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)

Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”St Petersburg governor left news conference without answering a single question” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]29 May 2019 – Alexander Beglov, interim governor of Saint Petersburg left a news conference without answering a single question and avoided journalists, Lenizdat.ru reported.

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

Link(s)

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

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

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

Categories: Blocked Access

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

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

Link(s)

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

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

Categories: Legal Measures

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

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

Link(s)

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

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

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link(s)

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

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

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

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

Categories: Censorship

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

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

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

Link(s)

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

https://29.ru/text/gorod/66088276/  

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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

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

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

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

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

Link(s)

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

Categories: Attack to Property

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

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

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

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

Link(s)

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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

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

Link(s)

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

Categories: Blocked Access

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

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

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

Bondarenko deleted the video.

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: Legal Measures

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

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

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

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

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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

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

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

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

The attacker pledged guilty.

Link(s):

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

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

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

Category: Physical Assault/Injury

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

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

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

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

Link(s):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits; Intimidation

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

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

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

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

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

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

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

Link(s): 

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

Categories: Intimidation

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

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

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

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

Link(s):

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

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link(s):

https://tayga.info/146549

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

https://roskomsvoboda.org/47287/

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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

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

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

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

Link(s):

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

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

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

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link(s):

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

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

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

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

Categories: Loss of employment

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

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

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

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

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

Link(s):

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

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

https://ura.news/news/1052383993

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury

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

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

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

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

Link(s): 

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

Categories: Intimidation

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

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

Gayvoronskiy is known for investigations about Yalta mayor Andrey Rostenko.

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

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

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

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

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

[/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:1569406500183-9f92e352-a189-6″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Russia: Press freedom violations April 2019

30 Apr 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=”28 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Police search apartment belonging to Telegram-channel author’s parents

27 April 2019 – In Makhachkala, armed police officers broke into an apartment belonging to the parents of 26-year-old Alexandr Gorbunov, who was earlier named by RBK as an author of popular anonymous Telegram channel Stalingulag, known for outspoken, often slangy criticism of the authorities, Stalingulag reported. As reported by the channel, Gorbunov’s mother had been interrogated for six hours.

According to Stalingulag, police wanted Gorbunov on suspicion of “phone terrorism”, related to a series of phone calls with bomb threats that turned out to be fake but caused mass evacuations in Moscow. “How original, before they used to just plant drugs”, the author commented in his Telegram channel, referring to a known tactic of criminal case fabrication against activists.

Links: https://t.me/stalin_gulag/943

https://meduza.io/news/2019/04/27/stalingulag-soobschil-ob-obyskah-u-rodstvennikov-predpolagaemogo-avtora-telegram-kanala

https://echo.msk.ru/news/2415761-echo.html

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

Source of violation: Police/State security

Court orders Novaya Gazeta to delete article

26 April 2019 – In Moscow court ruled in favour of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in its defamation suit against independent newspaper Novaya Gazet, Moskva news agency reported.

The FSB called the coverage false and demanded the deletion of two articles that said that FSB officers were torturing a Kyrgyz national detained after a blast in Magnitogorsk residential building.

Novaya Gazeta said it is going to appeal the court decision.

Links: https://www.mskagency.ru/materials/2885053

https://meduza.io/news/2019/04/26/sud-obyazal-novuyu-gazetu-udalit-stati-o-pytkah-zaderzhannogo-posle-vzryva-v-magnitogorske?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=share_fb&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR3fdhksgLQlWPT-474QfpSeYH7gLGNJgvmmkbTowHxbcjDUhf1ITlQTWAk

Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

Source of violation: Court/Judicial

Kurgan journalist summoned to police after an extremist letter signed with his name sent to the president

26 April 2019 – Nikita Telizhenko, a journalist at the Kurgan bureau of Znak.com was summoned for interrogation to the counter-extremist department of the local police, Znak.com reported.

According to Telizhenko’s lawyer, the official reason for the questioning is a strange letter sent to the Russian president. The letter was signed with Telizhenko’s name, saying that he does not support Valdimir Putin’s policies, believes in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi ideas which the letter said inspires the Kurgan opposition movement.

The journalist denies that he is the author of the letter or has ever written similar material. Znak.com said it believes that the letter was a provocation against Telizhenko to pressure him psychologically.

Links: https://www.znak.com/2019-04-25/zhurnalista_znak_com_vyzvali_v_centr_e_iz_za_strannogo_pisma_ob_oppozicii_i_gitlere?fbclid=IwAR1iTzt36N6yjrewV2sscxDdL8Ga4eCdmqqAfbKSUap7htywZrMUausSrXw

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Intimidation

Source of violation: Police/State security; Unknown

Kremlin instructs media to not praise Ukraine’s elected president

24 April 2019 – Russia’s national TV channels were reportedly told “not to praise too much”  Vladimir Zelensky, the newly elected president of Ukraine, according to Proekt which cited an anonymous high-profile public official as its source.

