2020 awards shortlist: Digital activism nominees announced

16 Mar 2020 | Awards, Fellowship 2020, News and features

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”112645″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This year’s three nominees in the digital activism category of Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression awards work in different areas of the online landscape but all are doing important work.

First up we have the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, or 7amleh, a non-profit organisation focused on protecting the human rights of Palestinians in the online space.

The organisation’s research has shown that two thirds of Palestinian youth are afraid to voice their political opinions online.

Israel routinely uses Palestinians’ private information from social media in its surveillance, leading many young Palestinians to self-censor after seeing family, friends and journalists arrested.

7amleh’s work protecting online safety and digital rights, advocacy and research has been crucial. It has campaigned with NGOs for amendments to the Palestinian Authority’s Cybercrimes Law, the development of the first Arabic Digital Security Manual and digital training being implemented into the Palestinian education system.

Our second nominee is eQualitie, an international group of digital activists whose mission is to promote and defend fundamental freedoms and human rights, including the free flow of information online.

Based in Montreal, eQualitie develop technologies to prevent cyber attacks, work to circumvent internet censorship and secure online communication. Additionally, they launch critical investigations to find the source of attacks and expose them.

As well as advocating free expression online, eQualitie have also delivered security training to over 3,000 journalists, activists and members of the public in over 40 countries. They have defended over 400 organisations from cyber attacks, including Black Lives Matter, and more than a million people use their protected websites every day.

Founded in 2010, our third nominee – HarassMap – allows victims and witnesses of sexual harassment in Egypt to pinpoint on a map exactly where their harassment occurred and also gives them access to a community of people who can help them.

The organisation has collected reports of more than 1,500 incidents of harassment and these are used to put an end to stereotypes that blame the harassed, make people understand that sexual harassment is a crime that has serious consequences, build campaigns to change perceptions and equip volunteers and partners with information that they use to create zero-tolerance attitudes and behaviour in schools, universities, workplaces, and on the streets.

It is based on the idea that if more people start taking action when sexual harassment happens in their presence, they can end what they call “an epidemic”.

HarassMap’s work saw Cairo University become the first in the Middle East to implement an anti-sexual harassment strategy. HarassMap has also partnered with Uber on sexual harassment policy and training.

The winner of the digital activism category will be announced at our awards event at the May Fair Hotel in London on 30 April. Digital activism is one of the four categories that will be recognised at the awards, alongside campaigning, journalism and the arts.

Our 2019 winner in this category was Fundación Karisma.

The winner of the 2020 journalism award will be chosen by a panel of judges which includes Ruth Ibegbuna, founder of multi award-winning youth leadership charity Reclaim and now director of Roots — an initiative aimed at bringing together people from different walks of life.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Podcast: Border forces with Peppermint, Ariana Drehsler and Steven Borowiec

10 Sep 2019 | Mexico, News and features, North Korea, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States, Volume 48.03 Autumn 2019

In the Index on Censorship autumn 2019 podcast, we focus on how travel restrictions at borders are limiting the flow of free thought and ideas. Lewis Jennings and Sally Gimson discuss the latest issue of the magazine and reveal what to expect. Guests include trans woman and activist Peppermint, runner-up of RuPaul’s Drag Race season nine, who opens up about a transphobic experience in a Russian airport; San Diego photojournalist Ariana Drehsler talks about her detainment at a Mexican border and how this compares to a similar situation that happened in Egypt; and Steven Borowiec, a regular contributor to the magazine based in South Korea, discusses the laws surrounding the toughest border in the world.

Print copies of the magazine are available on Amazon, or you can take out a digital subscription via Exact Editions. Copies are also available at the BFI, the Serpetine Gallery and MagCulture (all London), News from Nowhere (Liverpool). Red Lion Books (Colchester) and Home (Manchester). Each magazine sale helps Index on Censorship continue its fight for free expression worldwide.

The autumn 2019 podcast can also be found on iTunes.

Laugh and the World Laughs with Me

29 Aug 2019 | Egypt, News and features, Volume 48.02 Summer 2019, Volume 48.02 Summer 2019 Extras

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

 

Laugh and the World Laughs with Me is an intimate short story of a young woman who has a schizophrenic brother, set against the backdrop of the Tahrir Square demonstrations, from Egyptian writer Eman Abdelrahim. An extract of this new short story was first published in the summer issue of Index on Censorship magazine. Many of her tales often touch upon taboo subjects like mental health and presents women’s dilemmas in surreal ways. Her main influences when writing stems from Russian greats like Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky. She says she sees parallels between Egyptian society today and 19th century Tsarist Russia.

