Since the electoral authorities rejected several opposition candidates for September’s city council elections, protesters have taken to the streets of Moscow on four consecutive Saturdays. Russian authorities have responded with threats, violence, and detentions.
Journalists who have been reporting on the protests have consistently been targeted. On 27 July 2019, two journalists suffered broken noses after being struck by police, one received injuries to his hands and head after being hit with a police baton, a fourth was beaten in a police van after his arrest, and a fifth received injuries from a police assault.
Police have detained dozens of reporting journalists in the last few weeks, even after they had shown their accreditation. On 3 August 2019, police detained at least fourteen journalists. One journalist was arrested even after police found his accreditation and editorial assignment when they searched him. He was released shortly afterwards, but subsequently re-arrested and taken to a police station. All eight journalists were released the same day without charge.
Several YouTube channels have been broadcasting the protests live, but on 11 August the Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor published a statement calling on YouTube to stop “advertising” the demonstrations. The regulator said that a failure to respond would be considered “interference in its sovereign affairs” and that Russia would have the right to retaliate.
Several media freedom and journalists’ organisations have filed two alerts with the Council of Europe’s Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists in relation to Russia’s response to the protests. No reply has so far been received from the Russian Federation.
Jessica Ní Mhainín, Policy Research and Advocacy Officer at Index on Censorship said “Russian authorities seem to be indifferent to the fact that, by targeting protesters and journalists with violence and detentions, they are in flagrant violation of their obligations under international human rights law. But they should bear in mind that their response will only fan the flames of these pro-democracy protests. Journalists are the defenders of our democracy – without journalists and media freedom, there is no democracy”.
Nora Wehofsits, Advocacy Officer at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom said “The violent crackdown on journalists in Russia is a violation of the freedom of the press and freedom of information. Repressing coverage on protests in favour of fair elections and against police violence – and on the oppression of those – re-affirms the need of journalists as watchdogs. It must stop”.
Ravi R. Prasad, Director of Advocacy at the International Press Institute said “Attack on journalists covering democratic protests is against the principles of democracy. The government should allow journalists to do their job without any fear of reprisal and attacks. By attacking journalists Russia is attempting to stifle press freedom and the right of its people to be informed”.
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
International Press Institute (IPI)
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Russian Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project monitors threats, limitations and violations related to media freedom in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine for the purpose of identifying and analysing issues, trends and drivers and exploring possible response options and opportunities for advocating media freedom. The project collects and analyses limitations, threats and violations that affect a journalist as they do their job.
Independent media sources have been hamstrung by restrictive legislation and police, governmental, and private interference.
Physical assaults, detentions, lawsuits, fines, and blocked access are common. Many outlets have chosen to practice self-censorship to protect themselves.
Strict new laws limiting press freedom have been introduced, despite having progressive press laws from the 1990s still on the books and a constitutional article guaranteeing freedom of the press.
Out of 175 violations recorded in Russia by the Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project between February and June 2019, 20 were physical assaults that came from political figures, police structures, known private individuals and unknown perpetrators. Several of the cases are egregious examples of how physical violence is used to target journalists in Russia.
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.
MBH Media journalist charged for cooperation with “undesirable organisation”
30 July 2019 – In Ust-Labinsk, in the Krasnodar region, police searched the house of local journalist Alexandr Savelev and seized his phone, Mediazona reported.
Savelev was taken to the police station for questioning and later released. The next day he was detained and charged with cooperation with undesirable organisation, which is punishable with up to six years in jail.
The police believe that the news outlet MBH-Media that Savelev was reporting for is connected to Open Russia, which is considered an “undesirable organisation” by Russian authorities.
The journalist believes that the criminal case against him is connected to his professional activities, including his investigations into corruption in the region.
Police detain journalists reporting on Navalny’s alleged poisoning
28 July 2019 – Daniil Sotnikov, reporter with independent broadcaster Dozhd, and photographer Gerogy Markov were detained, despite carrying valid press cards, while reporting on the alleged poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Police detained the journalists near the hospital where Navalny was taken.
Markov said he was also beaten by policemen and his camera was broken.
Background:
28 July 2019 – Opposition leader Alexey Navalny was allegedly poisoned in jail, where he was under 30 days arrest for organising unsanctioned protests. He was hospitalised on the fourth day of his arrest with symptoms initally described as an “acute allergic reaction.” Later the main immunologist-allergist in Moscow diagnosed him with “contact dermatitis in the facial area and angioedema of the paraorbital area”.
Navalny’s doctor published a post on Facebook criticising the official diagnosis. She said she had attempted to examine Navalny, but was not allowed to. She wrote that, since Navalny does not suffer from any allergies, that he ate the same hospital food as the rest of the patients and did not use any new perfume or hygiene products, this could be “the result of the damaging effects of unspecified chemicals”.
Journalists assaulted while covering mass protests in Moscow
Evgeny Feldman
22 July 2019 – At least six journalists were injured by policemen during a violent crackdown on demonstrators, who took to the streets to protest against the disqualification of independent candidates to the Moscow City Parliament, Meduza reported.
Evgeny Feldman, a photographer who was covering the protests for Meduza. Feldman’s camera was struck by a policeman and his nose was injured in the process.
Alexandr Soloukhin, a cameraman working with YouTube vlogger Ilya Varlamov, said that he was also hit in the nose when the police surrounded the protesters and started beating them with the batons.
Balaram Usov, editor of student magazine DOXA, was hit in the head with a baton and then his arm was injured when he was pushed and pinched by a door; later he sent to a hospital from a police station.
Photographer Valery Tenevoy was beaten in a police van, wVD-Info reported.
RBC journalist Elena Sheveleva reported that she was hit by a policeman and a reporter working for Meduza said that an officer twisted Sheveleva’s arm.
27 July 2019 – Independent broadcaster Dozhd reported a DDoS attack on its website during live coverage of mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament.
Police summon TV Dozhd editor-in-chief for questioning
27 July 2019 – Policemen raided a studio belonging to independent broadcaster Dozhd while it was covering mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament, Meduza reported.
The broadcaster’s editor-in-chief Alexandra Pospelova was summoned for questioning as a witness in a criminal case opend under the article 141 of the Criminal Code of Russia – obstruction of the activity of elections committees. This case had been opened after mass protests in support of the independent candidates to Moscow city parliament, who revealed widespread inconsistency in the election commission’s actions after they were rejected the registration on the grounds of submitting false signatures.
Police detain Navalny Live host during live coverage of mass protests
27 July 2019 – Policemen broke into a studio of YouTube channel Navalny Live, run by the team of the opposition leader Alexey Navalny during the live coverage of mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament – the video of the incident was posted by Ilya Pahomov on Twitter. Later the host of the channel’s Vladimir Milov reported that he was detained at a police station.
27 July 2019 – Novaya Gazeta special reporter and a municipal deputy Ilya Azar was detained in Moscow during the mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament, despite presenting his press-card to the police – which was recorded in the video published by witnesses.
Police told journalists to get accreditation to cover mass protests in Moscow
25 July 2019 – The press-service of Ministry of Interior Affairs of Moscow published a statement, asking media managers to send to the police the data of the journalists who would be covering the mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament on 27 July.
The director of the Center of Defense of the Rights of Media, Galina Arapova, called it “meddling into professional independence of the editorial offices” and stressed that according to the law, journalists can cover protests and other actions without any coordination with the police. Arapova also warned that submitting such data to the police may threaten the security of the journalists: “We understand, that there were cases when police came to the organisers or alleged participants ahead of the mass actions. Where is the guarantee that they will not come to a journalist ahead of the event, that something won’t happen to him/her and he/she won’t get to the event place? Why does the police need to know the names of those people?”
The police also asked the journalists to carry with them not only press-cards but a printed editorial assignment from their publication. If they don’t have such assignments, police threatened them with sanctions. Arapova also believes the requirement is illegal: “Detention in this case will be absolutely illegal. According to the Article 47 of the Media Law, journalists have special rights. This is an inalienable professional right. Even without a special assignment. You walked, saw something happening, and started filming. This right is granted to you by the specifics of the professions and the federal law.”
Administrative case about “participation in the activity of undesirable organisation” opened against the founder of Samara newspaper
26 July 2019 – Yulia Illarianova, director of the founding organisation of Park Gagarina, a local newspaper in Samara, was handed a protocol about the opening an administrative case against her about “participation in the activity of undesirable organisation” because of two news articles mentioning Open Russia (recognised as undesirable organisation in Russia since April 2017) that ran in Park Gagarina. One of the articles appeared in October 2017, the other in January 2019.
Yakutsk journalists fined for article about torture
25 July 2019 – A Yakutsk city court fined Mikhail Romanov, a journalist with local weekly newspaper Yakutsk Vecherny, 30,000 rubles ($473) for “for abusing the freedom of information”, Interfax reported.
In April, Romanov wrote and published the an artucle with the headline “The victim of the regime” about an employee of a local university who was kidnapped and tortured by Federal Security Service (FSB) officers for leaving critical comments on social media. After the publication, a district police officer came to the editorial office several times to question Romanov, but the journalist refused to testify without official summoning.