According to the official, TV reports shown on Russian national channels were seen by the presidential administration as too flattering.

Proekt said that on 14 April, the host Dmitry Kiselev of Vesti Nedely (Eng: News of the Week) praised Zelensky. However on the next episode, which aired after the recommendation, Kiselev’s tone was less complimentary. Authors of a similar show at First Channel were also very cautious and slightly criticised Zelensky in contrast with previous positive coverage of his candidacy against the then-serving president and Kremlin opponent Petro Poroshenko.

Links:

https://www.proekt.media/article/zelensky-federalnye-tv/

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/24/151177-proekt-kreml-posovetoval-federalnym-kanalam-ne-hvalit-zelenskogo

Categories: Soft censorship

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

Parliament deputy requests a check of media that quoted her speech

23 April 2019 – Senator Elena Mizulina asked her lawyers to check media that published her quotes on  internet regulation “the bans are the freedom”, RIA Novosti reported.

“The actions of several media that distributed the quote out of context along with distorted information, are now being checked by lawyers”, the press-service of Mizulina said.

The quotes by Mizulina were published by Novaya Gazeta, agency Moskva and others.

Links:

https://ria.ru/20190423/1552966635.html

https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/mizulina-proverit-smi/

https://roskomsvoboda.org/46750/?fbclid=IwAR2Qbt9qaJXDmVFaEy0qQHQ-w1gHWCQqAo6FJst6RRcAHcajd1GRHcxVgXs

Categories: Legal Measures

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

TASS deletes column by Dmitry Bykov

23 April 2019 – State news agency TASS published and after a few hours deleted an opinion column “Shag” (Eng: The Step) by prominent journalist Dmitry Bykov, Snob.ru reported.

In the column, Bykov said that the current period of Russian history will be remembered as “an example of meanness and shameful idiocy”, explaining that the current national idea is based only on threats and pressure. “In fact, the Russian land is now behind a khan, a crime boss, a kingpin; though it would be a mistake to think it is the nature Russians, they are actually inclined to trust people like this”, Bykov wrote.

He went on, criticising the desire of Russian people to belong to the majority and calling to dispel the hypnosis of the word “motherland”, as this word is used when the government needs to do some shady business.

“To love the motherland today means not to identify with it in any way, and even more so with the authorities that are causing new and new abominations. And it would be good, if it was large-scale abominations, but it is streetwise dirty tricks”.

The column was deleted from TASS website and soon republished on the website Russian Pioneer.

Links:

https://snob.ru/news/176043

https://tass.ru/kultura/6367542

http://ruspioner.ru/honest/m/single/6221

Categories: Censorship

Source of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)

Rosneft demands to ban Reuters activity in Russia

19 April 2019 – State oil company Rosneft filed a complaint with police to “stop unlawful activity of pseudo agency” Reuters in Russia, Kommersant reported.

A day before, Reuters published an investigation that revealed the scheme that Venezuelan authorities were using to avoid US sanctions that prohibit American companies from buying  Venezuelan oil. According to Reuters, Rosneft serves as a middle company, buying oil from the Venezuelan state company PDVSA with a discount and then selling it to a real buyer for the full price, while keeping the difference as a commission and transferring it to PDVSA’s accounts in Russian banks. Rosneft called the publication “an information sabotage” and “provocation”.

Update:

On 23 April 2019, Reuters corrected the article “to make clear Reuters could not determine payments were made under the proposed arrangement” and removed referencse to Evrofinance Mosnarbank; the agency also added that experts see no violation of sanctions in the revealed scheme.

Links: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3951683

https://www.dw.com/ru/%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%84%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0-reuters-%D0%B2-%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B8/a-48403258

https://www.forbes.ru/biznes/375245-reuters-popravil-statyu-o-venesuele-posle-ugroz-rosnefti

https://ru.reuters.com/article/topNews/idRUKCN1RV0SK-ORUTP?fbclid=IwAR0S9pEp7Dyms2q-ng2YcqNjPproHAnpiF01yXp-qaxauB8Pi0ieDw3mHTI

Categories: Legal Measures; Censorship

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

Rosbalt office searched, computers seized

18 April 2019 – Сriminal investigation officers searched the Moscow office of news agency Rosbalt, seized computers belonging to one of the journalists and requested passwords for all editorial computers, Rosbalt reported.

