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Project Exile: Reporter escaped Russia after beating, burns

10 Jul 2019 | Global Journalist, media freedom featured, News, Russia

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”107775″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]This article is part of Index on Censorship partner Global Journalist’s Project Exile series, which has published interviews with exiled journalists from around the world.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Fatima Tlisova didn’t make it easy for the Russian government to get rid of her.

As a reporter covering Russia’s fight against Chechen separatists in what was known as the Second Chechen war in the early 2000s, she was kidnapped, beaten and had her fingertips burned with cigarettes by Russian security forces. A colleague at the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta who also wrote critically of the Chechen war, Anna Politkovskaya, was murdered in 2006. When she later worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press, pro-government media labeled her a traitor and a CIA agent.

Tlisova was threatened again and again, and still she stayed, reporting from both Chechnya as well as the other small Caucasus republics where separatists fought against Russian rule. Finally in 2007, just months after Politkovskaya’s murder and with threats mounting against not just her but also her family, she decided to flee.

Tlisova went first to Turkey. Then, after being granted political asylum in the U.S., was resettled in Erie, Penn. and worked at a plastics factory for $6.25 per hour. With the help of the Committee to Protect Journalists, she won a Nieman Foundation fellowship to study at Harvard University and was able to relaunch her career in journalism. In 2015, she was invited to the White House to meet then-president Barack Obama in honor of World Press Freedom Day.

Born and raised in a small town in the republic of Karachay-Cherkessia, east of the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Tlisova now lives in Washington, D.C. and works for the Russian-language service of the Voice of America. Her two children, now in their mid-twenties, live in the U.S. as well. Tlisova, 52, who also uses the last name Tlis, spoke with Global Journalist’s Connor O’Halloran about the extensive efforts by President Vladimir Putin’s government to silence her, and her rocky transition to life in the U.S. Below, an edited version of their interview:

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Global Journalist: Tell us about the first time you got into trouble with Russian authorities.

Fatima Tlisova: The first issue happened in 2001 when I started reporting on the war in Chechnya and the so-called ‘special operation’ the Russian military was conducting all around the Caucasus. Some of my reports, most of them actually, did not please the authorities.

I reported about the behavior of the Russian commanders…and I witnessed their behavior towards Chechen girls and the local people. And I wrote an article about that. So I was punished, and by punishment, I mean that it was physical. Two large men, unknown to me, ambushed me next to my house and they physically attacked me…I suffered more than one broken rib…

At the end, they said, “Nothing personal. You know what you are punished for.”

After that there were many different situations when I was arrested, kidnapped. This escalated [when I went to work for] AP because at the time, foreign reporters had to obtain multiple licenses and permissions to get to the Caucasus – and I was reporting directly from the Caucasus. Most of the time, the reports I provided were absolutely exclusive because no other factual, reliable, eyewitness journalism was coming from the Caucasus – especially to the Western audience in English.

So suddenly the government media started publishing and broadcasting reports calling me a CIA agent, calling me a traitor to Russia because I was working for the AP…what they saw as American media.

GJ: How many times were you detained?

Tlisova: Almost weekly. Anytime I was assigned to go some place and to send reports. In Russia, especially in the Caucuses at the time, there were military installations called ‘block posts’: military or police or combined, at every entrance road to every single city or town. Imagine you have to drive to several villages or even cross borders between republics.

That means that at every single block post, you are going to be stopped, you’re going to be pulled in. Your body’s going to be searched, your possessions searched. Every single time they were waiting for some command from above before they would release me. Sometimes it lasted for an hour, sometimes for a day.

GJ: Tell us about your kidnapping in 2005.

Tlisova: The kidnapping happened when I was trying to help two German colleagues from Moscow to write about a local insurgency in Nalchik, Kabardindino-Balkariya [200 km west of Grozny, Chechnya].

I had a meeting with them scheduled that day and I decided to stop by my bank to withdraw some cash. At the exit of the bank, there was a car. At that time, I’d been under 24/7 surveillance for months – and I could even identify cars that belong to different [security] departments. All of them were following me in different vehicles.

This time, it was an FSB [Russian internal security service] vehicle. They usually have tinted windows, absolutely dark. They cut me off and the door opened. A voice said, “If you want to see your children again, get in.”

My kids, I knew they were at school. I had no ability to check on them so I just went into the car. They took me outside the city. There was this forest that was not very populated…not many people walking around.

They kept me there for the entire day. They were very angry. One of them said: “You don’t know, but two very good guys were fired today from the FSB. Do you know how much they had to pay in bribes to get those positions? Now they lost everything. Who’s going to feed their families?”

And that continued with insults, with beatings, with [them] burning cigarettes on my skin for an entire day.

Apparently, they’d been waiting for some kind of command about what to do with me next. Later on, I learned that somebody inside the FSB alerted a friend who was a very influential businessman. His name was Stanislav…he interfered and a source [later] told me that he had to pay the FSB for my release.

The next morning I was all covered in bruises and burns.

GJ: So it was after that you finally took the decision to leave?

Tlisova: It wasn’t exactly that moment. But almost a year later. These arrests continued.

When your friends read some nasty stuff about you in the local newspapers or government newspapers, the first time they call you, they laugh. But when they read it three or four times, you notice that when you see a longtime friend on the street, they just can’t look you in the eye. He or she just crosses the street and pretends they can’t see you.

And then sometime later they’ll call you from a public phone and tell you: “Please don’t think bad about me. If I just exchange two words with you, I’m going to be called in by the FSB and questioned.”

That explanation was actually good enough for me to stop contacting even close friends.

I understood that the entire [government media] campaign was not only to punish me and not only to scare me from doing my duties as a journalist, but also to discredit and isolate me. It was a combination of different methods to silence a journalist.

GJ: So when did you finally decide to leave?