Laugh and the World Laughs with Me

By Eman Abdelrahim

The three of them are sitting now watching Al Jazeera on the TV. New events are occurring incessantly. No one trusts what is being said. The father asks Shadi to take his medicine, as the time for that has come round. Shadi goes to his desk. He keeps the strip of tablets in the drawer. Fadwa creeps up behind him surreptitiously. She watches him from behind the curtain at the window. She checks that he is putting the tablets into his mouth now, then swallowing them with water from the tumbler. She hurries back to the sofa, in front of the TV, before Shadi comes back too.

Now Shadi sits down on the sofa next to her. The father gets up to prepare dinner for them. Fadwa talks to Shadi in amazement. She tells him that today is the third since this uprising broke out, and the President has still not appeared. Shadi presses his lips together and looks as if he is thinking deeply, shakes his head with a knowing air and tells Fadwa that he will appear, he’s just got some things to do that he, Shadi, knows all about, and then he will appear. Fadwa gives him a long, thoughtful look, then goes back to watching the TV.

The father calls Fadwa to help him carry the plates of food from the kitchen to the dining table. Fadwa hurries in to him. She knows very well that in reality he doesn’t need her help except to keep any eye on the atmosphere, to make it easier for him to sneak an extra dose of Shadi’s medicine into his food.

After they have eaten dinner, the three of them sit in front of the TV again. The channel is showing a breaking news item on the titles that run along the bottom of the screen. It says that the President will appear in a speech shortly. Shadi springs up and says, “Didn’t I tell you?” to them several times over.

Neither the father nor Fadwa know that Shadi alone knows where the President has been until this moment. Shadi knows that during the past three days the President has been meeting with Rim’s family, he’s been beseeching them to give him his job back, to return the situation back to how it was before and send the people back to their dens.

When the President makes his speech, in which he seems unconcerned about what he is saying, Shadi asserts that Rim’s family has almost succeeded or has actually succeeded in doing it. After the speech, Shadi informs his father and Fadwa knowingly that things will return to normal within the next two days at most.

When the riots, which break out immediately after the speech, begin, the father decides that Fadwa will not go to work the next day. She objects and yells at her father, trying to persuade him that her work is not just a job but is a mission that it is her duty to perform. Shadi, who has slept through the two of them yelling, wakes up. He knows the reason for their quarrel and he screams hysterically into Fadwa’s face. He calls her filthy names. He threatens her, saying “You daughter of a whore, you fucking bitch, you’re not going out or I’ll beat the crap out of you!” Fadwa looks at her father, who is standing there in silence, then tells them both that she will not go out. Shadi asks her to pass him her handbag. So she passes it to him obediently then tells them that she is heading off to bed.

Lying on her bed, Fadwa cries bitterly. It would be possible for her to go out despite their wishes, but she will not do it, not from fear of Shadi, but from fear for him.

Fadwa sees her work as a presenter on BBC Arabic as an important revolutionary mission. It is no less important than what the demonstrators are doing now in Tahrir Square. She sees herself as conveying the truth. She is conveying their voice to the whole world. To tell the truth, she would dearly love to be with the demonstrators now, but she will not do it. She is afraid, not of getting killed in the demonstrations, but of the fear and the anxiety it would inflict on her father and brother.

On the Saturday following the Friday of Rage Fadwa stands at night on the balcony with Shadi. They hear the sound of fighting in the street, followed by firing and women screaming. Shadi is terrified and drags Fadwa inside by her arm. Fadwa cries, she avoids looking into Shadi’s eyes. Against her will, their glances meet and she sees in his eyes the terror that she was afraid of seeing. She will not forgive. That is what she decides at this moment. She will not forgive the President and his regime that have caused her to see such a look in her brother’s eyes, even if the people and the families of the martyrs forgive them for shedding the blood of their sons. She is crying at this moment not from fear of the state of terror and the insecurity, for she has known ever since she saw yesterday’s speech that the President is definitely making people choose between safety with him or chaos without him. But she is crying from fear for Shadi.