The editor-in-chief Nikolai Ulyanov said that the search is connected to a criminal case opened on a defamation complaint filed by oligarch Alisher Usmanov. The complaint was not related to Robalt articles, but to the posts of Rosbalt journalist Alexandr Shvarev on other websites, including the blocked website rucriminal.info.

Background:

In November 2018, Usmanov filed a defamation case against A.M. Volkov and rucriminal.info over a publication proving the link between Alisher Usmanov and crime boss Shakro Molodoy. Rosbalt says that Сriminal investigation officers used “Shakro Molodoy” for word search while checking editorial computers.

The seizure of Shvarev’s computer could be connected to the search of evidence and information about sources for previously published articles, Rosbalt suggests. The agency said that Shvarev had never published articles about Usmanov at Rosbalt, but he had a right to work for other media and use a pseudonym for his publications.

Links:

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/04/18/v-moskve-v-ofis-rosbalta-prishli-policeyskie

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/04/24/80336-iskali-to-ne-znayut-chto

Categories: Attack to Property

Source of violation: Police/State security

TASS retracts multiple quotations by ex-head of FSB

16 April 2019 – State news agency TASS removed a series of quotations by Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia and the ex-head of Federal Security Service (FSB), which was noticed by an editor of Current Time.

The quotations were direct accusations that the USA is worsening the Iran and North Korea crisis. The quotes were annulled as “wrongly published”

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2648904765125195&id=100000170936377

Category: Censorship

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

Journalists barred from covering trial on extremist organisation

15 April 2019 – The bailiffs of the Penza garrison military court refused to let journalists cover an open trial of extremist organisation Set (Eng:Net). Defendants said that the charges were fabricated by secret services, 7×7 reported.

The bailiffs told 7×7 reporters that the courtroom was full, however the journalists could see via video link that the courtroom was in fact empty.

Links:

https://7×7-journal.ru/anewsitem/119860

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/04/15/v-penze-zhurnalistov-i-rodstvennikov-obvinyaemyh-ne-pustili-na-otkrytoe

Category: Blocked Access

Source of violation: Court/Judicial

Prosecutor’s office sides with newspaper in dispute with local authorities

15 April 2019 – The prosecutor’s office issued a remedial action order to Baidavlet Taibergenov,  the head of Agapovsky district administration in the Chelyabinsk region, after finding out that its contract with the local Zvezda newspaper required the outlet to submit newspaper layouts to the district administration for approval, which violates the law prohibiting censorship, Znak.com reported.

The prosecutor’s office fined the administration’s press-secretary 5,000 roubles (70 euro) for  not providing journalists with requested information in the legally required period.

Earlier the administration deprived the newspaper of a municipal contract for the publication of legal acts because the journalists refused to submit editorial materials for approval. The check by the prosecutor’s office was initiated by Russian Union of Journalists.

Links: https://www.znak.com/2019-04-15/na_urale_prokuratura_podtverdila_fakt_cenzury_v_otnosheniya_rayonnoy_gazety

http://magnitogorsk.bezformata.com/listnews/chinovnikov-administratcii-agapovskogo/74227203/

https://www.verstov.info/news/society/77555-prokuratura-vstupilas-za-gazetu-zvezda-chinovnikov-administracii-agapovskogo-rayona-poymali-na-cenzure.html

Categories: Censorship; Soft censorship

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

Barents Press vilified by state TV

11 April 2019 – Russia-24 aired a report about a workshop hosted by international network Barents-Press for Russian journalists in Murmansk, vilifying the organisers and speakers as opinionated Russophobes. The regional branch of the Russian Union of Journalists condemned the defamatory report, saying that it was “clearly aimed to discredit the respected organisation Barents Press” and hurt international cooperation between journalists.

Links:

https://www.vesti.ru/videos/show/vid/794482/cid/1#

http://smikarelii.ru/content/zaavlenie-souzov-zurnalistov-karelii-arhangelskoi-i-murmanskoi-oblastei-v-svazi-s-suzetom?fbclid=IwAR3DBOTt04_7gXEAIGMQ1JcgRIpLfdIKahuBREiwPll0XXHbqOv9RwogZHo

Categories: Intimidation

Source of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)

Journalist assaulted by security guards in Omsk

9, April – Andrey Surovtsev, a reporter for the online Sota Vision, was assaulted by security guards at a dormitory in Omsk, where about a thousand of Chinese workers are housed, Kasparov.Ru reported.

Surovtsev was filming a bus ferrying Chinese workers from a local oil plant to the dormitory, when two security guards approached him and tried to interfere. When Surovtsev warned them that they were obstructing journalistic activities, one of them replied: “I don’t care about your laws”.