Tlisova: I never wanted to leave. I love my work, I was very successful as a journalist. I felt that journalism was my calling and my mission. But at a certain point, I realized that this wasn’t about me anymore. It was about my family.

In 2006, a group of 15 masked men raided my parents’ house who lived 200 miles away from me [in Karachay-Cherkessia]. They searched the house, turned it upside down. My father kept asking: “What’s going on? What are you looking for?”

When they finished, they told him, “Thank your daughter.”

I was prohibited from ever entering government buildings, but suddenly in 2006 I received this phone call inviting me to meet with the head of the presidential administration of Kabardino-Balkraira [a small Russian republic in the North Caucasus]. I knew the man before he joined the government and I knew he was a good man, so I decided I should go.

That man actually started shouting at me as soon as I opened the door. He said: “What do you think of yourself? Disgracing our republic before the entire world? What kind of articles are you writing? What kind of reports?”

At the same time, he was frantically writing something on a piece of paper. And then he showed it to me.

It said: “Please leave. They’re going to kill you.”

He saw that I read the comment and he kept shouting. And then he started tearing that piece of paper apart into very microscopic pieces. He didn’t even dare to trash it. He very carefully collected the pieces from his table and put them in his pocket.

This wasn’t the only warning. There were a lot of warnings, but some of them I totally dismissed.

There were two instances that I thought were genuine, sincere and clear. One of them was the minister.

The other guy was my former classmate, who became head of one of the FSB departments. Once, like they always do, a car cut me off on the sidewalk. It stopped and he jumped out and said, “Don’t worry, it’s me.”

We greeted each other, and then he said, “I know you’re going to think they sent me to scare you, to frighten you. Trust me, I’m coming at my own risk. I know if this gets out I can lose my job.”

He said, “But just so you know, we have lists. You are on those lists. Those lists never expire.”

I didn’t ask any questions, and then he looked at me and he added, “Your friend Anna Politkovskaya, she was on the list. So we are clear what kind of list I’m talking about.”

The thought came to my mind, I mean, it’s horrible if they kill me when I’m alone. But what if they do something when I’m with my kids? That is something I cannot allow or forgive myself for. That’s when I decided to leave.

GJ: How did you finally get out?

Tlisova: I had to first go to Turkey. All I could bring with me was 25 kilograms of personal possessions. My entire life, everything had to be left behind. Of course, they took my computer. I lost my entire archive.

GJ: What happened when you got to the U.S.?

Tlisova: I see there’s a lot of talk about refugees…about how much money they take from U.S. taxpayers. Trust me, when you have to abandon everything and come here and start from zero, you cannot rent a house or a car. You can’t apply for a credit card. You have nothing!

So you just start from zero. I worked at a factory for $6.25 an hour. The plastic factory was producing plastic bottles for water and drinks. All of the refugees who came to that institution [in Erie, Penn.] worked at that factory.

GJ: How did you get back to journalism?

Tlisova: I wrote a proposal for a Harvard fellowship. It was in Russian because my knowledge of English was zero at the time. It was 2007. So I wrote the proposal in Russian. The Committee to Protect Journalists, they found somebody in New York who translated that proposal overnight…15 pages into English. Then someone in Boston took that proposal physically, in person, to Harvard.

I started screaming when I opened the letter from Harvard University. It said: “It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted for a fellowship at Harvard University.”

My kids got scared, they ran to me. I said, “Harvard! We’re going to Boston!”

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/6BIZ7b0m-08″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship partner Global Journalist is a website that features global press freedom and international news stories as well as a weekly radio program that airs on KBIA, mid-Missouri’s NPR affiliate, and partner stations in six other states. The website and radio show are produced jointly by professional staff and student journalists at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, the oldest school of journalism in the United States. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Don’t lose your voice. Stay informed.” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship is a nonprofit that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide. We publish work by censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech. We believe that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution – no matter what their views.

Join our mailing list (or follow us on Twitter or Facebook). We’ll send you our weekly newsletter, our monthly events update and periodic updates about our activities defending free speech. We won’t share, sell or transfer your personal information to anyone outside Index.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][gravityform id=”20″ title=”false” description=”false” ajax=”false”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content”][vc_column][three_column_post title=”Global Journalist / Project Exile” full_width_heading=”true” category_id=”22142″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Russia: Ivan Golunov’s case shows the power of publicly and resolutely denouncing despotism

20 Jun 2019 | Europe and Central Asia, Media Freedom, media freedom featured, Monitoring and Advocating Coverage, News, Russia

On 6 June 2019 investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was arrested for drug possession and trafficking. His colleagues at Meduza — a news source which reports on corruption within Russia but is based in Latvia to maintain independence–had never so much as seen him consume alcohol. Golunov is an accomplished journalist: he has covered topics ranging from the loan shark business, the earnings of the family of Moscow’s deputy mayor, and the unusually high cost of public works in the Russian capital. At the time of his arrest, Golunov had been working on a new story. He had received several threats in conjunction with the article and was finally arrested by Russian police at Tsvetnoy Bulvar metro station in Moscow on his way to meet a source. Police searched his backpack, claiming to find a small bag of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant, which Golunov vehemently denied carrying.

Over the next few hours, Golunov was taken back to the police station and interrogated. Though he requested forensic examinations of his hands and backpack to prove his innocence, police refused to conduct them. Eventual reports said that police had discovered more drugs and scales in subsequent investigations of Golunov’s apartment, meaning a maximum sentence for Golunov of twenty years in prison. Golunov was denied his right to contact legal council, and was physically assaulted during his interrogation. The day after his arrest, journalists began protesting Golunov’s arrest in Moscow, and on 8 June, the Nikulino district court in Moscow ordered Golunov under house arrest until his trial in August.