Somebody knocks at the door of the flat and their father runs to open it. Karim, the neighbours’ son, is asking the father to come out with them to protect the building from what the thugs are doing. The father closes the door and goes to change his clothes, but Shadi stops him and says that he will go down himself. The father quickly gives in to his wish because in his condition he cannot withstand any fighting. Shadi does indeed go down, after picking up a club to carry with him. Fadwa wants to go with him, she doesn’t know what sort of panic attack he might suffer out there all by himself. Shadi knows what is going on in his sister’s head, so he locks the door behind him with the key. He comes up about every half an hour and asks Fadwa to make him a cup of tea, then goes back down again.

The call to dawn prayers comes. Fadwa feels compassion for her father, who has fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room. She wakes him up so that he can pray, and asks him to go bed afterwards. She tells him that she will not go to bed until Shadi comes back up and she is sure that he is asleep.

At nine a.m. Shadi finally decides that he will not go back down again. He talks to Fadwa about the events of the horrific night. He says that Rim’s family have given the President the job of terrorising the people. He says that they are making use of devils and demons to assist him with that. He says that he himself saw two yellow-coloured devils in an ambulance down there. Fadwa observes that he is trembling violently as he talks. She tries to calm him and asks him to go to bed.

Fadwa watches the TV for about an hour after Shadi has gone to bed. She tiptoes into his room, and tries to check in the dim light that he is finally asleep. She is unable to see his eyes but she can hear his regular breathing, or that is how it seems to her. She leaves his room. She gets dressed. She fetches her handbag from the kitchen cupboard. She opens the door of the flat and slips out quietly, heading for work.

Fadwa doesn’t know that Shadi was not asleep. He is now trembling on his bed. He feels intense fear and he sobs. He heard all Fadwa’s movements outside and he knew she was determined to go out but he was incapable of moving to prevent her. Fear has completely paralysed his limbs.

Fadwa returns home two days later, at midday on Tuesday. (The father) welcomes her without any reproach. He just tells her, appearing on the verge of collapse, that Shadi is in a very bad state and is not sleeping. She tries to appear strong as she tells her father that he must take him to the doctor tomorrow without his knowledge. She suggests that her father should pretend to be ill while she is at work and should ask Shadi to take him to the heart specialist.

Fadwa goes in to Shadi’s office. She finds him sitting with his eyes wide open, clutching a copy of the Qur’an and reading it aloud, repeating verses like a shaykh exorcising a devil. He is trembling incessantly, his lips are blue and the muscles on the left side of his jaw are twitching erratically, involuntarily. She hugs him and he stands there, unable to believe that she is still in the land of the living. He asks her about the rest of the hostages. She informs him that they are fine, and that everything is fine, God willing.

Fadwa doesn’t know that the latest events reminded Shadi of that terrorist incident that he was involved in two years ago. When he was sitting with Rim at sunset on one of the marble seats at the university, everyone around them suddenly fled in a panic. Everyone was screaming and running while Shadi and Rim sat in their place not understanding what was going on or knowing the reason for it. Within minutes the university and its campus was completely empty except for them. Rim felt afraid. Shadi reassured her and he got up to cautiously check the empty campus around them. Shadi saw an indistinct yellow glow that darted past quickly and disappeared, with a hissing sound, behind the trunks of the enormous ancient trees. Sometimes it approached Shadi and at others it moved away. Shadi knew that it was the devil, so he returned quickly to where Rim was sitting, hugged her, closed his eyes and started reciting verses that he remembered from the Qur’an. Until Allah finally saved them.

At that moment the President sent a battalion of the Republican Guard to save Rim and Shadi. The incident was written about in the newspapers the following day, but they did not mention that the Presidential Guard had intervened to exterminate the devil, but said it was to pursue a dragon which had escaped from the zoo and was attacking students on the university campus.

After that, the way Rim treated Shadi would change and their relationship crumbled away. Shadi would follow her surreptitiously to discover the reason, and the day came when he discovered the whole truth. Rim’s family were evil sorcerers. They worshipped the devil, who had chosen their beautiful daughter Rim for himself. And thus the family became bound up with him in a blind allegiance. They used black magic to split Shadi and Rim up, and Rim was the one most affected, bearing in mind that she was living in their den, so she fell totally under their control.

Shadi also knew that the President’s intervention was thus not for the sake of Allah. The President was afraid that Shadi would destroy the devil and burn him. The President made use of Rim’s family in the Country’s Affairs Department. The President could not rule without the assistance of the devil and using black magic against his whole people.