Then the policemen opened an administrative case against the journalists under the article 17.7 (insubordination to the legal requirements of a representative of the authorities) and later another one under the article 13.15 (abusing the freedom of information). According to the officer, Romanov’s phrase in the published article “This is a story about the fact that everyone can get into the millstones of the state machine. And about the fact that Big Brother watches, reads all the comments on the forums…” contained hidden inserts, affected people’s subconsciousness and had a harmful effect on them.
Source of violation: Court/Judicial; Police/State security
Two reporters charged with failure to comply with judge’s orders
24 July 2019 – Reporters of Telegram-channels AvtozakLIVE and Bessrochny Protest were charged with failure to comply with the order of the judge or bailiff to ensure the established order of the courts and pushed out of the court room, where they were covering trial of Alexandr Archagov, charged with organisation of unsanctioned protest against the disqualification of independent candidates to Moscow city parliament, OVD-Info reported.
Grani.ru reporter expelled from court for real time reporting
24 July 2019 – Alim Suleimanov, a reporter with Grani.ru, was expelled from North Caucasus District Military Court for live reporting for Facebook group “Crimean Solidarity” on the trial of Crimean activist Nariman Memedinov, according to journalist Anton Naumlyuk.
Suleimanov was expelled on the grounds of not getting permission to conduct real time reporting, however such permission is not needed for real time text reporting (only for video). Suleimanov was not charged officially.
Dagestan-based journalist charged with financing terrorism
23 July 2019 – Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, a journalist with Dagestan regional newspaper Chernovik, was charged with financing terrorism, according to Pavel Chikov, the head of human rights group Agora.
According to the offical investigation, Gadzhiev conspired with others, including an exiled Islamic preacher Israil Akhmednabiev to fundraise money for the Islamic state in 2011. Investigators allege that as part of the scheme Gadzhiev published news reports on the charitable activities of Akhmednabiev’s Ansar fund between 2011 to 2019. The investigators said they believe that Gadzhiev knew that part of the funds was being transferred to the Islamic state in Syria. Authorities believe that over 6 million rubles (almost $95,000) were donated to Ansar by deceived members of the public.
Gadzhiev was detained on 14 June. The journalist and his colleagues claim that he is innocent. The investigators said that his guilt is confirmed by testimonies of others accused in these case – a lawyer of one of them said that he testified under torture.
Source of violation: Court/Judicial; Police/State security
The court blocks Snob’s test about corruption
19 July 2019 – The Kirovsky district court of Tomsk ruled the Russian state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, could block access to a “test” about corruption, published by Snob magazine in November 2017.
The lawsuit against Snob was filed in May 2019 by a city prosecutor of Asinovsk, who demanded to block access to the test — “How to give and take bribes properly. Test-instruction for a beginner official” — because “committing actions posted on the website are punishable with criminal and administrative responsibility, and the distribution [of such information] violates … the constitutional rights of an indefinite number of persons to freely seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information in any legal way guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation”.
Snob argued that all the questions in the test are based on real corruption cases, and the test was published as a response to the news that the state budget lost 19 billion of rubles ($300 millions) due to the corruption.
18 July 2019 – In Tyumen, Justice of the Peace Natalya Buslovich barred journalists from covering the open trial of Timur Muratov, an alleged son of the former head of the police in Kalininsky city district, who is accused of murder threats, Znak.com reported.
Muratov’s lawyer filed a motion with the court to bar journalists, which was supported by the prosecutor in the case. Despite the objection from the victim’s lawyer, that the trial was open, the justice of the peace asked attending journalists to leave the court room and said prohibited press outlets from publishing about the trial before the final hearing.
SotaVision journalist assaulted and detained by police during protest in front of Reutov court
17 July 2019 – Oleg Elanchik, reporter with online-broadcaster SotaVision, was detained during a crack down on a demonstration in support of an opposition activist that took place front of Reutov court, OVD-Info reported.
According to Elanchik, who was accredited to work in the court, he saw about 16 officers of Rapid Response Group of the Bailiff Service of the Moscow Region disperse about 30-40 people who came to support opposition activist Evgenoy Kurakin, whose case was being heard in the court that day. Elanchik started to film the aggressive tactics of the officers, when three of them attacked him and tried to take away his phone.
According to the journalist, they “inflicted weak blows, applied a suffocating technique, twisted arms, stepped on the foot”, then dragged him to a police station and drew up a protocol against him about “disobeying a bailiff’s legal order”. Elanchik said that he saw another journalist with “a press-card hanging on his neck” among other detainees.
Elanchik said he received minor injures and has filed a report with the police: “I have abrasions, bruises, scratches. I went to the emergency room, I have a certificate”.
Journalists detained on request from Vilyusk mayor
16 July 2019 – A film crew working for local broadcaster Yakutia 24 was detained by police in Vilyusk while interviewing people on the state of the city’s roads, the broadcaster reported.
“We were surveying the residents of Vilyuisk about the condition of the roads. A precinct policeman approached us and said that the mayor, Nyurgustan Afanasyev, filed a complaint with police against me and the cameraman, and asked us to go to a police station with him. We agreed and asked about the reason for the detention”, reporter Evgeniy Toytonov said.
Earlier the same day the journalists visited the mayor Afanasyev to ask about the condition of the roads. “The mayor was not inclined to give us any comments from the very beginning, he prohibited to film him”, Toytonov said. After the journalist asked Afanasyev about the road works, the mayor asked to talk “about something good” instead and then pushed the reporter and the cameraman out of his office and called the police.
UPDATE:
17 July 2019 – Afansyev said that he called the head of Yakutia 24 and apologised for the incident, explaining that he called the police to ask them to identify the journalists, whose credentials he did not believe to be real. “We worked well with the broadcaster before that incident. I did not think that the journalists were its employees”.
The press-office of Vilyusk police confirmed the mayor’s complaint asked the police to “identify two unknown men who conducted video recording in the city administration without his agreement and despite his refusal to give an interview”.
Alexandr Kalugin, representative of the media holding company that owns Yakutia 24, said that it is clear in the video that the journalists identified themselves.
Source of violation: Police/State security; Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Ingush journalist arrested for 2 months on drug charges
16 July 2019 – A court in Magas ordered the arrest of Rashid Maysigov, a journalist with Ingushetia regional media outlet Fortanga, who was covering mass protests in the republic, his lawyer Magomed Aushev told Kavkaz Uzel. Maysigov faces two months in detention on the drug charges.
Maysigov was detained on 12 July and accused of drug dealing in larged quantities under the article 228, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Russia. After the detention, the journalist filed a complaint saying he had been tortured by policemen.
Maysigov’s lawyer said that supporters of the journalist were not allowed to attend the hearing, despite the trial being open to public.
Source of violation: Police/State security; Court/Judicial
Journalists barred from meeting of independent candidates and elections committee
15 July 2019 – Mikhail Mokrov, the press-officer of the Moscow City Elections Committee, said that the journlaists would be barred from covering a meeting with independent candidates to the Moscow city parliament, who were earlier rejected for registration on the grounds of submitting false signatures in support of their candidacy, Dozhd reported.
The candidates claim that the Moscow City Elections Committee’s officials purposely disallowed valid signatures to bar independent candidates from running in the election. The conflict resulted in a mass protest in support of the independent candidates.
After the protests, the Moscow City Elections Committee officials invited the candidates to a meeting. One of the candidates, Lyubov Sobol, invited journalists to attend, saying such meeting should be open and public.
However, the Moscow City Elections Committee said that it doesn’t plan to organise any events “for press”.
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Dozhd reporter detained at mass protest in Moscow
14 July 2019 – Alexey Korostelev, a reporter with independent broadcaster Dozhd, was detained by police while covering mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates to the Moscow city parliament.
Dozhd published the video of the incident. Korosteleve identifies as press, but was nevertheless detained.
Roskomnadzor blocks Ingushetia regional media outlet Fortanga
14 July 2019 – Ingushetia regional media outlet Fortanga, which covered mass protests in the republic caused by a border dispute, was blocked by Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state media regulator, journalist Izabella Evloeva told MBH-Media. According to Evloeva, Fortanga had not received any prior notifications from the regulator.
According to Roskomnadzor’s list of banned websites, the blocking relates to a ruling by the Batay city court from 29 November 2013; however Fortanga was founded only in 2018.
According to MBH-Media, that the court order relates to a post containing extremist content. Fortanga later reported that they found the referenced extremist content in a comment posted to Fortanga’s page on the Vkontakte social network. Fortanga deleted the comment and informed Roskomnadzor about it. The media outlet was unblocked later the same day.
Source of the violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Perm regional authorities proposed reform that would increase their influence on local media
11 July 2019 – Perm regional authorities proposed a reform that would consolidate the region’s media and broadcasters under a registered non-governmental organisation, Kommersant reported.
The authorities say that it would increase the funding for the regional media. Critics argue that it would monopolise the press market in the aread and would deprive private newspapers of state support, automatically redirecting state contracts to the newly formed regional outlets.
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Journalist beaten in a fake queue to election commission in St Petersburg
9 July 2019 – Journalist Alexey Radkov was assaulted by members of fake queue at the election commission in Sergyevskoe district. The individuals wanted to prevent independent candidates from registering for municipal election, OVD-Info reported.