“Using trumped-up drug charges to silence critics is nothing new for Russian authorities, but Golunov’s case is an encouraging example of what can happen when civic-minded individuals and organisations come together to publicly and resolutely denounce despotism,” Jessica Ní Mhainín, policy research and advocacy officer at Index on Censorship, said.

“The easiest way to put anyone in prison in Russia is to plant drugs in his bag,” said Ivan Kolpakov, editor in chief of Meduza. “It means that he immediately goes to prison. It means that his reputation is immediately destroyed. It means it’s going to be a dirty case.” This is hardly the first time such tactics have been used to silence investigative journalism. In the summer of 2014, a Chechnyan activist and journalist, Ruslan Kutaev, was sentenced to four years in prison on drug charges. Throughout his trial and incarceration, he maintained that he had been framed by Chechnyan authorities. In 2016, journalist Zhalaudi Guriev was arrested and sentenced to three years for drug possession after criticizing the Chechnyan government. He, too, maintained his innocence. Both Kutaev and Guriev served their full time and have since been released from prison.

Oyub Titiev, a prominent Russian human rights activist, was tried and convicted of drug charges in 2018. In a surprising turn of events, his sentence was lightened at trial, though Chechnyan authorities declined to drop the charges against him. Titiev had served in a penal colony for nearly a year and a half when he received parole on 10 June — just three days after the first protests for Golunov’s release.

Golunov was released on 12 July. The three largest Russian newspapers–Kommersant, Vedomosti and RBK–which are often in lockstep with Russian authorities, published headlines in support of Golunov, and there had been international media attention and protests for Golunov’s release both within Russia and internationally. Finally, a spokesperson for the Kremlin admitted that Golunov’s arrest was a mistake, and all charges against him were dropped.

While a few high-profile anecdotes may induce optimism, the state of journalistic freedom in Russia is still less than ideal. From February through April of this year, there were eighteen instances of arrests, interrogation, or detention of journalists; eighteen instances of criminal charges, fines or sentences; and twelve subpoenas, court orders or lawsuits. Twenty-three acts of harassment against journalists were committed by a government official, state agency, or political party; nineteen by courts or other judicial bodies; and twenty-eight by police or state security. Even at a protest staged shortly after Golunov’s release, police claimed that only 200 arrests had taken place, while an independent reporter put the number at over 400. Among those arrested were several journalists, including a key organizer of the protest, and opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Gennady Rudkevich, a professor of international relations at Georgia College, cautioned against reading Golunov’s exoneration as a de facto victory for freedom of the press. “Russia is less centralized than many realize,” he wrote. “Most decisions aren’t ex ante approved by Putin, though he usually accepts them ex post facto to maintain illusion of full control… the original arrest wasn’t ordered by Putin, but Putin was willing to accept it. The public and international outrage at the arrest meant that Putin was going to take the ‘side of the people’ against ‘corrupt officials.’” While Ivan Golunov is now free to continue his journalistic career, many Russian journalists will remain incarcerated. At present, more journalists are imprisoned in Russia than at any time since the fall of the Soviet Union. [/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:1561033844330-0caf4696-b1c4-2″ taxonomies=”35195″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Russia among Europe’s most flagrant offenders of media freedom in 2018

20 Jun 2019 | Azerbaijan, Monitoring and Advocating Coverage, News, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]This article is part of an ongoing series exploring the issues raised by Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]In 2018, 17 alerts were submitted to the Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists relating to impunity for murders of journalists. Of these, 15 occurred in the countries covered by Index on Censorship’s ongoing Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project: Turkey (2), Azerbaijan (2), Ukraine (5), and Russia (6).

The Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project documents, analyses, and publicises threats, limitations and violations related to media freedom and safety of journalists in Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, (as well as Belarus, which is not in the Council of Europe), in order to identify possible opportunities for advancing media freedom in these countries.

As part of the project, Index on Censorship submits and co-sponsors alerts on violations, including physical attacks on journalists and threats to media freedom, to the Council of Europe’s platform. When a member state is mentioned in an alert, the state is asked to log any remedial action they have taken in the platform. The platform’s objective is to put pressure on Council of Europe states to act in accordance with international human rights law and media standards.

Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Russia look likely to be among Europe’s most flagrant offenders of media freedom again in 2019: despite accounting for just 8.5% of the Council of Europe member states, they account for 36% of the alerts filed on the platform so far this year.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”98654″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Turkey remains the world’s largest imprisoner of journalists. Arrested journalists continue to be detained on charges of membership of or creating propaganda for a terrorist organisation. Three of the fourteen staff of the newspaper Özgürlükçü Demokrasi who were arrested in 2018 and charged with “membership in a terrorist organisation and terrorist propaganda” remain in detention in Istanbul. The next hearing in their trial is scheduled for 28 June 2019.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”107324″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Despite President Aliyev’s pardoning of more than 400 people earlier this year, journalists among them, severe obstacles remain to press freedom in Azerbaijan. Travel bans remain one of the most common instruments with which to silence critical voices in the country, despite being in violation of Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own”), which Azerbaijan ratified in 1992.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”98655″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Last month investigative reporter Vadym Komarov was beaten into a coma in the Ukrainian city of Cherkasy. He was found with severe head injuries and was taken to hospital where he underwent brain surgery. He frequently wrote about corruption, administrative incompetence, prison conditions, and illegal construction. According to the most recent reports, police have not yet identified the attacker, but are treating the incident as premeditated attempted murder.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”98652″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Along with Ukraine, Russia is among the Council of Europe states where journalists endure the highest rate of physical violence. Earlier this month, unknown assailants attacked the well-known blogger Vadim Kharchenko after he went to meet a potential source. Kharchenko is known for reporting on and investigating alleged police abuse of power. As noted in its recently published report, Index on Censorship recorded 116 violations of press freedom in Russia between 1 February 2019 and 30 April 2019. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Russia: Press freedom violations May 2019

1 Jun 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=”27 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Roskomnadzor organized “prophylactic workshop” for journalists on suicide reporting” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]30 May 2019 – In the Kostromskaya region, Russia’s state media regulator Roskomnadzor organized “a prophylactic workshop” for local journalists on suicide reporting, Zona.Media reported.