Once Shadi knew all that, he tried to expose it all. The President would unleash one of the dogs of State Security on him, to rape him in the university toilets. After that, Rim’s family would threaten him with raping his sister and setting fire to his father. Only then would Shadi back down and decide to forget about Rim and give her up forever.

On the Wednesday night, the President delivers his second speech. Afterwards, Shadi comments that they must not trust him or sympathise with him. He asks Fadwa to contact her friends in the square and ask them to return to their homes immediately. Shadi is convinced that the President will gather the greatest number of people possible together and will seize them in order to offer them as a sacrifice to the devil. There is indeed a large number of hostages with him now, and the people should all stay in their homes so that Shadi himself can find a means to save them. Fadwa, who notices her father surreptitiously wiping tears from his eyes, indulges him.

On the morning of the following day, Shadi has not slept, as is normal for him these days, he is crying hard, and begs Fadwa not to leave the house. He kneels down to kiss her feet. Fadwa sits on a chair in the living room and tells him that she will not go out, in compliance with his wishes. She takes advantage of his going to the bathroom and leaves quickly and closes the door behind her.

After midday, the events of The Battle of the Camels begin. Fadwa follows them from her workplace and she receives calls and pleas for help from the square. She moves around, she comes and goes, and through all that tears keep pouring down her face until in time she forgets that she is crying.

At sunset, she replies to her father who has called her on her mobile. She hears him start to cry, she takes a breath and says “Have you seen, Dad, what have the heathen sons of dogs done?!… Never mind, Dad, the blood of those people will not be wasted.” Her father’s voice on the other end is chopped. He tells her that he is crying for the sake of her brother who ran away from him when he was trying to take him to the doctor in accordance with the plan that he had agreed with her. Her father tells her that her brother is now missing altogether, he does not have an ID card on him nor a mobile, not even any small change in his pocket. Her father begs her for help, saying that he doesn’t know what he should do. Fadwa takes her handbag and leaves Maspero [the headquarters of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union] in a hurry without even asking permission. She gets in her car and drives around the streets searching for Shadi. She calls her father – who is also out searching – from time to time.

She drives around the main roads and narrow side-streets of Ayn Shams where Rim, his ex-girlfriend, lives. At three in the morning she is driving her car along Rameses Street when a friend of hers calls to tell her about a sniper and countless numbers of deaths and injuries. Fadwa gets out close to the Ghamra metro station and sits on the pavement. She slaps her face several times. Fadwa smacks herself and screams, her tears mingle with her snot in the pitch-dark of the completely empty street. Her mobile rings again. Her father asks her to come back home and tells her that Shadi is now with him and that they are on their way to the hospital.

Fadwa will learn from her father when he returns that the army contacted him to ask him if he knew anyone called Shadi and requested that he head for the airport immediately to take him back. When Shadi arrives, the father finds him barefoot. His clothes are ripped and he has multiple wounds. He will learn from the captain that he was beaten up by people in the Sheraton compound who thought that he was tripping and the army only managed to rescue him from their hands by the skin of their teeth, realising belatedly that he was not fully in his right mind, and were able by some miracle to find out his name and the mobile number that they called him on.

The father gets in the car after helping the exhausted Shadi to stretch out on the back seat. The captain, speaking only to him, says, “Take good care of him, Hajj, it would be a shame to let someone in that state out on his own in these troubled times.” The father wipes away a tear that he can’t fight back and takes Shadi to the hospital.

Neither the father nor Fadwa know that Shadi fled from his father in the morning in order to rescue Fadwa who had been detained with the hostages when she went out that morning. The hostages were all together in the Al-Fateh mosque and the President’s men kept smuggling them from mosque to mosque to prevent Shadi, their saviour, from arriving to rescue them. They finally came to a stop in a mosque in the Sheraton compound and Shadi managed to trick his way into it before it was evacuated at the time of evening prayer. The hostages were praying at the time, pleading with Allah to rescue them from the situation they were in. Shadi interrupted their prayers and freed them all.

