have witnessed an active uprising by the authorities–primarily representatives of the President, Petro Poroshenko, and parliamentarians of the political forces close to him–deliberate hostility towards certain journalists and the media, and calls to attack the so-called ‘pro-Russian’ media. This has resulted in the blocking of individual TV channels, the physical attacks on journalists during live broadcasts, parliamentary appeals to stop the broadcasting of individual media, and attempts to adopt draconian laws against the media.”

Tomilenko said that he was hopeful that the hostility toward journalists would abate in the future. “The victory of the new President, Volodymyr Zelensky, who does not use the rhetoric of hostility towards journalists and declares his support of freedom of speech and real political competition in the country, gives (me) hope that the Ukrainian authorities will not be at the forefront of those who reject the rights of journalists and the media.”

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine has been calling for regular and transparent public reports by law enforcement agencies on the progress of investigations of crimes against journalists. Such reports could be used as a key tool in battling impunity. In addition, the NSJU is recommending special parliamentary hearings on journalists’ physical security and freedom of speech. 

“This initiative, which we proposed in July 2017 on the 1st anniversary of the assassination of Pavel Sheremet, is particularly relevant today — when a new murder took place in Ukraine — that of regional journalist Vadim Komarov”, Tomilenko said.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Press Freedom Violations in Ukraine” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]

Number and types of incidents recorded between 1 February and 30 June 2019

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1

Death/Killing

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16

Physical Assault/Injury

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2

Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

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2

Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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6

Intimidation

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8

Blocked Access

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17

Attack to Property

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2

Subpoena/Court Order/Lawsuits

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1

Legal Measures/Legislation

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1

Offine Harassment

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1

Online Harassment

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1

DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

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0

Censorship

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42

Total

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Source of the incidents recorded between 1 February and 30 June 2019

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0

Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)

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7

Police/State Security

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2

Private Security

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3

Court/Judicial

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10

Government official(s)/State Agency/Political Party

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0

Corporation

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11

Known private individual(s)

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0

Another Media Outlet

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0

Criminal Organisation

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14

Unknown

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Russia: Press freedom violations June 2019

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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

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Governments must not “cherry pick” media outlets

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Index on Censorship condemns the decision by the UK Foreign Office to deny accreditation to Russia’s RT and Sputnik news agencies.

The BBC reported on Monday that RT and Sputnik had been banned from attending a major global conference on media freedom currently being held in London. The FCO said the news groups were not granted accreditation because of their “active role” in spreading disinformation.

Jodie Ginsberg, Index chief executive, called on the foreign office to reconsider its decision. “Cherry-picking only the media that one government considers acceptable is the precisely the kind of action we condemn from authoritarian states. If media organisations spread lies and misinformation it is the job of a vibrant, pluralistic and independent media to challenge and expose those lies, not the job of governments to stifle the news outlets it dislikes.”

“We are extremely concerned about the message this decision sends about the UK’s genuine commitment to a free and independent media worldwide.”

Index on Censorship is attending the Global Media Freedom conference, which takes place July 10-11. Index currently monitors media freedom in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, where it often calls out governments that block access to media representatives to control the narrative.

For more information or for interviews, contact Sean Gallagher on [email protected]

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