6 Aug 2019 | 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.
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]
26 Jul 2019 | Media Freedom, Monitoring and Advocating Coverage, News and features, Russia
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In Russia, dozens of independent outlets have closed or changed ownership and editorial policy in the last ten years. Numerous media outlets are still fighting to survive and produce quality journalism as their reporters face increasing threats of physical violence.
Independent media sources have been hamstrung by restrictive legislation and police, governmental, and private interference. Physical assaults, detentions, lawsuits, fines, and blocked access are common. Many outlets have chosen to practice self-censorship to protect themselves. Strict new laws limiting press freedom have been introduced, despite having progressive press laws from the 1990s still on the books and a constitutional article guaranteeing freedom of the press.
Out of 175 violations recorded in Russia by the Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project between February and June 2019, 20 were physical assaults that came from political figures, police structures, known private individuals and unknown perpetrators. Several of the cases are egregious examples of how physical violence is used to target journalists in Russia.[/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. The project collects, analyses and publicises limitations, threats and violations that affect journalists as they do their job, and advocates 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=”Case studies: Egregious physical violence” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”107961″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Vadim Kharchenko” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 1 June, Vadim Kharchenko, a Krasnodar-based blogger and author of Lichnoe Mneniye (“Personal Opinion”) YouTube channel was assaulted and shot by two unknown men, which he reported in a video posted to his blog. About two weeks before the incident, he had received an anonymous call from an individual, who introduced himself as a policeman willing to provide evidence that local policemen had tortured detainees and fabricated criminal cases against innocent people. Kharchenko agreed to meet the man, who told him that he had to urgently leave town and could only meet near the airport in the late evening. However, no one came to the meeting. On the way back to his car, Kharchenko heard someone call his name and turned around. He heard two gunshots. When he ran towards the shooter and wrestled him to the ground, another person stabbed him in the liver and right arm. When Kharchenko tried to fight the second attacker, the first shot him in the back. Both attackers fled, shouting “Vadim, leave [the town]”. Kharchenko then went to a hospital and documented his injuries – three gunshot wounds, two stab wounds and a concussion.
The Krasnodar police said they were looking into the incident. Kharchenko is now recovering and undergoing treatment to restore movement in his right hand. He crowdfunded for medical expenses on his channel, which enabled him to travel to a Moscow clinic for treatment.
Kharchenko believes the attack was motivated by the content of his YouTube channel, but does not know who was behind the attack. His channel criticises local authorities, reports and comments on protests and detention of activists, and conducts investigations into alleged abuse of power by the police.
In summer 2018, Kharchenko lost his job at a private security firm because of his blogging activity, and his car was set on fire. In 2017 he was assaulted twice: first, he was hit by a car; second, he was hit in the head with a metal tire lever and stabbed with a 4-inch nail by an unknown man. Neither attacker was found.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”107963″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Boris Usahakov” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 14 March Boris Usahakov, a coordinator of Gulagu.net project which exposes cases of torture, survived an attempt on his life in the city of Vladimir. Head of the project Vladimir Osechkin reported the attack in a video posted to the Gulagu.net website.
According to Osechkin, Ushakov was returning home from a store when he saw a silhouette in a dark alley. When the man saw Ushakov, he drew a gun from inside his coat and aimed at him. Ushakov, who had received death threats before (the police ignored his reports), immediately began running away from the gunman and heard gunshots. He was able to hide in an apartment building and call the police. Instead of a police squad, an ambulance arrived and attempted to take Ushakov to a psychiatric hospital. The plan failed, as Ushakov was on the phone with his colleague, who stated loudly that she was recording the conversation and would bring the police malpractice to public attention. The police arrived soon after, but did not examine the premises and refused to investigate the crime scene.
Ushakov reported on dozens of cases of police brutality and torture in prisons of Vladimir region for Gulagu.net. On 2 April, Ushakov was arrested after being questioned by police about the attack, and held in police custody. He told his colleagues that the policemen discussed planting drugs on him. He was later released, likely because of public outcry around the case.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”107964″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Vasily Utkin” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 3 April, sports journalist Vasily Utkin was assaulted with tear gas by an unknown individual, he reported on his Telegram channel. The attack took place late in the evening after the training session of the amateur football team Egrisi, where Utkin is a frequent guest. A young man in a grey hoodie approached Utkin as he walked to his car and sprayed him in the face with tear gas. The assailant also filmed the attack with his smartphone, “for the accountability record”, Utkin said.
“There is only one reason and only two people who would like to organise this. I was talking about it in the last episode of my show”, Utkin said, referring to his YouTube show Football Club. In the last episode, he discussed so-called Aguzarov-gate – the scheme in which Alan Aguzarov, the personal lawyer of the head coach of the Russian national football team, Stanislav Cherchesov, used his connections to Cherchesov to sign football players up for contracts, promising selection to the national team.