About 30 attendees were given a list with examples of what constitutes violations of the 2012 law about information, prohibiting description of means and motives of suicides. Examples included photos that were published on Facebook by Kiril Rubankov, the editor-in-chief of Kostroma.Today.

The examples included suggested distortion of facts. For instance, Roskomnadzor recommended journalists write “fell from a bridge (wanted to swim)” instead of “jumped from a bridge”; “was hit by a train by accident” instead of “jumped in front of a train”; “drown (wanted to swim)” instead of “drowned oneself”; “confused acetic acid with another liquid (for drinking)” or “got poisoned by something unknown” instead of mentioning substances that the person ingested; “suicide was accidental without motive” instead of description of the way one killed himself.

Link(s)

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

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

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

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

Categories: Soft censorship (government pressure on media groups)

Lenizdat.ru notes that usually Belgov prefers to invite to only loyal journalists news conferences. This time all media outlets were allowed to attend. However, after an introduction speech, Beglov left the conference hall and canceled planned press questions at the last moment. When some journalists tried to follow him, he ignored their questions and walked away.

Link(s)

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

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

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

Categories: Blocked Access

Source of Violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Roskomnadzor demands E1.RU to delete video streams of Ekaterinburg protests” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]29 May 2019 – Ekaterinburg local news website E1.RU received a letter from Russia’s state media regulator demanding to delete from E1.RU YouTube-channel two online video streams from the protests against construction of a church in a park, because of calls for extremist activity and unsanctioned rallies in users’ comments left below the videos, E1.RU reported.

E1.RU decided to delete all several thousands of comments left by YouTube users.

Link(s)

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

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

Categories: Legal Measures

Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Moscow police opened administrative case against journalist for filming protest rally” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]29 May 2019 – Moscow police opened a case about administrative offence against Denis Styazhkin, journalist with online media outlet SotaVision for filming an unsanctioned protest action, Stayzhkin said on his YouTube channel. The case is opened under the article “Violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picketing”

On 30 January, Styazhkin filmed a protest rally Bessrochny Protest, he was live-streaming video of the event and published a news report about it at SotaVision. According to police, the journalist was “filming the rally, therefore he was participating in it”. Styazhking found out about the admistrative case against him by chance, when a human rights activist Irina Yatzenko saw the related documents at Tverskoy district court. The first hearing of the case is planned on 13 June.

Link(s)

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

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

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Students talk show cancelled ahead of episode with opposition activist” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]29 May 2019 – The Higher School of Economics shut down a student talk-show V Tochku.Persona ahead of a new episode with Lubov Sobol, a lawyer working with the Anti-corruption Fund and an opposition candidate at Moscow parliament election, MBH Media reported.

According to Sobol, she agreed to participate in the talk-show two weeks in advance and the filming was planned for 30 May. But a day before the agreed date, one of the talk show producers informed her about the project closure. “I was told that the project was shut down specifically by the university management”, Sobol told Medusa.

The editor-in-chief of V Tochku.Persona, Violetta Poludyuk confirmed that the project was closed without any explanations. The head of education programme of HSE and the head of the talk-show project, Sergey Korzun told MBH Media that the project was temporarily closed just for this academic year “because the exams session has started”. According to the official programme, project’s closure was scheduled for 31, May. However, in previous years summer break closure varied in dates, for example in 2018 the project was closed for summer on 17 June.

Sobol believes the closure of the talk show was ordered by HSE dean Yaroslav Kuzmenkov, who is also running for Moscow city parliament. “Dean Kuzminkov is very scared that I would talk about Moscow city parliament election and those who runs with support from the ruling party – a member of HSE academic council Valeria Kasamara and Kuzminkov himself. Kuzminov uses his administrative resource to shut down such show”, Sobol told Medusa, also accusing Kuzmenkov of involving HSE students in his political activity.

Kuzmenkov said that the project was already suspended in spring and the head of the project decided not to resume it in its current form. He also denied that Sobol was invited, saying that HSE did not send her an official invitation, “because inviting a politician running an active campaign for Moscow city parliament would be a violation of the university’s rules, that prohibit political activity inside the university”. The press service of HSE also said that invitation of new guests for the talk show was suspended in March because of the upcoming change of the show’s concept. The head of education programme of HSE and the head of the talk show project, Sergey Korzun told Medusa that the guests invitations are agreed jointly by him and students and Sobol was not invited at all, because the show was suspended. “It reminds me of a informational provocation, which could be stage by the campaign management of Sobol to hype on her plans to run for Moscow city parliament”, Korzun said.

Daria Fomenko, a student of HSE and a producer of the show V Tochku.Persona, told Medusa that despite a break in February caused by problems with the filming studio, the talk show continued to invite guests and publish talks with them on the show’s YouTube channel (the last episode was published on 21 May).

The talk show V Tochku.Persona has been produced for three years. In March 2018 it hosted Dmityr Peskov, the press officer of the president Vladimir Putin. Later the record of the episode with Peskov was deleted on his request.

Link(s)

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

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

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

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

Categories: Censorship

Source of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Arkhangelsk journalist fined twice for the same protest coverage” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]28 May 2019 – Dmitry Sekushin, an environmental activist and reporter with local media outlet Svobodnaya Rech, was detained and charged with violation of mass actions rules for the second time for covering the same protest on 7 April 2019, 29.ru reported.