Radkov started filming the line when one of the men punched the journalist. Radkov punched him in return, and then all members of the queue – around 15 men – started beating him. The journalist managed to escape and called the police.
According to Radkov, one of the attackers was from Chechnya, two from Dagestan – they did not have St Petersburg registration and could not be in the queue to register as municipal candidates.
Source of violation: Unknown; Known private individual(s)
Three MBH-Media journalists detained near Putin’s residence
8 July 2019 – Anastasia Kulagina, Mariya Pogrebnyak and Andrey Zolotov, journalists with MBH-Media, were detained near the residence of President Vladimir Putin in Moscow region, while they were trying to film video for a report about a dilapidated wooden house next to the president’s residence, MBH-Media reported.
Policemen explained that the reason for the detention was that the journalists walked into the zone marked with stop sign, which prohibits vehicler access. The police confiscated the journalists’ passports and took them to a police station. Later the journalists were questioned by the Federal Protection Service because they “were at the protected area of the first person”.
Journalist detained while filming mass detention in Khokhlovskaya Square
7 July 2019 – Maxim Kondratyev, a reporter of Telegram-channel AvtozakLIVE, was detained in Moscow while filming a police raid at Yama, a public space in Khokhlovskaya Square.
The journalist was filming, but did not have a press card with him when he was detained. A policeman who interfered with him did not have a badge with a name. Kondratyev also said that he was kicked by a policeman and pushed against the police van. The journalist was taken to a police station and released after two hours with an administrative charge of jaywalking.
5 July 2019 – Journalists who were covering the treason trial of Alexander Vorobyov, an assistant to the Plenipotentiary of the President in the Urals Federal District, were assaulted by an unknown man, who was pushing the journalists in attempt to prevent them from filming the defendant, MBH-Media reported.
MBH-Media reporter Anastasia Olshanskaya was pushed so hard, she fell to the ground. According to Olshanskaya, the assaulter had a holster, presumably with a pistol. He refused to identify himself or answer any questions in the presence of TV reporters with video cameras, but later said “You all understand, whose trial you come to cover, right?”
Koza.press editor-in-chief fined for mentions of ‘undesirable organization’
5 July 2019 – In Nizhny Novgorod, Justice of the Peace Evgeny Zadkov imposed a fine of 5,000 rubles ($78) on Irina Murakhteva (Slavina), the editor-in-chief of the local media outlet Koza.press, for “participation in the activity of an undesirable organisation”, OVD-Info reported.
The case against the journalist was opened after a report to the police from an anonymous citizen, worried that the press coverage of forum Svobodnye Ludi (Free People) is a danger to the constitutional rights of Russian citizens. The materials of the case included the screenshots of Murakhtaeva’s reposts of other media materials, including about the arrest of Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist of Open Russia that was recognised as an undesirable organisation in Russia since April 2017.
Source of violation: Court/Judicial; Police/State security
Pskov journalist included in extremists and terrorists list
4 July 2019 – Pskov journalist Svetlana Prokopieva, a reporter with Radio Svoboda and former editor of local news outlet Pskovskaya Gubernia, was included in the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists and terrorists, her bank accounts were blocked, Prokopieva said in a Facebook post. She suggested that it means that she would soon be charged with “justification of terrorism”.
A criminal case on “justification of terrorism” was opened against Prokopieva in February after a radio programme at Ekho Moskv on which she commented on a suicide bomb attack of 17-year old student in front of the local headquarters of Federal Security Service.
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Masked men attempt to access Ekho Severa editorial office
3 July 2019 – A group of 11 masked men in sportswear came to a business center, where the editorial office of Ekho Severa, local media outlet in Arkhangelsk, is located, 29.ru reported. The group attempted to gain access to the floor containing only the Ekho Severa offices, which were empty at the time.
Editor-in-chief Iliya Azovsky said that the goal of the intruders was intimidation of the journalists: “The editorial team has reasons to believe that this incident could be tied to some authors’ journalistic investigations. Almost everyday different so-called fixers come to us with requests, sometimes even with absurd ones at the first glance – to remove an article published a month ago or a new one. And I have to explain them how the internet works, that it is almost impossible to delete the information from it”.
The police launched an investigation of the incident.
Communal service company files a defamation case against Newsvo in Vologda
2 July 2019 – In Vologda, 14 employees of Magistral, a communal service company, including its director, filed a complaint with police against Newsvo, a local media outlet. The complainants accused the outlet of defamation for a post published in the blog section of the site’s website, Newsvo reported.
On 2 July two policemen visited the Newsvo office to question journalists about how social media posts are transferred to the website’s blog section. The post in question titled “Road works at the embankment started again?” was published on the website on 18 June. It contained a phrase saying that instead of cutting off the illegal grillage (the concrete pavement above the project), some “khanuriki” made a wooden formwork for stones and concrete on it. Magistral employees said in the believe that the word “khanuriki” is defamatory.
NGO files defamation lawsuit against local newspaper
3 July 2019 – Non-governmental organisation Deti Voiny (Children of War) filed a 500,000 ruble ($7,892) defamation lawsuit against local newspaper Narodnaya Gazeta Severskogo Raiona, The Center for Protection of Media Rights reported.
The artcile in question was published in April and ran under the headline “Non-Childish Problems of ‘Children of War’ in The Region”. The article criticised the latest report on the organization’s activity. The organisation said in its suit that the article contained five defamatory phrase.
A lawyer of the Center for Protection of Media Rights says that all of them are either corroborated by evidence or phrased as an opinion.
Homophobic group threatens journalists reporting on LGBT rights
2 July 2019 – Pila, a radical homophobic group, published an announcement that declared of the beginning of a new hunting season on LGBT-activists and journalists reporting on LGBT rights. The announcement included the editorial tearms of Novaya Gazeta and the Russian service of Radio Svoboda. Pila said the group had “prepared dangerous and cruel gifts” for those on the list, which was accompanied by images of a noose and a man with a speech bubble saying “maybe I should kill myself”.
UPDATE:
21 July 2019 – Elena Grigorieva, LGBT-activist mentioned on Pila’s list, was brutally killed in St.Petersburg.
In Russia, dozens of independent outlets have closed or changed ownership and editorial policy in the last ten years. Numerous media outlets are still fighting to survive and produce quality journalism as their reporters face increasing threats of physical violence.
Independent media sources have been hamstrung by restrictive legislation and police, governmental, and private interference. Physical assaults, detentions, lawsuits, fines, and blocked access are common. Many outlets have chosen to practice self-censorship to protect themselves. Strict new laws limiting press freedom have been introduced, despite having progressive press laws from the 1990s still on the books and a constitutional article guaranteeing freedom of the press.
Out of 175 violations recorded in Russia by the Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project between February and June 2019, 20 were physical assaults that came from political figures, police structures, known private individuals and unknown perpetrators. Several of the cases are egregious examples of how physical violence is used to target journalists in Russia.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-times” color=”black” background_style=”rounded” size=”xl” align=”right”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project documents, analyses, and publicises threats, limitations and violations related to media freedom in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, in order to identify possible opportunities for advancing media freedom in these countries. The project collects, analyses and publicises limitations, threats and violations that affect journalists as they do their job, and advocates for greater press freedom in these countries and raises alerts at the international level.
The project builds on Index on Censorship’s 4.5 years monitoring media freedom in 43 European countries, as part of Mapping Media Freedom platform.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Case studies: Egregious physical violence” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”107961″ img_size=”full”][vc_custom_heading text=”Vadim Kharchenko” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 1 June, Vadim Kharchenko, a Krasnodar-based blogger and author of Lichnoe Mneniye (“Personal Opinion”) YouTube channel was assaulted and shot by two unknown men, which he reported in a video posted to his blog. About two weeks before the incident, he had received an anonymous call from an individual, who introduced himself as a policeman willing to provide evidence that local policemen had tortured detainees and fabricated criminal cases against innocent people. Kharchenko agreed to meet the man, who told him that he had to urgently leave town and could only meet near the airport in the late evening. However, no one came to the meeting. On the way back to his car, Kharchenko heard someone call his name and turned around. He heard two gunshots. When he ran towards the shooter and wrestled him to the ground, another person stabbed him in the liver and right arm. When Kharchenko tried to fight the second attacker, the first shot him in the back. Both attackers fled, shouting “Vadim, leave [the town]”. Kharchenko then went to a hospital and documented his injuries – three gunshot wounds, two stab wounds and a concussion.
The Krasnodar police said they were looking into the incident. Kharchenko is now recovering and undergoing treatment to restore movement in his right hand. He crowdfunded for medical expenses on his channel, which enabled him to travel to a Moscow clinic for treatment.
Kharchenko believes the attack was motivated by the content of his YouTube channel, but does not know who was behind the attack. His channel criticises local authorities, reports and comments on protests and detention of activists, and conducts investigations into alleged abuse of power by the police. In summer 2018, Kharchenko lost his job at a private security firm because of his blogging activity, and his car was set on fire. In 2017 he was assaulted twice: first, he was hit by a car; second, he was hit in the head with a metal tire lever and stabbed with a 4-inch nail by an unknown man. Neither attacker was found.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”107963″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Boris Usahakov” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 14 March Boris Usahakov, a coordinator of Gulagu.net project which exposes cases of torture, survived an attempt on his life in the city of Vladimir. Head of the project Vladimir Osechkin reported the attack in a video posted to the Gulagu.net website.