He punched some of them, but that didn’t matter because it was all for their benefit at the end of the day. When Shadi was sure they had all left the mosque and were safe, he finally left the mosque himself and was met outside by the dogs of State Security wearing plain clothes. They showered blows down on him, then handed him over to the Republican Guard who in their turn gave him a good beating. When Rim learnt from her family what was happening to him, she asked the devil to call his soldiers off him and threatened that otherwise she would desert him. The devil acquiesced to her command, and requested that the President let Shadi go, so the President immediately gave an order to the Republican Guard to phone his father so that he could come and take charge of him.

A week later, on the Thursday, Fadwa would receive leaked information, in the course of her work, of a report that the President had stepped down that night. She hurriedly finishes her work and decides to go home to listen to the speech with her father so that they can share in the joy together.

At twenty minutes to ten at night, she is downloading a set of the most famous patriotic songs onto her computer at home. She connects a speaker to the computer, and decides that the celebration will be loud and last until dawn.

After the speech Fadwa was trying to stand up, but she just couldn’t. She thought of calling out for her father, then gave up the idea, out of pity for his state of health. She told herself that that was the last thing he needed. She kept quiet, and after several minutes she tried again to stand up, but she still couldn’t do it. She burst into silent tears, after which she fell asleep where she was, sitting on the chair. She felt her father waking her up and leading her to her bed. She wanted to know what the time was but she could not see the clock, she was just focused on the fact that she was actually walking now with her father.

The following day she sees a brilliant video on the computer telling the story of the events of the revolution from the very beginning. She feels deeply moved and tears run down her face. She prays “Oh, Lord, we did what we had to do, now you must play your part, oh Lord.” Her father is sitting in the living room watching terrestrial TV, when she hears a collective roar from the street and the neighbours, like the one you hear when the national team scores a goal in an African Nations Cup match. She runs out to the living room and finds her father prostrate, crying, on the floor. She follows with unbelieving eyes the breaking news titles on the TV reporting the news of the resignation. She starts to jump up and down like a crazy woman. She is yelling, believing that she is trilling cries of joy, but she doesn’t know how to do that so she just keeps on yelling. Her father watches her, sitting on the floor, and laughs amid his tears.

She prances back to the computer and starts playing the patriotic songs that she downloaded yesterday at top volume. She dances, she jumps and carries on shouting, her father comes into her room, smiling at her, dancing with her, then hugs her and cries.

The following day, in the afternoon, when Fadwa has finished getting dressed, she goes out, accompanied by her father, to bring Shadi back from the hospital, where he has spent ten days receiving intensive treatment. Shadi is calm now. His face is bloated from so much sleep and he has almost zero ability to concentrate because of the high dosage of strong medication that he has been on there.

Once home, Shadi sits in front of the TV. He watches for himself the resignation speech, which all the channels are broadcasting on continuous repeat. Fadwa sits at his side. He laughs and points at the man10 standing behind Omar Suleiman and says to Fadwa “Why is that man there doing that?” Fadwa notices for the first time the man with his scowling face and suspicious penetrating glances, and she laughs too.

Shadi asks her about dinner and she tells him that they will get a Kentucky Fried Chicken takeaway tonight. He asks her to order the 68-piece meal for him and she laughs and tells him that she’s ordered the 116-piece one for him, then he laughs too.

After a few minutes they watch the speech which is being shown again. Shadi looks contemplatively at Omar Suleiman then turns to Fadwa saying “Can you believe it? – that Suleiman was using black magic too?” Fadwa looks aghast and the delight drains from her face, indeed her right eye flickers in a nervous movement that she can’t control. Shadi observes her reaction and bursts out laughing and says, “I’m kidding you, you idiot.” She smiles slowly and cautiously, and his giggles grow louder and he repeats it to her, struggling to breathe from his laughter, “I swear to God, and even on the life of our father.” She contemplates his non-stop laughter, then she laughs too, until tears fill her eyes, and the sound of their intermingled laughter fills the space of the living room.

Eman Abdelrahim is an Egyptian short-story writer best known for her collection Rooms and Other Stories. One of her stories appears in The Book of Cairo, published by Comma Press

An extract of Laugh and the World Laughs with Me was first published in the summer 2019 issue of Index on Censorship.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”How governments use power to undermine justice and freedom” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2019%2F06%2Fmagazine-judged-how-governments-use-power-to-undermine-justice-and-freedom%2F|||”][vc_column_text]The summer 2019 Index on Censorship magazine looks at the narrowing gap between a nation’s leader and its judges and lawyers.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_single_image image=”107686″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2019/06/magazine-judged-how-governments-use-power-to-undermine-justice-and-freedom/”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Subscribe” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]In print, online. In your mailbox, on your iPad.