On 14 May Sekushin was detained for the first time and charged with repeated unsanctioned rally participation, punishable with fine of 200,000 roubles (around 3,055 USD). In a police station the journalist felt sick and was hospitalized. Two weeks later, as soon as Sekushin left the hospital, a police major met him outside and demanded he go to a police station again, where Sekushin was charged for the same protest for the second time – for the following demonstration.

All together the journalist has to pay 400,000 roubles (around 6,110 USD) for covering the protest against sanitation reform, despite the fact that he was accredited with Svobodnaya Rech and had a press badge.

Link(s)

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

https://29.ru/text/gorod/66088276/

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Police seized print copies of regional communist party’s newspaper” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]28 May 2019 – In Novomoskovsk, Tula region, police stopped a car of distributors of Tulskaya Pravda, newspaper of regional communist party, and seized printed copies without any explanations, OVD-Info reported.

According to Vera Serebrovskaya, press-secretary of regional communist party, the incident took place at 2am, when the car was travelling from a printing house in Dzerzhinsk. The car was stopped by traffic patrol service officers. Later other policemen arrived, including the head of the regional criminal search department. He ordered a seizure of the newspaper copies. Police did not seize printed copies of other media oultets that were transported in the same car. Later the seized copies were delivered to the police station in Novomoskovsk. According to Serebrovskaya, the were registered with an inspection protocol, nota seizure protocol.

The seized issue of Tulskaya Pravda was dedicated to sanitation reform and its criticism; it also included a publication of the agreement between Moscow and Tula regions about close cooperation in the field of waste disposal, which suggests that Moscow garbage could potentially be sent to the Tula region.

According to Serebrovskaya, a few days before the seizure, a representative of the local branch of the ruling party United Russia called the printing house and offered money for information on the date of printing of the next issue of Tulskaya Pravda. The printing house’s employees refused to disclose such information.

Earlier in May, police seized Tulskaya Pravda copies several times and accused one of the newspaper’s distributors of “production and distribution of extremists materials”.

Link(s)

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

Categories: Attack to Property

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Banker sues Kommersant for the article about embezzlement” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]28 May 2019 – Russian banker Valdimir Kvasnyuk, who was named by Kommersant as one of the owners of Promsberbank that lost a license in 2015, filed a defamation lawsuit against Kommersant, RNS reported.

Kvasnyuk said the article was false and defamatory. The piece — “Loans written off on Kaluga land. The case about the embezzlement in Taurus bank submitted to the court” — was published on 21 Janury 2019 on the Kommersant website and in the print version of the newspaper. The article described the embezzlement of 235 million roubles (3,5 mln USD) from Taurus bank with fake land deals in the Kaluga region. According to the paper the scheme involved Promsberbank and Kvasnyuk was named as one of the three people, who was giving orders to provide knowingly bad loans to a number of firms for the purchase of land; as a result the deals were not closed and the money disappeared. Officially Kvasnyuk is involved in the case as a witness.

Georgy Ivanov, the head of Kommersant legal department, said that they did not receive notice of a lawsuit by Kvasnyuk, but earlier the banker sent them a complaint demanding to delete the article.

The hearing of the case is planned on 25 June 2019.

Link(s)

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Source of violation: Known private individual(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalists barred again from covering Novoe Velichie trial” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Journalists were barred from covering the trial of the extremist organization Novoe Velichie (“New Greatness”). Defendants claim the charges were fabricated by secret services, Zona.media reported.

According to Zona.Media reporter, the journalists were not allowed to be in the courtroom and the video streaming organized by the court was of a poor quality and the journalists could not hear anything.

Link(s)

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

Categories: Blocked Access

Source of violation: Court/Judicial[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Roskomnadzor demands to delete YouTube video about Ekaterinburg protest” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Nikolay Bondarenko, a member of Saratov regional parliament from Communist party, recieved a request from Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor to delete video about Ekaterinburg protests from his YouTub channel Dnevnik Deputata (Eng: Deputy Dairy), Zona.Media reported.

Bondarenko received a letter, saying that the General Prosecutor’s Office decided on 21, May to restrict access to the video named “Fight with police in Ekaterinburg! Riot police, National Guard”

because of calls for extremist activity in users’ comments left below the video. In the video Bondarenko was speaking about the protests in Ekaterinburg against construction of a church in a park and showing some footage of the scuffles of the activists and policemen.

Bondarenko deleted the video.

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: Legal Measures

Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Dagestan journalist summoned for questioning, put on “prophylactic” black-list” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Idris Usupov, reporter with Dagestan regional weekly newspaper Novoe Delo, was summoned for questioning due to being registered in “prophylactic” black-list, which existence the Russian authorities deny.

In his Facebook post Usupov said that he was traveling to Saint Petersburg for social media marketing course and already after returning to Makhachkala received a phone call from St Petersburg Center to Counter Extremism: “You were visiting us, while you are registered in prophylactical list in the category “extremist” – we received a document about it from Dagestan colleagues”.

In March, Usupov was also detained for “prophylactical talk” in Moscow airport due to request from “regional colleagues”, as policemen explained it. Earlier he got detained several times for filming mass detention of Muslims near Makhachkala mosques.

Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs claim that they do not register people in prophylactic lists and all the order about it from the past were destroyed.

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Source of the violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Man with a knife attacks newspaper office after his article about Stalin was not published” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – A man with a knife attacked the office of Rodina, official newspaper of Communist party in Stavropol region, the governor of the region Vladimir Vladimirov reported.

The editor-in-chief Nikolay Bondarenko and three employees of the local headquarter of the Communist party were injured, two of them, Viktor Zinovyev and Vladimir Taziy, are members of the editorial council of Rodina newspaper.