According to Osechkin, Ushakov was returning home from a store when he saw a silhouette in a dark alley. When the man saw Ushakov, he drew a gun from inside his coat and aimed at him. Ushakov, who had received death threats before (the police ignored his reports), immediately began running away from the gunman and heard gunshots. He was able to hide in an apartment building and call the police. Instead of a police squad, an ambulance arrived and attempted to take Ushakov to a psychiatric hospital. The plan failed, as Ushakov was on the phone with his colleague, who stated loudly that she was recording the conversation and would bring the police malpractice to public attention. The police arrived soon after, but did not examine the premises and refused to investigate the crime scene.
Ushakov reported on dozens of cases of police brutality and torture in prisons of Vladimir region for Gulagu.net. On 2 April, Ushakov was arrested after being questioned by police about the attack, and held in police custody. He told his colleagues that the policemen discussed planting drugs on him. He was later released, likely because of public outcry around the case. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”107964″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Vasily Utkin” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 3 April, sports journalist Vasily Utkin was assaulted with tear gas by an unknown individual, he reported on his Telegram channel. The attack took place late in the evening after the training session of the amateur football team Egrisi, where Utkin is a frequent guest. A young man in a grey hoodie approached Utkin as he walked to his car and sprayed him in the face with tear gas. The assailant also filmed the attack with his smartphone, “for the accountability record”, Utkin said.
“There is only one reason and only two people who would like to organise this. I was talking about it in the last episode of my show”, Utkin said, referring to his YouTube show Football Club. In the last episode, he discussed so-called Aguzarov-gate – the scheme in which Alan Aguzarov, the personal lawyer of the head coach of the Russian national football team, Stanislav Cherchesov, used his connections to Cherchesov to sign football players up for contracts, promising selection to the national team.
Utkin decided against going to the police to report the assault, and said it would simply be a waste of time. This was not the first attack on Utkin — in 2001, he was stabbed twice in the back with a screwdriver by an unknown assailant. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalists face perils when covering protests” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Russia is infamous for its violent treatment of protestors. Journalists have found that their press credentials do not protect them.” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]On 1 May at least two journalists and one blogger were detained while covering a sanctioned opposition rally in Saint Petersburg, according to Zona.Media and OVD-Info. This included YouTube blogger Nikita Zabzanov, who was forcefully arrested and had his camera confiscated. He was later released with no charges. Freelance photojournalist Georgiy Markov and Oleg Nasonov, a photojournalist with St. Petersburg-based online news outlet Dva Stula, were also detained despite identifying themselves as members of the press. Makarov was assaulted by the police during his arrest. According to Makarov, he was struck in the ribs and head with rubber batons, and his arm was bleeding. He was held at a police station for two and a half hours without any charges, and was later hospitalised. A total of 131 people were detained at demonstrations across 11 Russian cities on the same day. On 14 May Anna Mayorova, a photographer with Ura.ru news agency, was attacked with tear gas while covering protests against the construction of a church in a public park in Ekaterinburg, Ura.ru reported. Mayorova did not see who sprayed tear gas at the crowd, but noted it was one of the “ripped fighters” who arrived at the scene and confronted the activists. The police did not catch the perpetrator. Mayorova and numerous other people at the protest were injured by the tear gas. On 15 May another Ura.ru photographer, Vladimir Zhabrikov, was kicked by a policeman, who told him to “take away his lenses”. Zhabrikov had a press badge on him.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalists in Russia are frequently assaulted while working on stories” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Government officials and private security often target the journalists investigating them.” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_single_image image=”107566″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]The story of Meduza special reporter Ivan Golunov received media coverage around the world. Golunov was detained in Moscow on 6 June on suspicion of drug dealing, an accusation that the Kremlin later admitted had been entirely fabricated. He was stopped on the street by several policemen, who searched his backpack and claimed to have discovered a package with an unknown substance. One more package was reported to have been found in Golunov’s apartment. Golunov denied all accusations, and insisted that the drugs had been planted.
When Golunov spoke to his lawyer the following day, the latter discovered that Golunov had been bruised and injured. According to the journalist, he was threatened, punched and kicked while being interrogated at the police station. He was denied an ambulance.
The situation drew massive attention throughout Russia, with hundreds of people, many of them members of the press, protesting in front of the prosecutor’s office in Moscow alone. Journalists from a variety of outlets, from partisan to state media, all condemned Golunov’s arrest and called for a fair investigation and trial. On 11 June, Golunov was released and all charges against him dropped in an uncommon victory for Russian civil society. The investigation is ongoing, but the tide has turned against the police officers who initiated the arrest.
On 27 May, Ivan Litomin, reporter of state-owned TV channel Rossiya 24, was physically assaulted and thrown to the ground. His attacker was Sergey Zaytsev, head of the Shirinsky district in the Khakasia region, Rossiya 24 reported.
Accompanied by a film crew of two people, Litomin set out to interview Zaytsev, investigating the discrepancy between the official’s luxurious mansion and the poor-quality houses provided by the government to those who lost their homes in wildfires in 2015. Zaytsev behaved aggressively toward Litomin and tried to take away his microphone. He then grabbed Lidomin and threw him to the ground, shouting “Go away, I’m telling you, get out of here”. Zaytsev’s aides pushed Lidomin out of the office and tried to prevent the cameramen from filming the incident.
After the video of Lidomin’s attack went viral, Evgeny Revenko, secretary of the ruling political party, United Russia — of which Zaytsev is a member — publicly apologised. United Russia also expelled Zaytsev. The state Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Zaytsev on charges of obstruction of journalistic activity.
Zaytsev called the incident “a planned provocation,” and claimed that Litomin fell by himself rather than being pushed. “They broke into my office outside of working hours and started calling me a corrupt thief, saying that I had a criminal past and asking if I was ashamed of being the head of the district. It lasted ten minutes. It was impossible to talk to the journalist. I tried to push him out of my office. He was actively protesting. How can it be an assault, when three big men broke into my office, where I was alone, and two of them were physically stronger than me?”, Zaytsev told state-operated news source RIA Novosti. Zaytsev filed a complaint with the police, attempting to prosecute Litomin for “offence of a representative of the government”.
On 20 March, three reporters for the media outlet Rosderzhava, Andrey Oryol, Alexander Dorogov and Pavel Tsibulyak, were physically assaulted while trying to investigate inside an office building, Mediazona reported. The reporters accompanied an ex-employee of PromMash Test company to the company’s offices to investigate the circumstances of her firing. They were met with hostility and physical violence. Over fifteen of the boss’s deputies started beating the reporters, following them to the street as they fled and continuing to assault them. The attackers took their cameras, phones, documents and wallets. Oryol and Dorogov ended up in the hospital.
Deputy chief editor of Rosderzhava Yan Katelevskiy told Mediazona that there had been no investigation of the incident. In fact, the journalists themselves could be prosecuted, as PromMash Test filed a lawsuit against them for hooliganism. Oryol has since left the country for rehabilitation. Katelevskiy insists that PromMash Test’s CEO Alexey Filatchev and his brother, both ex-FSB employees, took part in the beating.
Boris Ivanov, a YouTube blogger and reporter with Rosderzhava who filmed the bloodied car and patch of ground near PromMash Test’s office after the incident took place, was detained near his home in Moscow on 4 June, OVD-Info reported. According to Ivanov, the policemen did not identify themselves or explain the reason for his arrest. They twisted the journalist’s arm, took away his phone, and brought him to Tverskoe police station. After the arrival of Ivanov’ lawyer, the policemen released him without any charges.
On 20 March, Ilya (his last name was not disclosed), a part-time local correspondent for 47news, was assaulted by a security guard at Gazprom’s Sotsinvest construction site, 47news reported. The incident took place near Lesnoye village in Leningrad oblast, where the company is constructing a large logistics center. Ilya was assigned to film the premises using a drone. He was stopped by a security guard near the entrance. The guard called for reinforcements, took away Ilya’s equipment, hit him in the face, and threatened to “fucking drown” him. The police were called to the incident. They took away Ilya’s drone and recorded in their report that the attack came from “an unidentified person”. Gazprom provided no commentary. The logistics center is reported to have cost 15 billion rubles, three times the proposed budget, according to a recent expert report from Fontanka.ru. 47news vowed to publish a new investigation about Gazprom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”“Legislation is only effective in a society governed by the rule of law“” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
David Filipov (Photo: Tufts)
Press freedom in Russia is largely defined by practice, David Filipov, a former Moscow bureau chief for The Washington Post, told Index on Censorship.
“Lots of places have good press laws. But legislation is only effective in a society governed by the rule of law. Russia is not one of those,” he said. Countries like Russia have the ability to limit the freedoms embedded in their constitutions through legislation passed by rubber stamp parliaments, and root out or weaken civil society institutions that ensure the protection of citizens from abuse by government.