The security guards grabbed Surovtsev’s equipment, twisted his arm behind his back and took his smartphone and documents. When the guards heard Suvortsev calling the police, they returned him his belongings. However, the video made with the journalist’s smartphone was deleted.

The day after Surovtsev confirmed his injuries in a local hospital and filed a complaint about the incident to the police.

Links:

http://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5CAC86A4F4064

https://www.arsvest.ru/rubr/2/57423

http://www.qwas.ru/russia/rufront/Ohranniki-privezennyh-v-Omsk-iz-Kitaja-stroitelei-napali-na-zhurnalista/

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury; Attack to Property

Source of violation: Private security

Press service of North Ossetia administration bars journalists from news conferences

6 April 2019 – North Ossetia regional website Osnova.News published an article describing how the press service of North Ossetia administration had barred independent journalists from news conferences and avoided answering their calls and information requests.

On 5 February 2019 there was a news conference by the government of the republic scheduled. Ahead of it, the head of North Ossetia administration’s press service officer Fatima Sabanova called the Osnova.News office and asked what questions its reporter was going to ask. When Sabanova learnt that it would be Alina Alikhanova, who was going to attend the news conference, she demanded to the outlet send another reporter. Sabanova said that Alikhanova did not have an accreditation, despite the two accreditation requests sent by the outlet in advance of the conference.

The news conference was canceled last minute. The press conference was rescheduled for 26 March but the announcement was made unofficially in a Facebook post. When the journalists of Osnova.News learned about the new date of the news conference, they tried to reach Sabanova to get an accreditation, but the calls were ignored.

Osnova.News described another incident that took place in March. Reporter Zaur Farniev, who is said to be on a list of “undesirable and objectionable” journalist, was allowed to attend a meeting of the head of North Ossetia administration, Vyacheslav Bitarov, with constituents for the first time in 2.5 years. However, each time Farniev tried to capture video at the meeting, he was asked to stop without any explanation. The press service later published its own video which significantly cut answers of the official, edited in a flattering way.

Links: http://osnova.news/n/2657/

Categories: Blocked Access

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

Journalist fined for a repost in personal Telegram-channel

6 April 2019 – In the Krasnodar region, journalist Alexandr Savelev was fined 5,000 roubles (70 euro) for “publication of symbols of undesirable organisation” after he reposted a Facebook post  made in the group “Open Russia// Krasnodar region”, Ovd.info reported.

The post included an infographic showing the increase of prices of goods in the last 10 years and contained the logo of Open Russia.

In 2017, Russia’s general prosecutor office recognised Open Russia, founded by an exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, as an “undesirable organisation”. In March 2018, Open Russia announced its liquidation in order to protect its activists, who regularly faced prosecution.

Links:

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/04/06/v-krasnodarskom-krae-zhurnalista-oshtrafovali-za-reposty-materialov-s

https://t.me/sav_krd/2330

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

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

Chuvashia blogger charged with “nazism rehabilitation” for 9-year old post

5 April 2019 – The Investigative Committee of Chuvashia republic opened a criminal case against local blogger Konstantin Ishutov, 7×7 reported. The new criminal case opened under the Article 354, Part 1 of the Criminal code of Russia (Nazism rehabilitation) in relation to a post in LiveJournal in 2010. In that post Ishutov criticized Chuvashia authorities for not taking care of the graves of the soldiers killed in World War II, comparing it to the way the Germans take care of similar graves.

In 2018, a similar criminal case on Nazism rehabilitation was opened against Ishutov because of the post with Third Reich’s leaflet and capture “When the Third Reich treats Soviet people better than Putin treats Russians”.

Also, in March,2019, the Investigative Committee of Chuvashia republic opened a criminal case against Ishutov on suspicion of child pornography production.

Ishutov is known for his publication about the falsifications at elections. In 2017, he was also sued for reposting an investigation about corruption schemes involving the prime minister Dmitry Medvedev – the police demanded to delete it, but in 2018 the Supreme Court of Chuvashia ruled in favor of blogger.

Links:

https://7×7-journal.ru/articles/2019/04/05/na-blogera-iz-chuvashii-konstantina-ishutova-zaveli-eshe-odno-delo-za-reabilitaciyu-nacizma

https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/04/05/na-blogera-ishutova-vozbudili-vtoroe-delo-o-reabilitacii-nacizma-iz-za-posta

Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences

Source of violation: Police/State security

Local official sues Properm.ru over publications about his property in national park

4 April 2019 – A Sverdlovsk regional court started trial on the defamation lawsuit filed by Sergey Morozov, the head of Kultaevo village, against local media Properm.ru, the website reported.