The attacker was detained, he turned out to be 72-year old , who has been registered with a local psychiatric institution since 2012. According to Baza, his name is Konstantin Sidneev and he was announced missing on 22,May while disappearing on his way to a library.

The investigators believe, that the motive of the attack was a refusal to publish the attacker’s article. According to Baza, it was dedicated to Josef Stalin, the leader of the Communsit party Gennady Zuganov and the former presidential candidate from the Communist party Pavel Grudinin. Accodring to regional parliament member Viktor Lozovoy, the editors did not refuse to publish it, but postponed discussion of the article until the editorial council meeting.

The attacker pledged guilty.

Link(s):

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

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

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

Category: Physical Assault/Injury

Source of violation: Known private individual(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Khakasia official assaulted TV reporter because of questions on housing for wild fires victims” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Ivan Litomin, reporter of Vesti.Dezhurnaya Chast news programme at state owned Russia 24 channel was physically assaulted and thrown to the ground by Sergey Zaytsev, the head of Shirinsky district in Khakasia region, Russia 24 reported.

Accompanied by a filming crew of two people, Litomin was interviewing Zaytsev, asking questions about the official’s luxurious mansion and about poor-quality houses provided by the government to those, who lost their houses in 2015 wild fires. Zaytsev was talking to the journalist in high voice and then tried to take away Litomin’s microphone, grab him and threw him down to the ground, shouting “Go away, I’m telling you, out from here”. After that aids of Zaytsev pushed the journalist out of the official’s office and were trying to prevent and an accompanying cameraman from filming.

After the video of the incident went viral, Evgeny Revenko, the secretary of the ruling party United Russia, a member of which Zaytsev is, publicly apologized; United Russia excluded Zaytsev. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on obstruction of journalistic activity.

Zaytsev himself called the incident “a planned provocation” of the journalists and claimed that Litomin fell by himself. “They broke into my office outside of working hours and started immediately accusing me, calling me a corrupted thief, telling that I have criminal past and asking if I am ashamed of being the head of the district. It lasted 10 minutes. It was impossible to talk to the journalist. I tried to push him out of my office. He was actively protesting. How can it be an assault, when three big men broke into my office, where I was alone, and two of them were physically stronger than me?”, Zaytsev told RIA Novosti. The official filed a complaint to police, asking to prosecute Litomin under the article “Offence to a representative of the government”.

Link(s):

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

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

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

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

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

Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Federal Tax Service threatens to jail Klerk.ru owner, demands to remove caricatures and articles” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]27 May 2019 – Boris Maltsev, the owner of a specialized accounting media outlet Klerk.ru, with a monthly audience of 3 million visitors of mostly accountants and entrepreneurs, reported threats from Federal Tax Service (FNS) because of caricatures on state officials.

Maltsev said that in one day last week three tax inspections came to check his companies and he was summoned to Krasnodar department of Federal Tax Service (FNS) to “provide explanations regarding entrepreneurial activity”. When he came to FNS department the day after, the tax officers started questioning him as a witness, he refused to testify and suggested to send an official subpoena.

Later the same day, he got a call, saying that the tax officers “received an order” to jail Maltsev for a year and they had enough information on him to do so. To prevent this, the caller demanded to remove four caricatures on state officials published by Klerk.ru. Maltsev did so, and then received another demand to remove 96 collages from Klerk.ru and one image published at his personal page at Vkontakte social network. Maltsev did so too, and then received a new demand – to delete at least 5 articles published at Klerk.ru and follow a set of rules.

The rules were: 1) not to publish caricatures on acting state officials, including Federal Tax Service officials, not to use state symbols and officials names of state institutions in such caricatures; 2) not to criticize the work of Federal Tax service’s information systems, including AIS Nalog 3, and not to mention facts about failures in work of such systems, unless it was published in official press-releases by FNS; 3) not to hurt the reputation of state institutions, including FNS, by criticizing their actions and decisions.

At this point, Maltsev realized that following these rules would mean to destroy Klerk.ru. He refused to delete the mentioned articles and follow the mentioned rules. After that he started recieving several calls per day, demanding to delete the articles and follow the rules, and Matsev decided to publish a story about these threats.

According to Maltsev, two years ago the critique of FNS at Klerk.ru already drew the attention of tax officers to his companies and they became a target of a series of a year-long tax checks, however no violations were found.

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits; Intimidation

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Telegram founder confirms attempts to hack accounts of four journalists; three more claimed hacking attempts” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]25 May 2019 – The founder of Telegram messenger app, Pavel Durov, accused Russian authorities of attempts to hack the accounts of four journalists, who were covering the mass protests against a church construction in a local park in Ekaterinburg.

“It reminds us that the authoritarian governments will stop at nothing to violate the privacy of their citizens”, Durov wrote, saying that the hacking attempts failed due to the two-steps authentication.

Earlier attempts of hacking Telegram-accounts were reported by Dmitry Kolezev, the editor-in-chief of Ural website Znak.com; Nataliya Vakhonina, the editor-in-chief of news agency Mezhdu Strok’ based in Nizhny Tagil; Anton Olshannikov, the editor-in-chief of Ura.ru; Ludmila Savitskaya, reporter with MBH Media and Radio Svoboda; Andrey Varkentin, the author of Telegram-channel Glavny Kanal Ekaterinburga; Dmitry Andreev, reporter with Medusa website; Platon Mamontov, director of communications agency Magic Inc.

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

Source of violation: Police/State security; Unknown[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Yugorsk local official threatens journalist over article about him” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]23 May 2019 – Anton Pantin, journalist with Yugorsk local media outlet Tochka News, filed a complaint to police about threats from Alexander Bekker, member of Yugorsk city parliament from the ruling United Russia party, MBH Media reported.