Russia’s legislation — examples of which the Monitoring and Advocating Project reported on in its previous report on Russia — curbs the reporting of investigative journalists in particular. While there are many intrepid reporters in Russia, “the state is constantly focused on an effort to root out media outlets that produce great investigative reporting, and replace that with statist, loyalist noise,” Filipov said.
The current media environment is vastly different from the 1990s, when the Russians had “a brief taste of US-style media.” Filipov said that when media is operated as a business rather than an “affair of the state”, reporters can investigate and report. When media becomes an instrument of the authoritarian state, reporters can only parrot the party line. “Unfortunately, in Russia, and, increasingly, in various other states, authoritarian leaders have latched on to the idea that controlling media means prolonging power”, he said.
Filipov emphasised that authoritarian states like Russia have a constant need to restate their legitimacy: “Why are we forced to take harsh measures? Because our freedom is in danger! We are for freedom! But there are enemies who would take it away!”
He recounted meeting a member of NOD (natsional’noye osvoboditel’noye dvizheniye, or “National Liberation Movement.”) in the “protest pit”, the only place near the Sochi Olympics where people were allowed to demonstrate. “The sole protester was telling me she supported ‘Russia’s sovereignty’ and opposed ‘attempts from outside forces to take it away’, and therefore supported Putin,” he said, calling it a bland version of the mantra he heard at the NOD rallies, where the effort to dismantle “Russian sovereignty” is described as a foreign-inspired aggression against ‘the real’ Russia, which needs to be met with popular force. “And therefore, if we can show, using our twisted logic, that a certain journalist is an aggressor, then that ‘aggressor’ needs to be met with force.”
Filipov told Index that since all civil society protections against the abuse of power by pro-government mobs have been subverted, such as the courts, co-opted, such as human rights ombudspersons, or dissolved and officially discredited, such as NGOs, there is no one left to properly call out the abuses by pro-government non-official entities. “But if someone brings it up to Putin during his press conferences, he can say, ‘Give me the names of these people, I will investigate. We cannot have such abuses in our country”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Press Freedom Violations in Russia” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
Number and types of incidents recorded between 1 February and 30 June 2019
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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.
Reporter detained in St. Petersburg while covering election registration scheme
29 June 2019 – Kasimir Vranski, a reporter with local media outlet Nablyudateli Peterburga, was detained while trying to enter the office of the election commission of the Yekateringof district, OVD-Info reported. Vranski was assigned to cover the detention of Polina Kostyleva, who was arrested while trying to register as a candidate with the election commission for the upcoming election. She, along with other independent candidates, could not access the commission for several days due to fake queues formed by unknown individuals pretending to be registering as candidates.
28 June 2019 – Idris Yusupov, a journalist with the Dagestan local media outlet Novoe Delo, was detained while covering a police raid that occurred next to the Makhachkala mosque, Tangim, Kavkazsky Uzel reported.
Earlier, Makhachakala Muslims had complained about police raids occurring regularly on Fridays and mass detentions next to mosques. On June 26, Idris Yusupov took part in the series of solitary piquets against the arrest of Chernovik journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev.
Chechnya judge sued 18 media outlets for defamation
26 June 2019 – Igor Daurkin, a judge in Zavodsky district court of Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, filed defamation lawsuits against 18 media outlets, Glasnost Defense Foundation reported.
Daurkin was wrongfully mentioned in an article of Kommersant news outlet, “Regions demand to eliminate gas debts following the example of Chechnya,” which covered the Zavodsky district court decision to forgive Chechnya’s 9 billion rubles (about $143 million) gas debt. Kommersant later corrected the article, deleting the mention of Daurkin, but his name remained in republications of the original Kommersant article in other media outlets.
In his lawsuit against Clerk.ru outlet, Daurkin wrote that Kommersant had not only spread false information about him, but also attempted to convince readers that “the judge’s decision was a contagious bad example.” According to Daurkin, the publication caused “social tension in Russia, and a flurry of demands and appeals to forgive gas payment debts.”
The lawyer for Clerk.ru Mikhail Benyash said in a blog post that judge Daurkin filed lawsuits against at least eighteen publications throughout the country, including media outlets from Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Stavropol, Krasnodar, Belgorod and Moscow regions. “If each lawsuit demands 10 million rubles (about $160,000) compensation, like the one against Clerk.ru, Daukin would value his moral damage at 180 million rubles ($2.8 million)”, Benyash said.
Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Taiga.Info fined for link to a video containing profanity
26 June 2019 – A court ruled to fine Siberian regional media outlet Taiga.Info 5,000 rubles ($80) for including a hyperlink to a video of a mass beating of a local college student in their article covering the incident, Znak.com reported. The video contained profane language.
“We are going to appeal this decision and are currently preparing documents for trial. We believe that hyperlinks leading to third-party Internet resources are not our responsibility. Our case is not the only one like this, but such fines are very rare,” said Taiga.Info editor-in-chief Vasily Volnukhin.
Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Novorossiysk mayor’s aide punched local journalist
23 June 2019 – In Novorossiysk, Olga Makarenko, a reporter with the local newspaper NASHA, was punched by an aide to the mayor of Novorossiysk. She was covering an incident at a sewer collector, which resulted in sewer water pouring into a local lagoon, NASHA reported.
When Makarenko tried to film the incident, she was blocked by an employee of the city’s Vodokanal company, who then grabbed the reporter. At that point, a woman, who turned out to be an aide to the mayor of Novorossiysk, grabbed Makarenko’s smartphone and tried to delete the video of the incident. When Makarenko managed to take her phone back, the woman punched her in the head. Makarenko succeeded to free herself and ran away. The head of Vodokanal subsequently approached her and offered to pay a fine for obstructing journalistic activity.
Makarenko was hospitalized with a possible concussion and acute vertebral injury. The editorial office of NASHA filed complaints with the police and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Journalist detained at a picket in Makhachkala, other journalists threatened
22 June 2019 – Shamil Abashilov, editor-in-chief of Dagestani local newspaper Molodezh, was detained in Makhachkala at a picket in support of Abdulmamin Gadzhiev, the local journalist arrested on charges of financing terrorism in what human rights activists believe to be a fabricated case, MBH-Media reported.
The eyewitness of Abashilov’s detention, his colleague Saida Vagabova, said that the police did not initially explain why Abashilov had been detained. “He [Abashilov] was taken to the Soviet police station. The police said a common phrase – ‘we ensure order’. We, the journalists who were filming it, were told that they would sue us, and that the photos we took should not be published anywhere,” said Vagabova.
Kremlin cut out mentions of Golunov and protests in Shies from transcript of Putin Q&A show
21 June 2019 – The transcript of president Vladimir Putin’s televised Q&A show, Pryamaya Liniya (Direct Line), published on the official government website Kremlin.ru, was edited to cut out any mentions of Ivan Golunov, an investigative reporter who was detained on fabricated drug-dealing charges and later released due to public outcry, and Shies, a railway station in Arkhangelsk region that became the center of anti-garbage protests when it became endangered by the decision to build a garbage processing site nearby to resolve the Moscow garbage crisis.
The question about the Golunov case came from the show’s host, Elena Vinnik, but her words were edited out in the transcription, and any mention of Golunov was deleted. However, Putin’s answer to her question still references Golunov, as he says “….so there should not be cases like with that journalist you mentioned.”
During the show, Putin was also asked about the recently implemented law that criminalized “disrespecting authorities” by the editor of MDK group on Vkontakte social media platform, Roberto Punchvidze. Punchvidze said: “Only a few days ago, in Arkhangelsk region alone, this new law was used to hold six people accountable – six people! – because of the comments in a group on ‘VKontakte’. One woman was fined for commenting on the news about the dump in Shies. I quote her: ‘They are completely brazen’”.
In the transcript this question was edited to not mention Shies at all. The version posted was: “Only a few days ago, in the Arkhangelsk region alone, this new law was used to hold six people accountable – six people! – because of the comments in the group in ‘VKontakte’. One woman was fined for a comment. I quote: ‘They are completely bummed’”.
Later, The Insider reported that the mention of Shies had been returned to the transcript, but that the mention of Ivan Golunov had not.
Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Court refused to grant journalist access to jailed ex-mayor of Yaroslavl
19 June 2019 – Zamoskvoretsky district court of Moscow ruled against Novaya Gazeta in the lawsuit they filed against the Federal Service for the Execution of Sentences (FSIN), which denied their journalist access to jailed former mayor of Yaroslavl Yevgeny Urlashov, Novaya Gazeta reported.
In January, a representative of the FSIN twice denied Elizaveta Kirpanova, a reporter with Novaya Gazeta, access to Urlashov on the grounds that the planned interview was “inexpedient”, but could not explain why. The representative suggested that the refusal could have been motivated by messages of the operational situation, and stated that there was nothing that prevented journalists from applying for permission at any other time.
Kirpanova’s defense argued that the refusal to give her access to Urlashov should be prosecuted because it violated the right of a journalist to freely search, receive and disseminate information, and therefore violated the right to freedom of expression (Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). In addition, they argued that FSIN violated Part 3 of Art. 24 of the Penal Code of Russia, arbitrarily and unreasonably refusing Kirpanova an interview on a socially important topic and not providing an alternate time for her to visit a prisoner. “The position of the FSIN is to create obstacles to independent journalists’ access to the penal colonies. We intend to appeal the decision,” said Olga Podoplelova, lawyer at the Institute of Law and Public Policy.