The official stated that an article about a prosecutors’ check of his family business “morally hurt him, caused health worsening, worries and sleep disorder”. Morozov’s suit seeks 100,000 roubles (1,386 euro) compensation and retraction of the publication. Earlier the official filed defamation lawsuits against three social media users who reposted the publication.

Links:

https://properm.ru/news/society/168719/

https://properm.ru/news/incident/162592/

http://parkgagarina.info/index.php/obshchestvo/29435-permskij-kraj-chinovnik-trebuet-s-internet-portala-100-tysyach-rublej-za-chto-neponyatno.html

https://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5CAC9592B4D8D&section_id=43452BE8655FB

Categories: Legal Measures

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

Municipal newspaper’s journalists left without salary for three months due to conflict with local authorities

4 April 2019 – Former editor-in-chief of Verkheuralsk municipal newspaper Krasniy Uralets, Nikolay Batavin, sent an open letter to the deputy governor of Chelyabinsk region Alexey Texler, Znak reported.

In the letter Batavin said that due to the journalists’ conflict with the head of Verhneuralsk district administration Sergey Aybulatov, the accounts of Krasniy Uralets were blocked, as a result the newspaper’s journalists were left without salary for over three months.

Links:

https://www.znak.com/2019-04-04/v_chelyabinskoy_oblasti_sotrudniki_rayonnoy_gazety_tri_mesyaca_ne_poluchayut_zarplatu

https://news.sputnik.ru/ekonomika/c45e2dd1ac16d91bb3f421051d2ad64d9fae698d

Categories: Censorship – Commercial interference

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

Editor-in-chief of Novaya Kondopoga fired after conflict with local authorities

4 April 2019 – Yulia Shevchuk, the editor-in-chief of the municipal newspaper Novaya Kondopoga was fired after a conflict with local officials, 7×7 website reported.

The decree to fire Shevchuk was signed by a deputy head of the administration of the Kndopoga district. Officials say Shevchuk was fired because of declining income at the newspaper.

However, Shevchuk believes that the reason was her independent editorial policy. “The administration head believes that the newspaper tells about social and political life in the district in a wrong way. He doesn’t say directly ‘I forbid you to write about this and that’, but he means it – don’t write about this or write about that in this way to not disturb people, to not rock the boat”, Shevchuk told 7×7.

In May 2018, economic crime officers searched Novaya Kondopoga office and seized documents. Though there was no criminal case opened after that (the newspaper had no debts and earned 119,000 roubles – around 1,650 euro), Vitaly Sadovnikov, the head of the district administration, said that the check revealed violations of financial and labour norms and suggested to a disciplinary action regarding Shevchuk. The municipal deputies voted in approval. According to the law, a disciplinary action could be in a form of rebuke, reprimand or dismissal. There was no explanation why the harshest form was chosen.

In March 2019, the Russian Union of Journalists published an open letter to the head of Kondopoga district administration, saying that the financial state of the newspaper was stable and adequate for a local outlet. The union also pointed out that the administration did not have a right to take disciplinary action against the newspaper editor-in-chief. “Additionally, the pressure from the administration, in our opinion, may be linked to the independency of the editor-in-chief in the choice of topics, her desire to tell not only about successes of the city and district authorities, but about the problems of locals as well, about things that common people – the readers of the newspaper – are worried about”.

After the letter from the Russian Union of Journalists, the head of the district administration Vitaly Sadovnikov visited the Novaya Kondopoga office. “He said that the newspaper was, is and will be working”. He also told the head of Karelia Union of Journalists Evgeny Belyanchikov, that he was not going to fire Shevchuk. However, soon after, the administration issued a decree firing the editor, which was signed by Sadovnikov’s deputy.

Shevchuk said she disagrees with her termination and is going to file a lawsuit about unlawful employment termination.

Links:

https://7×7-journal.ru/articles/2019/04/05/v-karelii-administraciya-rajona-uvolila-glavnogo-redaktora-gazety-novaya-kondopoga-yuliyu-shevchuk

http://smikarelii.ru/node-50-article

https://karelinform.ru/news/incident/18-04-2019/uvolennyy-glavred-namerena-suditsya-s-gazetoy-novaya-kondopoga

https://runaruna.ru/articles/27139-v-karelii-uvolili-glavnogo-redaktora-gazeti-k-kotoroj-bil-konflikt-s-mestnoj-vlastyu/

Categories: Censorship; Loss of Employment

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

Antimonopoly service checks Krasnoyarsk newspaper because of caricature

3 April 2019 – The regional branch of the Federal Antimonopoly Service launched a check of the  Krasnoyarsk-based newspaper Prospekt Mira because of a caricature with an image of the Universiade’s mascot on the front page of the December issue, Prospekt Mira reported.