“I believe that these threats are connected to the investigations about members of the city parliament. They do not like that I am publishing these materials”, Pantin said. According to him, Bekker told him in obscene and brutal way that he would rape and injure the journalist, if he does not stop writing about him. Pantin gave MBH Media the record of the call from Bekker, saying “If I hear one more time that you wrote something about me, I will f**k you, I don’t know how, but everything happens”. The deputy also promised to “cut the face” of Pantin.

Pantin said that he takes Bekker’s threats seriously as he is a powerful and affluent man, and asked police to open a case about obstruction of journalistic activity.

Link(s):

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

Categories: Intimidation

Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Lipetsk journalist fined for offending prosecutor” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]23 May 2019 – Lipetsk court fined Dmitry Pashinov, a journalist with local Pravda newspaper, 30,000 roubles (around 458 USD) for offending prosecutor Andrey Pazhetnykh, OVD-Info reported.

The journalist has also spent 13 days in remand prison, although, he was charged under article 319 of the Criminal Code “Insulting a representative of the goverment” does not imply any detention. Because of jail time, the court said Pashinov did not need to pay the fine.

Pashinov calls his case “an attempt to put pressure on press freedom” and believed that the trial was controlled by prosecution: the judge rejected around 30 defence motions. Pashinov, who pleaded not guilty, said he will appeal the court’s ruling.

Pashinov is known for independent investigations and has had personal conflicts with Pazhetnykov. The journalist believes that the reason of the conflict is that he filed multiple complaint about Pazhetnykov’s actions or inaction related to checks initiated on Pashinov’s reports. When the journalist came to Pazhetnykov’s office to check the progress on one of such checks, the prosecutor tried to push the journalist out of the office and squeezed his hand by the door. Pashinov called the police, but Pazhetnykov said that the journalist insulted him and filed a complaint against him.

Link(s):

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

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Roskomnadzor initiates administrative case against Taiga.Info for ‘profanity'” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]21 May 2019 – Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor’s department in Siberian Federal District notified local website Tayga.info about an administrative offence report and summoned the media outlet’s editor-in-chief for “explanations and (or) drawing up a report of administrative offence”, Tayga.info reported. It may lead to the loss of the site’s media license.

Roskomnadzor found violations in three articles published after 15 May about a collective beating of a student of a local college, citing the video record of the incident, in which one person said “Kill him, *****”.

Tayga.info published a quote with stars instead of a swear-word and included a hyperlink to a video of the incident. Roskomnadzor accused the media outlet of “production and distribution of media materials containing profanity”.

“It remains unclear what Roskomnadzor saw in the text. Our editorial office meticulously follows the media law and has a right to demand similar behavior from the controlling institutions”, said Vasily Volnukhin, the editor-in-chief of Tayga.info.

Earlier Sergey Averyaskin, a member of pro-government All-Russia People Front and the director of local architectural construction college, where the victim of collective beating was a student, wrote in his Facebook that he would file a complaint to Roskomnadzor about publications on the incident by Tayga.info and another local media outlet NGS.

“Today at the media forum of All-Russia People Front in Sochi, I am meeting the head of Roskomnadzor to talk about over the top actions of some of our regional media. NGS, Tayga.info and some other yellow press… they pissed me off”, Averyaskin wrote. He also published an image of buttocks on legs with a sign “Towards adventures!” and a caption “Greetings to Tayga”.

Link(s):

https://tayga.info/146549

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

https://roskomsvoboda.org/47287/

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party; Known private individual(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Ministry of Interior Affairs sues reporter and media outlets over publication on sexual harassment in police” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]20 May 2019 – The Chelyabinks department of Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) sued Lenta.ru, Komsomolskaya Pravda-Chelyabinsk, Sibirsko-Uralskaya Mediacompania and Lenta.ru reporter Larisa Zhukova for an article about sexual harassment in the Chelyabisnk police force.

Zhukova recorded former police officer Lubov Gerasimova, who described how she was sexually harassed by a police regiment commander and then abused and forced to quit after rejecting him. When she reported harassment to higher management, the commander openly threatened her and received a promotion. The recording was published by Lenta.ru on 2 November 2018.

On 8 November 2018 the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that it conducted the check of mentioned facts and found them false. MVD sued Lubov Gerasimova for defamation, demanding 80,000 roubles of compensation (about 1,230 USD). After that Gerasimova publicly apologized and accused Zhukova of making up the story, and MVD decided to sue the reporter herself and media that published or picked up the story.

Zhukova published unedited audio recordings of her talk with Gerasimova on Facebook, claiming that she has other proof of her story too.

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Two Kommersant journalists fired over publication about Federation Council’s speaker” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]20 May 2019 – Kommersant’s reporter Ivan Safronov and deputy editor of the politics department Maxim Ivanov were fired over a publication about expected changes in the Federation Council, the journalists said in Facebook posts.

The publication “People To Make Speakers From” was published on 17, April and suggested that, according to the sources, the speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko could soon be replaced with the head of Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergey Naryshkin. The journalists were told that the decision to terminate their contracts was made by Kommersant’s stakeholder, who exactly it was and what caused displeasure with the mentioned publication was not disclosed.

Kommersant belongs to oligarch Alisher Usmanov, the owner of USM Holdings and the 9th richest man in Russia, according to Forbes.

Vladimir Zhelonkin, the chief-editor and general director of Kommersant, told BBC Russian Service that he personally made a decision of firing Safronov and Ivanov because the mentioned publication “was not written within the standards” of Kommersant. He refused to provide any further explanations.

An anonymous source in the Kommersant editorial office told BBC Russian Service that after the article in question was published, there were discussions about possible firing of Zhelonkin himself. Another source said that Matvienko complained about the mentioned publication to Kommersant’s owner Usmanov and after that the newspaper’s politics department had an urgent meeting.

At least 11 other journalists of Kommersant, including all 10 journalists of the politics department, publicly announced that they will quit the newspaper to show protest against firing of Safronov and Ivanov.