Novaya Gazeta claims that FSIN has recently denied its journalists access to colonies and prisoners at least five times.
Journalist arrested on terrorism charges in Dagestan
18 June 2019 – Adulmumin Gadjiev, editor of the religion department of the Dagestan local media outlet Chernovik, was arrested on terrorism charges, Chernovikreported.
The Sovetskiy district court in Makhachkala ruled to arrest Gadjiev on two charges – participation in a terroristic organization and financial assistance to terrorism (205.5, part 2, and 205.1, part 4, of the Criminal Code of Russia), punishable by up to 20 years in jail.
The court banned journalists from covering the hearing on Gadjiev’s arrest, citing the secrecy of the investigation as a reason to close the hearing.
Gadjiev wasdetained on 14 June, 2019. The police searched his home and seized his phones and other equipment. Another figurant in the case, businessman Kemal Tambiev — whose testimonies were used to charge Gadjiev — said that he had been beaten and tortured by policemen. Gadjiev said that Tambiev later apologized to him when they met in the court, where visibly bruised Tambiev claimed that he testified against Gadjiev under pressure.
“The decree on initiation of a criminal case is abstract, and does not specify anything about the crime: neither the time, nor the place, nor the circumstances. It is simply written in the abstract: organized fundraising to finance ISIS. All of the questions were only about a man whom he interviewed in the past”, Gadjiev’s lawyer Arsen Shabanov told MBH Media.
Chernovik’s editorial officecalled the charges against Gadjiev ‘absurd’. “The accusation that Gadjiev financed terrorism is absurd and the police’s statement that ‘Gadjiev is suspected of transferring money to the accounts of [exiled Russian Islam preacher] Abu Umar from Sasitli village’ is twice as absurd. Gadjiev did not have any contacts with Umar – he nearly had no contacts at all”.
“We will fight to drop every absurd charge against Gadjiev, and will demand to bring to justice to those who openly fabricate accusations and empty criminal cases that break people’s lives”, Chernovik said in a statement published in its official Telegram channel.
Ivanovo journalist Sergey Kustov remains under investigation for almost three years
17 June 2019– Sergey Kustov, the editor-in-chief of the Ivanovo-based media group Bars, published an open letter asking investigators to either give the documents on his case to a court or close the case, Kommersant reported.
Kustov was detained in August 2006 on charges of commercial bribery. According to the investigation, he received 4 million rubles ($64,500) from then-deputy governor of the Ivanovo region, Vitaly Ilyushkin, for “actions aimed at creating a positive image of the [ruling] political party [United Russia] and its candidates”.
Kustov believes that his case is motivated by the desire for revenge for his journalistic activity: “The prosecution was provoked by the former deputy governor of the region, Vitaly Ilyushkin, both for personal revenge against me for criticizing him in the media, including his corrupt activities, and for the purpose of carrying out a raider seizure of the Bars TV channel”, Kustov claimed. Kustov also believes that the case was fabricated by the head of the regional department of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bulayev.
Kustov spent the first two months after his detention under house arrest, but was released on a 4 million rubles bail ($64,500). Kustov told Kommersant that he took out a loan for his bail and has already accumulated 700,000 rubles of debt ($11,110). Kustov claims that the investigators’ inaction lasted between August 2016 to December 2018. Currently, his case is undergoing a third investigation, as the prosecutor’s office refused three times to give the documents to the court. “They all already understand that it is unlikely the case will reach the court, and they have told me this openly in the Investigation Committee. But everything rests, as far as I understand, in the hands of the head of the regional department of the Investigative Committee, [Alexander Bulayev], who believes that the case cannot be closed and will remain until the last”, Kustov told Kommersant.
Founder of Kaliningrad-based newspaper charged with arbitrariness, after spending 593 days under arrest on extortion charges
17 June 2019 – Igor Rudnikov, an ex-deputy of the Kaliningrad parliament and the founder of the Kaliningrad-based newspaper Novye Kolesa, was charged with extortion, punishable by up to 10 years in jail, which would have made his case the most severe prosecution of a journalist in Russia. However, the court changed his charge to a much lighter one “arbitrariness”, punishable by a maximum of only6 months, which the Rudnikov’s defense believes was due to public outcry for the release of Ivan Golunov. Eventually, Rudnikov was found guilty and charged with 550 hours of public labor. The journalist, who had been under arrest for 593 days, was released in the courtroom.
Rudnikov was arrested on 1 November 2017 because of a complaint by the head of the Kalinigrad regional department of the Investigative Committee, Viktor Ledenyov. According to Ledenyov, Rudnikov demanded $50,000 to stop publishing defamatory articles about Ledenyov.
The publication at the heart of the case, “Paradise life of general Ledenyov”, reported on the lavish lifestyle of the state official, whose declared yearly income was 75 times less than the cost of his luxurious property. On 1 November, police stormed the newspaper’s office and detained all of the journalists present for over 7 hours. At the same time, police stormed Rudnikov’s apartment and took him to the editorial office, where he fainted. He was taken to a police station unconscious two days after the court ruled to arrest him. Rudnikov has maintained his innocence, claiming that his case was revenge for the published article.
While Rudnikov was under arrest in spring 2018, policemen seized all copies of the print edition of Novye Kolesa. After this, the editorial office decided to stop issuing print newspaper and focus on the website. On 1 February 2019, the Kaliningrad court shut Novye Kolesa down on the orders of Roskomnadzor, the Russian state media regulator.
Sources: Police/State security, Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
New attempts to hack Telegram accounts of Ekaterinburg journalists
17 June 2019 – The Telegram accounts of Rinat Nizamov, the head of a network of online local media in Ekaterinburg, Hearst Shkulev Digital, and Axana Panova, the founder of the regional media outlet Znak.com, faced hacking attempts, Znak.com editor-in-chief Dmitry Kozelev reported in his Telegram-channel.
Earlier, at the end of May, seven journalists who were covering the mass protests against the construction of a church in a local park in Ekaterinburg reported similar hacking attempts to their Telegram accounts.
On 25 May, the founder of Telegram messenger, Pavel Durov, accused Russian authorities of the hacking attempts on the accounts of four journalists who covered the mass protests.
17 June 2019 – St.Petersburg police is conducting an investigation of Sota.Vision reporter Petr Ivanonv on suspicion of extremism, Sota.Vision reported.
According to Ivanov, policemen came to his home while he was absent and asked his parents about him and his whereabouts. A day later, a policeman called Ivanov’s father and told him that his son had to come to a police station for “a talk”, explaining that The Centre for Combating Extremism within Federal Security Service had requested to question the journalist about extremism.
Ivanov believes that the investigation may be connected to his coverage of protests by the Vesna movement.
Meduza journalists summoned for questioning regarding Golunov case
17 June 2019 – Police summoned for questioning journalists at the Latvia-based news outlet Meduza, colleagues of the outlet’s investigative reporter Ivan Golunov, who was charged with drug dealing and later became a witness in drug-dealing case, Meduza reported. Golunov believed that his persecution was connected to his unpublished investigation on ties between top secret service officers and shady funeral businesses.
National broadcasters ignored mass protests in Moscow
13 June 2019 – Four main national broadcasters that are directly or indirectly controlled by the government ignored mass protests in Moscow in support of Ivan Golunov and against criminal cases fabricated by police, where over 540 people were detained, Afisha.Daily reported.
There was no mention of the protests or mass detentions in newscasts from the news outlets Perviy, Rossiya 1, NTV and Ren-TV.
40 journalists detained in Moscow at rally in support of Ivan Golunov
12 June 2019 – 40 journalists were detained in Moscow at rally in support of Ivan Golunov, according to OVD-Info.
Among the detained journalists are:
Iliya Zhegulev and Andrey Pertsev, reporters for Medusa
Leonid Marantidi, a videographer for Medusa
Veronika Kutsylo, the editor-in-chief of MBH-Media
Vasiliy Polosnkiy, a reporter for the independent broadcaster Dozhd TV
Alexandr Chernyshev, a producer for the German media outlet Der Spiegel
Vitaly Petlevoy, a reporter for the Vedomosti newspaper
Evgeny Snegov, a reporter for the Ekho Moskvy radio-station
Andrey Mozzhukhin, a reporter for Lenta.ru
Sergey Dik, a reporter for the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle
Daniil Primak, a photographer for Afisha.Daily
Nikita Grinin, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta
Mikhail Shevelev, a journalist for MBH-Media
Yury Zhalin and Roman Dorofeev, journalists for the Kommersant newspaper
Yan Potarksy, a journalist for Moloko Plus magazine
Pavel Yablonsky, a reporter for The Village
Anna Narinskaya, a publicist
Varvara Babitskaya, an editor for Snob.ru
Andrey Kovalev, a journalist for ROMB
Semen Sheshinin, the editor-in-chief of Batenka,Da Vy Transformer
Andrey Urodov, a journalist for Takie Dela
Anastasia Lotareva, the editor-in-chief of Takie Dela
Nadin Lakhbabi, a producer of Dozhd TV
Elizaveta Tyurina, a SMM-editor for Dozhd TV
Anastasia Chumakova, a reporter for Telegram-media Baza
Tatyana Voronova, a journalist for the international news agency Reuters
Petr Parkhomenko, a reporter within Kommersant FM
Emmanuel Grinchamp, a reporter for the Swiss newspaper Le Temps
Mikhail Kazinik, a journalist for Arzamas
Yulia Koshelyaeva, a freelance journalist who has written for Mel, Yod, Profil, Spektr, etc.