The caricature featured a dog similar to the Universiade mascot warming next to a fire with a title “After the money” and was referring to the student games that took place in March 2019 in Krasnoyarsk and was associated with a series of money misuse scandals.

The check was started on the complaint of the executive board of the Universiade that considered the use of the image a violation of the trade mark rights.

“Such actions by the Universiade are pressure on the media, obstructing our journalistic activities. They want to force us to write only good things about the Universiade, to prohibit the raising of problematic issues. After all, after this event there will obviously be a whole tail of consequences: criminal cases, scandals, trials ”, said the publisher of Prospekt Mira, Ilya Labunksy.

On 21 March, the regional prosecutor’s office also started a check of Prospekt Mira on a  complaint brought by the executive board of the Universiade about the trademark rights.

Links:

https://prmira.ru/news/ufas-proveryaet-prospekt-mira-iz-za-karikatury-na-universiadu-ranee-o-svoej-proverke-zayavili-v-prok/

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/03/150563-fas-proverit-krasnoyarskuyu-gazetu-iz-za-karikatury-na-talisman-universiady

https://zona.media/news/2019/03/21/prospekt-mira

Category: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits

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

Sport journalist assaulted after covering scandal

3 April 2019 – Sports journalist Vasily Utkin was assaulted with mace spray by an unknown man, the journalist said on his Telegram-channel.

The assault happened in the late evening after a training of an amateur football team Egrisi, where Utkin is a frequent visitor.

A young man in a grey hoodie approached Utkin next to the journalist’s car and sprayed mace in his face; the assailant, who was filming the assault with his smartphone said “for the accountability record”, according to Utkin.

Utkin said “There are only one reason and only two people who would like to organise this. I was talking about it in the last episode of my show”, referring to his YouTube show Footbal Club. On the last episode covering the so-called Aguzarov-gate – a scheme in which lawyer Alan Aguzarov, a personal attorney for the head coach of Russian national football team Stanislav Cherchesov and a nephew of the ex-head of North Ossetia-Alania, was using his connections to Cherchesov to influence over football players and sign them up for contracts, promising to help them to get selected for the national team.

Utkin decided not to file a complaint about the assault, saying it would be just a waste of time for him.

Links:

https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/03/150544-zhurnalist-vasiliy-utkin-rasskazal-o-napadenii-na-nego-v-moskve?fbclid=IwAR0W4HuSBMrLfWnvALG5oEzZJFsNuNE68Gr0bPMx6nktBOICTWcGAfwVUU8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xByYo8NHQiY&feature=youtu.be

https://lenta.ru/news/2019/04/03/utkin_napadenie/

Categories: Physical Assault/Injury; Intimidation

Source of violation: Unknown

TV journalists barred from covering trial on St Petersburg metro blasts

2 April 2019 – A Saint Petersburg court barred TV journalists from filming a trial of the suspected organisers of the 2017 metro blasts, Regnum reported.

Lawyers for the defendants, who pleaded not guilty, asked the court to allow media coverage. The prosecutor insisted on closed trial. The court partially agreed with the prosecutor, prohibiting filming.

Links:

https://regnum.ru/news/2603524.html

https://jourdom.ru/news/108489

Categories: Blocked Access

Source of violation: Court/Judicial

Editor-in-chief of Khabarov.today summoned for interrogation on complaint of local politician

2 April 2019 – In Khabarovsk Alexey Kaper, the editor-in-chief of local media Khabarovsk.today, was summoned by police for interrogation, Khabarovsk.today reported.

The interrogator told Kaper that his questioning was a part of a check started on a complaint from Arkady Mkrtychev, the head of the local department of the ruling party United Russia and former head of Khabarovsk regional government, regarding posts about him in anonymous Telegram-channels.

The journalist understood from the questions he was asked, that Mkrtychev believes that it Kaper who is the author of Telegram-channel known as Vecherny Khabarovsk. Kapers denies that he has any involvement with this Telegram-channel. The journalist was also asked if he knows authors of other Telegram-channels, such as Nedebri and Korifey Khabarov.

Kaper himself believes that the interrogation was connected to the publication of a recorded closed-door meeting between the regional parliament speaker and the secretary of the regional department of United Russia Sergey Lugovskoy with party members, in which he said that the party is able to solve many regional problems, but is not acting because it would look like an achievement of the local governor, not the party.