Link(s):

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

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

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

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

Categories: Loss of employment

Source of violation: Employer[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Photographer assaulted by policeman during protests in Ekaterinburg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]15 May 2019 – Vladimir Zhabrikov, a photographer with Ura.ru news agency, was kicked by a policeman, who threatened to “take away your lenses”. Zhabrikov had a press badge on him.

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

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalist detained during protests in Ekaterinburg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]15 May 2019 – Vladislav Postnikov, civil activist, who was live-streaming from a protest for social media group Tipichny Ekaterinburg, was brutally detained by police. When he showed his press card to police maior Svetlana Babinova, she told him “Shovel this card into your ass”.

Her words were recorded by Postnikov’s live-stream. Later he was also denied a right to call his lawyer from the police department; policemen told him that he didn’t need a lawyer.

Link(s):

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of Violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Photographer assaulted during protests in Ekaterinburg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]14 May 2019 – Anna Mayorova, photographer with Ura.ru news agency, suffered a tear gas attack while covering protests in Ekaterinburg against the construction of a church in a local park, Ura.ru reported. Mayorova did not see who sprayed the tear gas.

https://ura.news/news/1052383993

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

Source of violation: Unknown[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”FSB officers visit parents of Open Media journalist” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]8 May 2019 – Two men who self-identified as FSB officers came to the Moscow apartment of the parents of Yulia Koshelyaeva, a journalist working for Open Media, the website reported.

The journalist’s mother, who was alone in the apartment at the time, refused to open the door. The men said that they had to talk to Yulia Kosheleva about her alleged membership in a terrorist organization Narodnaya Samooborona (the organization with such name is absent in the list of terrorist organizations maintained by Russia’s justice ministry). The men refused to show a subpoena for Kosheleva and and left a phone number and an address of FSB department, where they said Kosheleva had to come for questioning.

“I don’t know what they could come for. I was a member of group chats of Narodnaya Samooborona, because I was gathering information for articles about the organization. I have nothing to do with it”, Kosheleva said referring to open chat that has over 670 members.

Narodnaya Samooborona emerged in media, after an MSU student said that he was detained, tortured and forced to admit he was a leader of this anarchists’ organization. Kosheleva was covering the developments of this case for Open Media.

Link(s):

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

Categories: Intimidation

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Simferopol journalist arrested for 10 days for refusing to undergo medical examination” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]8 May 2019 – In Simferopol, journalist of local news outlet Primechaniya Evgeniy Gayvoronskiy was arrested for 10 days for refusing to undergo medical examination during his detention on 26, March, Novaya Gazeta reported. Previously Gayvoronskiy was arrested for 12 days for drugs usage in relation with the same detention.

Earlier in March Gayvoronskiy’s house was searched and his documents, notebooks, phones and computers were seized.

Gayvoronskiy is known for investigations about Yalta mayor Andrey Rostenko.

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

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Distributors of communist newspaper detained in Tula” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]

8 May 2019 – In Tula, five members of communist party of Russian Federation were detained while distributing party’s regional newspaper Tulskaya Pravda, OVD-Info reported. Policemen said they were acting by “the order from the management”.

Police seized 7,000 copies saying that the newspaper will be checked for extremist materials, despite the fact that for the seizure of printed copies a court decision is needed. The police also said that the detained activists will be checked for illegal trade, but later released all the activists without any charges.

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/05/08/v-tule-zaderzhali-rasprostraniteley-gazety-kprf?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR0ck1ek_5wL4cKk9rBX35ygnYesE2kqafM_zvvKjM6Iw1OBo4rC6FL1Q8g

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Attack to Property

Source of violation: Police/State security

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Three journalists detained at opposition rally in St. Petersburg” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]

1 May 2019 – At least three journalists were detained while covering a sanctioned opposition rally in Saint Petersburg, OVD-Info, Zona.Media and MBH-Media reported.

Freelance photojournalist who works under the name George Markov and photojournalist with St. Petersburg-based online news outlet Dva Stula Oleg Nasonov were brutally detained despite identifying themselves as press.

Makarov was also beaten by police. According to him, he got beaten with rubber buttons in the ribs and the head, his arm was bleeding. He was held at a police station for 2.5 hours and then was hospitalized without a protocol about any violations.

Nasonov was charged with violating public order and released after about four hours of detention. He will be required to appear in court and may be fined between 10,000 and 20,000 rubles ($152 to $305) if found guilty

In a separate incident journalist with local online broadcaster Sota Vision Petr Ivanov was detained as well. Ivanov, who is under 18 years old, was also held in a police station. He was told that he was detained for violating traffic rules as he was walking in a traffic lane, Rosbalt reported

UPDATE: 2, May – St Petersburg police is searching photographer George Markov, who was beaten and detained while covering 1 May demonstration, Zona.Media reported. The policemen came to Markov’s apartment when he was not home, however Markov’s neighbours let the police in and said that they were questioned about Markov. The photographer also said in Twitter that he received multiple phone calls from a deputy head of the police department №76, who demanded Markov to come to the police department to testify about the 1 May demonstration, threatening to otherwise come to the journalist.

https://zona.media/chronicle/pervoe2019

https://paperpaper.ru/papernews/2019/05/05/u-smolnogo-zaderzhali-volontera-shtab/

https://www.rosbalt.ru/piter/2019/05/05/1779478.html

http://ru.rfi.fr/rossiya/20190503-aktivnutye-protivnye-lyudi-i-ikh-zaderzhaniya-kak-v-pitere-otprazdnovali-pervomai

https://twitter.com/pixsl_markov/status/1123938280632979458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1123938280632979458&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fzona.media%2Fchronicle%2Fpervoe2019

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

Source of violation: Police/State security

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