Konstantin Cherrnozatonskiy, a journalist who has written for Afisha, Kommersant, etc.
Ruslan Shaveddinov, a tv-host of the Navlny-live YouTube channel
Tatyana Malkina, a prominent journalist and the founder of Otechestveniye Zapiski magazine, who was detained with her daughter, Agata Gilman
All of the journalists were detained despite carrying valid press-cards, although some lacked written editorial assignment confirmation. Some journalists were released quickly after detention, while others were taken to police vans and police stations. All of the journalists mentioned were released after several hours without any charges.
Journalists Elizaveta Nesterova and Ilya Azar, who were among the organizers of the rally, were also detained and later charged with “participation in unsanctioned action that caused traffic disturbance”, punishable by up to 15 days in jail.
UPDATE: On 14 June, the editor-in-chief of the Takie Dela media outlet, Anastasia Lotareva, and the head of special projects for Takie Dela, Sergey Karpov, were fined 10,000 rubles ($155) each for violating the rules of public gathering.
Oblastnaya Gazeta editor-in-chief accused police of breaking his office door
12 June 2019 – Dmitry Polyanin, the editor-in-chief of the Ekaterinburg-based regional newspaper Oblastnaya Gazeta, accused policemen and officials from the regional department of information policy of breaking into his office. He posted photos of the broken door to his Facebook page.
According to Polyanin, policemen and regional officials who control the region-owned Oblastnaya Gazeta came to search the office while he was absent, broke the door to his office and seized documents, without providing a list of the seized items. The vice-governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Sergey Bidonko, called the incident “a regular check on the spending of state funding”.
Until recently, Oblastnaya Gazeta had an exclusive contract to publish the legal actions of the Sverdlovsk regional government.
Nevskiye Novosti fired reporter for supporting Ivan Golunov
11 June 2019 – St. Petersburg based news agency Nevskiye Novosti dropped its contract with freelance reporter Oleg Dilimbetov after he made a public comment in support of Ivan Golunov, an investigative journalist who was detained on fabricated drug-dealing charges.
Nevskiye Novosti published a statement saying that it considers unprofessional the “emotional statements of the journalist [Dilimbetov], who did not understand the situation or see the criminal case documents”.
On the same day, 11 June, Ivan Golunov was released and his case was closed. Two top policemen were fired for multiple process violations incurred during the journalist’s arrest.
10 June 2019 – The editorial office of the Snob media outlet was vandalized, the editor-in-chief of Snob, Ksenia Chudinova, reported.
Security cameras recorded a moment around midnight when a seemingly drunk intruder broke into the office and went directly to Chudinova’s desk, where he smashed furniture and took her desk computer and a laptop. Afterward, he went downstairs and vandalized the office of another company. He then left the office, threw Chudinova’s computer away on the street and gave the stolen laptop to passers-by. Chudinova assessed the overall damage to be 500,000 rubles ($7,932), and police assessed the damage to be 90,000 rubles ($1,427). Chudinova could not connect the attack to any conflicts regarding Snob publications.
The police later detained a suspect, identifying him as a 24-year-old man from a post-Soviet country. His motives were not clarified.
Investigative journalist detained in Moscow on suspicion of drug dealing
UPD: 11 June – Ivan Golunov has been released and all charges against him dropped, and an investigation is ongoing. Golunov’s sentence of house arrest was never overruled, however he is ot required to remain on house arrest due to the closure of his case.
6 June 2019 – A special reporter for Medusa known for his investigative reporting, Ivan Golunov was detained in Moscow on suspicion of attempted of drug dealing, Medusa reported.
According to Golunov’s lawyer, Dmitry Julay, Golunov was detained around 14:30 near Tsvetnoy Bulvar metro station. Several policemen stopped him and searched his backpack, finding a package with an unknown substance. Golunov said that the package did not belong to him. Another package and a scale were reported to have been found in Golunov’s apartment. Golunov was taken to a police station and told that he was suspected of attempting to sell mephedrone. He denied the accusations.
Golunov asked for examinations to be conducted of his hands and nails to determine if he had touched or consumed drugs, but police refused to do so. They also refused to conduct an examination of Golunov’s backpack. After his detention, Golunov was denied his right to call his lawyer or any friends or colleagues for more than 12 hours. According to the Golunov, police punched and kicked him during his interrogation at the police station. He was also denied the right to call an ambulance.
The press-service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow told BBC Russian that the police found five packages of a powdery substance in Golunov’s backpack, and later found three more packages of the substance and a scale in his apartment. Golunov is suspected of illegal production and trade of drugs in high volumes, punishable by up to 20 years in jail and a ban on particular professional activities.
Golunov is known for investigative journalism, and has written about topics such as the businesses of a relative of Moscow vice-mayor, the embezzlement of state funds through contracts on street decoration, micro-credit companies’ schemes for illegal evictions, and shadowy funeral businesses. According to BBC Russian, before his detention, Golunov was working on an investigation about the ritual business in Moscow.
Galina Timchenko, CEO of Medusa, and Ivan Kolpakov, its editor-in-chief, published the following statement: “We are convinced that Ivan Golunova is innocent. Moreover, we have reason to think that he is being prosecuted for his journalistic activity. We know that in recent months Vanya had been receiving threats; we know which upcoming publication the threats were related to; we can guess who they were from. Medusa will be closely watching every action of the investigators in Golunov case. We will find out who is behind the prosecution of Vanya, and will make this information public. We will defend our journalists with every available means”.
Planting drugs on activists or independent journalists is a well-known police tactic to fabricate criminal cases. For example, in March, Oyub Titiev, the head of Memorial, a Chechen human rights organization, was sentenced to four years in a penal colony for possessing drugs. In 2016, Zhelaudi Guriev, a reporter for Caucasian Knot, was arrested in a similar case over marijuana possession and sentenced to three years in jail.
Russian Bandy Federation officially prohibits journalists to criticize judges and sports officials
6 June 2019 – The Russian Bandy Federation adopted amendments to the rules of national competitions, censoring journalists who cover games, Sports.ru reported.
The document, dated 14 May, contains the following paragraph: “Media representatives are prohibited from commenting, discussing and / or speaking negatively about the judging of championship matches, the officials of the Russian Bandy Federation and its Clubs, participants in the Championship and the Championship as a whole, as well as provoking such comments or discussions”. According to the document, journalists who do not comply with these rules can be deprived of accreditation and banned from covering the Championship.
The document also introduced new rules for the process of press accreditation. From now on, every journalist’s accreditation must be supported by a specific club, and if the journalist publishes something negative about the game, the club he/she accredited will be fined 100,000 rubles ($1,586). Moreover, the updated rules disqualify or ban from the competitions players who are suspected by the Russian Bandy Federation of “discrediting the Federation” by criticizing it in the media.
Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Editor-in-chief of Znak.com got his car smashed
6 June 2019 – Dmitry Kozelev, the editor-in-chief of the Ural regional media outlet Znak.com, found his car smashed and an unknown man sleeping in the front seat, Kozelev reported in his Telegram-channel. He suspected it was a regular hooliganism until he asked the man who he was. The man replied “I am for the park”, referring to mass protests against the construction of a church in a local park, which had been widely covered by Znak.com.
The intruder appeared drunk or otherwise intoxicated, and claimed that the car was his and he had not broken the back window. He then walked away. He was soon detained by police and identified as local 25-year old Evgeny Bratsun. A security camera video showed Bratsun attacking several cars before Kozelev’s, and then specifically targeting it,breaking the back window with a trash bin. The motives of the attack were not clarified by the police. Bratsun said he did not remember how he got into Kozelev’s car.
Journalists at Znak.com had previously faced hacking attempts due to critical coverage of the planned construction in the park. Kozelev himself was pressured by police to delete an image of a policeman, whose complaint spurred a criminal case against one of the protesters.
Over 20 journalists denied accreditation for St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
6 June 2019 – Over 20 journalists were denied press accreditation for the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Open Media reported.
According to Open Media’s source among the organizers of the forum, the barred journalists did not pass the Federal Protective Service check that is protects high-ranking state officials.
Among the barred journalists was RBC editor Tymofey Dzyadko, who found out that he was denied a press accreditation without any explanation after he had already arrived to St. Petersburg.
German journalism student fined and expelled from University for interview with eco-activists
05 June 2019 – Lukas Latz, a German exchange student from at Saint Petersburg State University, was fined, questioned and then expelled from the university for reporting on Chelyabinsk environmental activists protesting factory construction, OVD-Info reported.