Kaper also said that on 1 March Khabarovsk.today received an email from a representative of an unknown PR agency offering money for removal of an article about Arkady Mkrtychev’s involvement in illegal caviar trading. Kaper refused to do so and said that he believes it was a provocation staged to charge him with corrupt business practices.

Links:

https://habarov.today/2019-04-02/arkadiy-mkrtichev-napisal-zayavlenie-v-politsiyu-na-glavnogo-redaktora-habarovtoday?fbclid=IwAR2FQZ-nWCPERea9dLlS3YI-KEVbEYCtx9GPIE6XfpMyD54Ic3arkmzO1I

https://zona.media/news/2019/04/03/habarovsk

https://lenizdat.ru/articles/1155569/

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

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

State parliament approves bill about fines for “unsanctioned” distribution of foreign press

2 April 2019 – Russia’s parliament approved in the first reading a bill about fines for distribution of foreign press in Russia “without permission”, the statement said on the official website of the parliament.

The amendments to the media law, obliging foreign press distributors to seek official permission from the Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor, were approved in 2017.  The new bill will classify a violation of such norms as an administrative offence and will introduce a punishment in the form of fines up to 30,000 roubles (around 418 euro). Also, according to the bill, printed copies of foreign press distributed without permission should be seized.

There is no clarity so far on whether the bill will work only for mass distribution or could be used to punish even distribution for personal use as if one orders a foreign magazine from abroad or brings it home from a foreign trip.

Links:

http://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/632800-7

https://rtvi.com/news/gosduma-zakonoproekt-o-shtrafakh-za-rasprostranenie-inostrannoy-pressy/?fbclid=IwAR2R2P5T4aBxThjV2oHvUTo9uU7AebMPkF5e2GLEPhKIUG5SbY7YQzSBW98

https://www.fontanka.ru/2019/04/02/098/

Categories: Legal Measures

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

State TV host forced to quit, summoned for talk with Roskosmos head after publishing open letter by employee of aerospace manufacturer

1 April 2019 – Konstantin Semin, host of Agitation and Propaganda, a show on state-owned TV channel Rossiya-24, was forced to quit his job after publishing a letter from an employee of Samara-based aerospace manufacturer Progress on his personal Youtube channel.

The letter criticised state space agency Roskosmos, Semin said in a video.

After his resignation, Semin was summoned for a talk with the head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin, who spoke for over an hour about a “black PR campaign” aimed at discrediting his efforts to help Russia’s space industry to recover.

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpU9jhjgeZs

https://dailystorm.ru/news/zhurnalist-vgtrk-pokinul-dolzhnost-posle-publikacii-pisma-s-kritikoy-roskosmosa?fbclid=IwAR2ZRiqk8YS2fzR5veUwW4ucvqDdBDPX5BnwWcmf7Fm-xGBLvxXyHtcKHeo

http://glavnoe24.ru/topics/9114/

Categories: Censorship; Loss of Employment; Intimidation

Source of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s); Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Roskomnadzor forces Yaroslavl-area media to delete articles referencing graffiti aimed at Putin

1 April 2019 – The Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor sent two requests to local website Yarkub, demanding it delete an article about graffiti that allegedly insulted the President Vladimir Putin, Yarkub reported.

Initially Yarkub received an email demanding the article be deleted by midnight. The editor-in-chief later received a phone call from the regional department of Roskomnadzor. The regulator officials did not explain what laws were violated. Yarkub said that the editorial office sees the situation as an act of censorship.

The article in question titled “Police began search of a man, who left an insulting graffiti on the building of Yaroslavl ministry of internal affairs” was published in the morning of 1 April. The graffiti “Putin pidor” allegedly suggested in an explicit form that Russian president Vladimir Putin is gay. The graffiti was not seen in the published photos and the derogatory word was replaced with *-symbols.

Update:

2 April 2019 – Another email from Roskomnadzor clarified that the article should be deleted due to the new law about “disrespecting authorities” that came into force on 29 March 2019, TJ reported.

Editor of another Yaroslavl area media outlet, 76.ru, Olga Prokhorova wrote in her Facebook, she also received five calls from Roskomnadzor with requests to delete a similar article about the graffiti. She was told by the officials that they are pressed “from far above” to prosecute media that published articles on the subject. However, the general prosecutor’s office, that according to the law has the power to request such actions from Roskomnadzor denied any involvement, Interfax reported.

Meanwhile, at least five other Yaroslavl media outlets removed similar articles about the graffiti: Echo Moskvy; PRO Gorod; Pervy Yaroslavsky; Moskovsky Komsomolets-Yaroslavl. However, those media deny receiving official requests from Roskomnadzor.