Utkin decided against going to the police to report the assault, and said it would simply be a waste of time. This was not the first attack on Utkin — in 2001, he was stabbed twice in the back with a screwdriver by an unknown assailant. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalists face perils when covering protests” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Russia is infamous for its violent treatment of protestors. Journalists have found that their press credentials do not protect them.” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 1 May at least two journalists and one blogger were detained while covering a sanctioned opposition rally in Saint Petersburg, according to Zona.Media and OVD-Info. This included YouTube blogger Nikita Zabzanov, who was forcefully arrested and had his camera confiscated. He was later released with no charges. Freelance photojournalist Georgiy Markov and Oleg Nasonov, a photojournalist with St. Petersburg-based online news outlet Dva Stula, were also detained despite identifying themselves as members of the press. Makarov was assaulted by the police during his arrest. According to Makarov, he was struck in the ribs and head with rubber batons, and his arm was bleeding. He was held at a police station for two and a half hours without any charges, and was later hospitalised. A total of 131 people were detained at demonstrations across 11 Russian cities on the same day.
On 14 May Anna Mayorova, a photographer with Ura.ru news agency, was attacked with tear gas while covering protests against the construction of a church in a public park in Ekaterinburg, Ura.ru reported. Mayorova did not see who sprayed tear gas at the crowd, but noted it was one of the “ripped fighters” who arrived at the scene and confronted the activists. The police did not catch the perpetrator. Mayorova and numerous other people at the protest were injured by the tear gas.
On 15 May another Ura.ru photographer, Vladimir Zhabrikov, was kicked by a policeman, who told him to “take away his lenses”. Zhabrikov had a press badge on him.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalists in Russia are frequently assaulted while working on stories” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Government officials and private security often target the journalists investigating them.” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”107566″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]The story of Meduza special reporter Ivan Golunov received media coverage around the world. Golunov was detained in Moscow on 6 June on suspicion of drug dealing, an accusation that the Kremlin later admitted had been entirely fabricated. He was stopped on the street by several policemen, who searched his backpack and claimed to have discovered a package with an unknown substance. One more package was reported to have been found in Golunov’s apartment. Golunov denied all accusations, and insisted that the drugs had been planted.
When Golunov spoke to his lawyer the following day, the latter discovered that Golunov had been bruised and injured. According to the journalist, he was threatened, punched and kicked while being interrogated at the police station. He was denied an ambulance.
The situation drew massive attention throughout Russia, with hundreds of people, many of them members of the press, protesting in front of the prosecutor’s office in Moscow alone. Journalists from a variety of outlets, from partisan to state media, all condemned Golunov’s arrest and called for a fair investigation and trial. On 11 June, Golunov was released and all charges against him dropped in an uncommon victory for Russian civil society. The investigation is ongoing, but the tide has turned against the police officers who initiated the arrest.
On 27 May, Ivan Litomin, reporter of state-owned TV channel Rossiya 24, was physically assaulted and thrown to the ground. His attacker was Sergey Zaytsev, head of the Shirinsky district in the Khakasia region, Rossiya 24 reported.
Accompanied by a film crew of two people, Litomin set out to interview Zaytsev, investigating the discrepancy between the official’s luxurious mansion and the poor-quality houses provided by the government to those who lost their homes in wildfires in 2015. Zaytsev behaved aggressively toward Litomin and tried to take away his microphone. He then grabbed Lidomin and threw him to the ground, shouting “Go away, I’m telling you, get out of here”. Zaytsev’s aides pushed Lidomin out of the office and tried to prevent the cameramen from filming the incident.
After the video of Lidomin’s attack went viral, Evgeny Revenko, secretary of the ruling political party, United Russia — of which Zaytsev is a member — publicly apologised. United Russia also expelled Zaytsev. The state Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Zaytsev on charges of obstruction of journalistic activity.
Zaytsev called the incident “a planned provocation,” and claimed that Litomin fell by himself rather than being pushed. “They broke into my office outside of working hours and started calling me a corrupt thief, saying that I had a criminal past and asking if I was ashamed of being the head of the district. It lasted ten 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 state-operated news source RIA Novosti. Zaytsev filed a complaint with the police, attempting to prosecute Litomin for “offence of a representative of the government”.
On 20 March, three reporters for the media outlet Rosderzhava, Andrey Oryol, Alexander Dorogov and Pavel Tsibulyak, were physically assaulted while trying to investigate inside an office building, Mediazona reported. The reporters accompanied an ex-employee of PromMash Test company to the company’s offices to investigate the circumstances of her firing. They were met with hostility and physical violence. Over fifteen of the boss’s deputies started beating the reporters, following them to the street as they fled and continuing to assault them. The attackers took their cameras, phones, documents and wallets. Oryol and Dorogov ended up in the hospital.
Deputy chief editor of Rosderzhava Yan Katelevskiy told Mediazona that there had been no investigation of the incident. In fact, the journalists themselves could be prosecuted, as PromMash Test filed a lawsuit against them for hooliganism. Oryol has since left the country for rehabilitation. Katelevskiy insists that PromMash Test’s CEO Alexey Filatchev and his brother, both ex-FSB employees, took part in the beating.