Subscription options from £18 or just £1.49 in the App Store for a digital issue.

Every subscriber helps support Index on Censorship’s projects around the world.

SUBSCRIBE NOW[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Russia: Press freedom violations June 2019

10 Jul 2019 | Russia, Russia Incident Reports

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project tracks press freedom violations in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Learn more.

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

Reporter detained in St. Petersburg while covering election registration scheme

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

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

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

Categories: Blocked Access

Sources: Police/State security

Journalist detained in Makhachkala

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

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

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation, Blocked Access

Sources: Police/State security

Chechnya judge sued 18 media outlets for defamation

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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

Taiga.Info fined for link to a video containing profanity

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

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

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

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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

Novorossiysk mayor’s aide punched local journalist

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

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

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

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

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

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

Journalist detained at a picket in Makhachkala, other journalists threatened

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

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

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation/Intimidation

Sources: Police/State security

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://theins.ru/news/162611 

Categories: Censorship

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources: Blocked Access

Journalist arrested on terrorism charges in Dagestan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Sources: Police/State security

Ivanovo journalist Sergey Kustov remains under investigation for almost three years

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New attempts to hack Telegram accounts of Ekaterinburg journalists

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

Sources: Unknown

Police check Sota.Vision reporter on extremism

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

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

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

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Sources: Police/State security

Meduza journalists summoned for questioning regarding Golunov case

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

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Sources: Police/State security

National broadcasters ignored mass protests in Moscow

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

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

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

Categories: Self-censorship

Sources: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)

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

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

Among the detained journalists are:

Iliya Zhegulev and Andrey Pertsev, reporters for Medusa

Leonid Marantidi, a videographer for Medusa

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

Vasiliy Polosnkiy, a reporter for the independent broadcaster Dozhd TV

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

Vitaly Petlevoy, a reporter for the Vedomosti newspaper

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

Andrey Mozzhukhin, a reporter for Lenta.ru

Sergey Dik, a reporter for the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle

Daniil Primak, a photographer for Afisha.Daily

Nikita Grinin, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta

Mikhail Shevelev, a journalist for MBH-Media

Yury Zhalin and Roman Dorofeev, journalists for the Kommersant newspaper

Yan Potarksy, a journalist for Moloko Plus magazine

Pavel Yablonsky, a reporter for The Village

Anna Narinskaya, a publicist

Varvara Babitskaya, an editor for Snob.ru

Andrey Kovalev, a journalist for ROMB

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

Andrey Urodov, a journalist for Takie Dela

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

Nadin Lakhbabi, a producer of Dozhd TV

Elizaveta Tyurina, a SMM-editor for Dozhd TV

Anastasia Chumakova, a reporter for Telegram-media Baza

Tatyana Voronova, a journalist for the international news agency Reuters

Petr Parkhomenko, a reporter within Kommersant FM

Emmanuel Grinchamp, a reporter for the Swiss newspaper Le Temps

Mikhail Kazinik, a journalist for Arzamas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://t.me/mbkhmedia/9771

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

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

Sources: Police/State security

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: 

Sources:  

Nevskiye Novosti fired reporter for supporting Ivan Golunov

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Loss of Employment

Sources: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)

Snob office vandalized in Moscow

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Attack to Property

Sources: Known private individual(s)

Investigative journalist detained in Moscow on suspicion of drug dealing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources: Police/State security

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Censorship

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://t.me/kolezev/4645

Categories: Attack to Property

Sources: Known private individual(s)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Blocked Access

Sources: Police/State security

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Sources: Police/State security

Rosderzhava reporter detained in Moscow, his colleague questioned and menaced

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

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

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

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Sources: Police/State security

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Intimidation

Sources: Police/State security

Journalists barred again from covering Novoe Velichie trial

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

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

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

Categories: Blocked Access

Sources: Court/Judicial

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Censorship, Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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

Production company sues YouTube blogger over film review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Sources: Corporation/Company 

Ekaterinburg journalist detained for visiting department of bailiff service

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:  Police/State security, Court/Judicial

Research institute filed defamation lawsuit against Kommersant

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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

Krasnodar investigative blogger shot and stabbed

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

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

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

Krasnodar police launched an investigation of the incident.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

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

SUPPORT INDEX'S WORK