Update:

11 April 2019 – Roskomnadzor blocked the Yarkub website after the outlet refused to delete articles about the graffiti denigrating Putin. The decision was made on 9 April and the official reason for blocking was the news article about a suicide attempt of an autistis teenager published on 9 June 2018, almost a year ago. (Since 2012, the law “About protection of children from information harmful to their health and development” forbids media to describe suicide methods).

“It is worrying to think that Roskomnadzor is roughly finding fault and seeking revenge for our position regarding the article on the graffiti about Putin left on the wall of ministry of internal affairs”, Yarkub editor Marina Sedneeva wrote in a Facebook post. Yarkub filed a complaint regarding Roskomnadzor actions to the investigative committee.

Update:

13 April 2019 – Roskomnadzor blocked the 76.ru website after the media outlet refused to refused to delete articles about the graffiti denigrating Putin. In response, 76.ru editor-in-chief, Olga Prohorova, removed a photo of the graffiti from the article, while keeping the article on the website. Later in the same day Roskomnadzor unblocked 76.ru’s website.

Update:

14 April 2019 – Roskomnadzor unblocked Yarkub website after the media deleted an article from June 2018 about a suicide, which was the formal reason given for the blocking of the outlet’s wesbite.

Links:

https://t.me/yarcube/3717

https://zona.media/news/2019/04/01/yarcube?fbclid=IwAR12eU1lx6YEs6BkPTht-l7YzfFO10IwHTI6pMWObuYplgmN6aqiIShEgz4

https://tjournal.ru/media/92051-genprokuratura-vpervye-ispolzovala-zakon-o-neuvazhenii-k-vlasti-dlya-udaleniya-novostey-o-graffiti-s-oskorbleniem-putina

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/656792

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2212506988816501&set=a.138954256171795&type=3&theater

https://www.svoboda.org/a/29874717.html

https://zona.media/news/2019/04/13/76ru

https://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/news/2019/04/13/799066-smi

Categories: Intimidation; Censorship; Legal Measures

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

Photographer summoned after covering feminist action in Saint-Petersburg

1 April 2019 – Saint Petersburg photographer David Frenkel was summoned into a police department to draw up a protocol of administrative violation, Fontanka reported.

When photographer called the police department to clarify the details, he was told that the police consider him a participant of unsanctioned action staged by a group of feminists on 8 March 2019, that he covered as a photographer.

The action was spontaneously organised after activists of pro-government movement Set broke into women-only café Simona “to congratulate” the owners with flowers, despite the owners’ repeated requests for the Set supporters to leave. After that three activists staged a protest with a naked man under a pile of flowers and the slogan “Your flowers will grow on a grave of the patriarchy”.

Links:

https://www.fontanka.ru/2019/04/01/148/

https://lenizdat.ru/articles/1155620/

https://twitter.com/merr1k/status/1112721459162611712

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation

Source of violation: Police/State security

Kommersant office vandalized in Ekaterinburg

1 April 2019 – In Ekaterinburg unknown people broke into the editorial office of a regional department of the national newspaper Kommersant during the night between 31 March and 1 April, the general director Kommersnt-Ural Sergey Plakhotin told E1.RU.

The intruders vandalised the room with editorial servers, damaged computers belonging to the director, the editor-in-chief and the accountant, and stole two hard drives from the editor-in-chief’s computer. They also left a paper with message “You are going to die, small fry” on the table in the general director Sergey Plakhotin’s office. According to the police, the overall damage is estimated of 70,000 roubles (about 968 euro).

Kommersant journalists believe that the attack may be linked to the publication of the book “Gangs catchers. The meeting point” about the fight against organised crime in Ekaterinburg.

UPDATE:

2 April 2019 – Police detained a suspect, who they said turned out to be an unemployed 46-year old resident of Ekaterinburg. Police opened a criminal case against the individuals on the charges of “Intentional damage to property”, punishable with up to five years in jail. According to the police, the suspect pleaded guilty and committed the crime under the influence of alcohol and because of “personal motives”, not connected to the journalistic activity of Kommersant editorial team. The suspect was released on with travel restrictions.

Links:

https://www.e1.ru/news/spool/news_id-66038146.html?fbclid=IwAR2sP6p3kFkP9pg3z_cVLooobpn3ZzxyiGv0H69Ka06omHisoaRPcO2cc-M

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3930771?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=amplifr_social

https://ura.news/news/1052378986

https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/5ca3104b9a7947d7a9b3f570

Categories: Intimidation; Attack to Property

Source of violation: Known private individual(s)[/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:1560948373790-0b4f0460-bf1a-5″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]