Boris Ivanov, a YouTube blogger and reporter with Rosderzhava who filmed the bloodied car and patch of ground near PromMash Test’s office after the incident took place, was detained near his home in Moscow on 4 June, OVD-Info reported. According to Ivanov, the policemen did not identify themselves or explain the reason for his arrest. They twisted the journalist’s arm, took away his phone, and brought him to Tverskoe police station. After the arrival of Ivanov’ lawyer, the policemen released him without any charges.
On 20 March, Ilya (his last name was not disclosed), a part-time local correspondent for 47news, was assaulted by a security guard at Gazprom’s Sotsinvest construction site, 47news reported. The incident took place near Lesnoye village in Leningrad oblast, where the company is constructing a large logistics center. Ilya was assigned to film the premises using a drone. He was stopped by a security guard near the entrance. The guard called for reinforcements, took away Ilya’s equipment, hit him in the face, and threatened to “fucking drown” him. The police were called to the incident. They took away Ilya’s drone and recorded in their report that the attack came from “an unidentified person”. Gazprom provided no commentary. The logistics center is reported to have cost 15 billion rubles, three times the proposed budget, according to a recent expert report from Fontanka.ru. 47news vowed to publish a new investigation about Gazprom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”“Legislation is only effective in a society governed by the rule of law“” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
David Filipov (Photo: Tufts)
Press freedom in Russia is largely defined by practice, David Filipov, a former Moscow bureau chief for The Washington Post, told Index on Censorship.
“Lots of places have good press laws. But legislation is only effective in a society governed by the rule of law. Russia is not one of those,” he said. Countries like Russia have the ability to limit the freedoms embedded in their constitutions through legislation passed by rubber stamp parliaments, and root out or weaken civil society institutions that ensure the protection of citizens from abuse by government.
Russia’s legislation — examples of which the Monitoring and Advocating Project reported on in its previous report on Russia — curbs the reporting of investigative journalists in particular. While there are many intrepid reporters in Russia, “the state is constantly focused on an effort to root out media outlets that produce great investigative reporting, and replace that with statist, loyalist noise,” Filipov said.
The current media environment is vastly different from the 1990s, when the Russians had “a brief taste of US-style media.” Filipov said that when media is operated as a business rather than an “affair of the state”, reporters can investigate and report. When media becomes an instrument of the authoritarian state, reporters can only parrot the party line. “Unfortunately, in Russia, and, increasingly, in various other states, authoritarian leaders have latched on to the idea that controlling media means prolonging power”, he said.
Filipov emphasised that authoritarian states like Russia have a constant need to restate their legitimacy: “Why are we forced to take harsh measures? Because our freedom is in danger! We are for freedom! But there are enemies who would take it away!”
He recounted meeting a member of NOD (natsional’noye osvoboditel’noye dvizheniye, or “National Liberation Movement.”) in the “protest pit”, the only place near the Sochi Olympics where people were allowed to demonstrate. “The sole protester was telling me she supported ‘Russia’s sovereignty’ and opposed ‘attempts from outside forces to take it away’, and therefore supported Putin,” he said, calling it a bland version of the mantra he heard at the NOD rallies, where the effort to dismantle “Russian sovereignty” is described as a foreign-inspired aggression against ‘the real’ Russia, which needs to be met with popular force. “And therefore, if we can show, using our twisted logic, that a certain journalist is an aggressor, then that ‘aggressor’ needs to be met with force.”
Filipov told Index that since all civil society protections against the abuse of power by pro-government mobs have been subverted, such as the courts, co-opted, such as human rights ombudspersons, or dissolved and officially discredited, such as NGOs, there is no one left to properly call out the abuses by pro-government non-official entities. “But if someone brings it up to Putin during his press conferences, he can say, ‘Give me the names of these people, I will investigate. We cannot have such abuses in our country”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Press Freedom Violations in Russia” 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
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
20
Physical Assault/Injury
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
32
Arrest/Detention/Interrogation
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
29
Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
27
Intimidation
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
16
Blocked Access
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1558428157046{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
16
Attack to Property
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
23
Subpoena/Court Order/Lawsuits
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
15
Legal Measures/Legislation
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
0
Offine Harassment
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
0
Online Harassment
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
4
DDoS/Hacking/Doxing
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1558428169374{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
22
Censorship
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175
Total
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Source of the incidents recorded between 1 February and 30 June 2019
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10
Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
60
Police/State Security
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
7
Private Security
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
27
Court/Judicial
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
48
Government official(s)/State Agency/Political Party
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
7
Corporation
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1558428186205{background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
18
Known private individual(s)
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
0
Another Media Outlet
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
0
Criminal Organisation
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17
Unknown
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25 Jul 2019 | Media Freedom, Monitoring and Advocating Coverage, News and features, Turkey Reports
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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
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
7
Arrest/Detention/Interrogation
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
96
Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences
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0
Intimidation
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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
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
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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