According to Latz, on 28 May, he was visited by two policemen who told him that he had violated immigration rules by interviewing environmental activists while being in Russia on a student visa. Latz explained that the interview was conducted for his studies, specifically his thesis about the environmental movement in Russia. The policemen told him that he had to pay two fines 2,000 rubles each ($30). The next day after he was summoned to the police station, although he had not received an official note The policemen called him several times and told him to come to the police station urgently. After he paid the fines, he was questioned at the police station about his articles in the German media about Chelyabinsk environmental activists. He was specifically asked if he considered the environmental activists “extremists”, and if he covered Russian politics, after the police cited his mentions of the ruling party in his articles.
The same day, Latz was urgently summoned by his curator at Saint Petersburg State University and asked to sign back-dated documents about the conditions of his stay in Russia.
Two weeks later, on 14 June, he was expelled from Saint Petersburg State University and ordered to leave the country in five days. Latz is appealing his expulsion with a lawyer.
Rosderzhava reporter detained in Moscow, his colleague questioned and menaced
4 June 2019 – Boris Ivanov, a reporter with Rodershava media outlet who reports on the abuses of power by policemen and judges, was detained near his home in Moscow, OVD-Info reported.
According to Ivanov, the policemen did not identify themselves or explain the reason for his detention. The police twisted the journalist’s arm and took away his phone. Ivanov was taken to the Tverskoe police station. Ivanov’s colleague, Anton Yadrov, a reporter with the local media outlet Krasnaya Moskva, tried to enter the police station as Ivanov’s defender but was violently ejected from the building by a policeman.
After the arrival of Ivanov’ lawyer, the policemen released the journalist without any charges.
Police asked Znak.com editor-in-chief to delete a photo of policeman
4 June 2019 – The Ministry of Interior Affairs in Ekaterinburg asked Dmitry Kolezev, the editor-in-chief of Znak.com, to delete a photo featuring police major Evgeny Krukov from his Instagram account, Zona.Media reported.
Kolezev published a photo of Krukov from a protest against the construction of a church in a local park to accompany a story about Krukov’s lawsuit against one of the protesters, Stanislav Melnichenko, for insulting a representative of authority. In the photo, Krukov is dressed in plain clothes and has no signs of being a police officer, which accompanied a caption asking how protesters would know that he was a policeman.
According to Kolezev, he received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as police major Evgeny Krukov and asked Kolezev to delete the photo, or at least to cover Krukov’s face. Kozelev also received a similar request in the form of an Instagram message from the account “uvdekb”, supposedly an account of Ministry of Interior Affairs in Ekaterinburg.
Kozelev refused to delete the photo. He wrote in his Telegram-channel, “You want a criminal case, but don’t want a photo. Well, sorry. He should bear some burden of publicity. Otherwise, he wants to perform as a victim, but doesn’t want to be a public figure. We need to know our heroes”.
Journalists barred again from covering Novoe Velichie trial
4 June 2019 – For the second time in one week, journalists were barred from covering the trial of the extremist organization Novoe Velichie (“New Greatness”), the charge of which the defendants claim was fabricated by secret services, Zona.media reported.
According to a Zona.Media reporter, the journalists were not allowed into the courtroom, and the video streaming the proceedings, which was organized by the court, was of such poor quality that the journalists could not hear anything. A similar situation ocurred at a previous hearing of the trial, on 27 May.
Kommersant threatened with lawsuit on disclosure of state secrets; deletes publication in question
3 June 2019 – State news agency TASS reported that the Kommersant newspaper may be sued for disclosure of state secrets, citing an anonymous source close to the courts.
According to the source, a lawsuit had already been filed in court to charge Kommersant with article 7, part 13.15 of Russian Criminal Code, “Use of mass media, as well as telecommunication networks, for disclosure of information that constitutes a state secret or other secret protected by law”, punishable by a fine up to 1 million rubles (15,360 USD).
On 5 June, Kommerant deleted the article “Su-35 will reinforce Egyptian power”, about the $2 billion contract for Russia’ to export several dozen Su-35 fighter jets to Egypt. The article was published in March, and was allegedly the publication at the heart of the lawsuit about disclosure of state secrets, Radio Svoboda reported.
In March, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s sole state intermediary agency for military exports and imports, denied that the contract with Egypt had been approved. Kommersant published an update citing the previously published article, based on two sources from the top management of companies in the military industry.
In April, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the USA will sanction Egypt if it buys Russian jets, since Rosoboronexport has been sanctioned by America since last year.
Sources: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Production company sues YouTube blogger over film review
3 June 2019 – The film production company Kinodanz filed a copyright lawsuit against YouTube blogger Evgeny Bazhenov, the creator of the channel BadComedian, over his review on the film Za Graniyu Realnostu (“Beyond Reality”), Bazhenov reported in a video posted to his channel.
Kinodanz claims that Bazhenov used more than the acceptable amount of footage from the film, which revealed the film’s plot and lead to a decrease in views on legal platforms. Kinodanz demanded compensation of 1 million rubles (15,360 USD) and the removal of the video from YouTube. Bazhenov argued that Russian laws do not define the acceptable amount of footage for review purposes, and believes that the lawsuit is related to his criticism of the films by Kinodanz, which were produced with Ministry of Culture sponsorship and were unpopular among audiences.
“The situation is absurd, because every film [by Kinodanz] was produced using funding from the Ministry of Culture. That is, we – the taxpayers – pay for an attempt to censor critics”, Bazhenov said.
After public outcry, Kinodanz announced that it was ready to settle with Bazhenov.
Ekaterinburg journalist detained for visiting department of bailiff service
3 June 2019 – Anton Bulgakov, a journalist for the online media source Zakon I Poryadok, Pryamoy Efir (“Law and Order, Live Stream”), along with three human rights activists, was detained in Ekaterinburg for visiting a department of the bailiff service to inquire about the illegal eviction of a family, OVD-Info reported.
Bulgakov and the human rights activists brought to the bailiffs a court decision prohibiting the eviction of a mother of two whose mortgaged apartment was sold to new owners. The head of the bailiff service called the police, and Bulgakov and the human rights activists were detained without any explanation. They were taken to a police station, where all four were charged with “disobeying police officers”. They were detained for six hours, and taken to a Leninsky court, which returned their cases to the police. Bulgakov and the human rights activists were again taken to the police station, and were left there overnight without food and water.
The next morning they were taken to the court again, and their lawyers filed several motions asking to use witnesses and videotapes, and to give them time for preparation. All cases were postponed, and Anton Bulgakov’s case will be heard on 17 June.
Research institute filed defamation lawsuit against Kommersant
3 June 2019 – The research institute Masshtab filed a defamation lawsuit against Kommersant over an article about the embezzlement of state funds through a contract with the Defense Ministry, RNS reported.
The article “New episode arises around Voentelekom” was published on 22 October 2018, and reported that according to Kommersant’s sources, a check by prosecutors found that Masshtab and another research center charged the Defense Ministry with artificially high prices on telecommunication equipment, embezzling 275 million rubles (4,22 mln USD). The intermediary contractor between the research centers and the ministry was the state company Voentelecom, whose management was affiliated with the management of the research centers. Masshtab is also a part of the Automatica group, which is owned by the state corporation Rostech.
According to the head of the Kommersant legal department, Georgy Ivanov, Masshtab demanded the refutation and removal of the article, though no financial compensation was requested.
Sources: Corporation/Company, Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Krasnodar investigative blogger shot and stabbed
1 June 2019 – Vadim Kharchenko, a Krasnodar-based blogger and creator of the YouTube channel “Lichnoe Mneniye” (“Personal Opinion”), was assaulted and shot at by two unknown men, he reported in his video blog.
Kharchenko reported that, about two weeks ago, he had received a call from an anonymous man who introduced himself as a policeman willing to give him a flash-drive with evidence that local policemen had tortured detainees and fabricated criminal cases against innocent people, planting drugs on them and filing fake protocols. Kharchenko agreed to meet the alleged whistle blower on 1 June. That day, the man called again saying that he had to leave the area urgently by plane and the only possible meeting place was near the airport in late evening. Kharchenko agreed, but the man did not come to the meeting. On his way back to his car, somebody called Kharchenko’s name and when he turned around, shot him twice. When Kharchenko ran towards the shooter and tackled him, another man kicked him. The first attacker shouted: “Cut him”, and the second man stabbed Kharchenko in the liver and right arm. While Kharchenko tried to battle the second attacker, the first one shot him again in the back. Both attackers then ran away, shouting, “Vadim, leave [the town]”. Kharchenko went to a hospital and documented his injuries – three gunshot wounds, two cuts and a head injury.
Kharchenko believes that the attack was motivated by the posts on his YouTube channel, which has over 180,000 subscribers, but does not know who could be behind the attack. Kharchenko has criticized local authorities, reported and commented on protests and politically motivated detentions of activists, and has conducted investigations into alleged abuse of police power.
Krasnodar police launched an investigation of the incident.
In summer 2018, Kharchenko lost his job at a private security firm because of his blogging, and his car was destroyed. In 2017, he was assaulted twice — first, he was hit by a car, second, an unknown man hit him on the head with a metal tire lever and stabbed him with a 11-cm nail. Neither attacker was found.
