Russia has opened hundreds of criminal cases against individuals opposed to the war in Ukraine.
Moscow:
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a journalist to two years in prison for condemning Moscow’s sweeping military offensive in Ukraine, and Moscow police detained five other journalists within 24 hours.
Since sending troops into Ukraine two years ago to arrest and fine those who defy the Kremlin’s rhetoric, Russia has made on-the-ground reporting increasingly dangerous and illegal.
A court in the western Kaliningrad enclave said journalist Mikhail Feldman published a series of posts on the VKontakte social network, OVD-Info and Memorial rights groups said, citing his lawyer. Defamation of the Russian Armed Forces.
“This is exactly the punishment sought by prosecutors,” OVD-Info said. “In addition to jail time, Feldman was banned from managing the website for two years.”
Russia has filed hundreds of criminal cases against individuals who oppose its actions against Ukraine.
Under military censorship laws, Russians who criticize online attacks or journalists who use information other than that provided by Russian officials could face years in prison.
Moscow police detained five independent journalists in the past 24 hours, one of whom said he was beaten, OVD-Info reported on Thursday.
SOTAvision reporter Antonina Favorskaya was taken in for questioning on Wednesday night after 10 days in jail for laying flowers at the grave of late opposition politician Alexei Navalny interrogation.
SOTAvision said her colleagues Alexandra Astakhova and Anastasia Musatova went to the detention center where she was about to be released to meet her and also Detained by police.
Then, early Thursday, police arrested SOTAvision reporter Ekaterina Anikievich and RusNews reporter Konstantin Zharov, who were filming near Favorskaya’s home.
“They kicked me, put a foot on my head, twisted my fingers, laughed at me when I tried to stand up, and asked me to show my backpack as if it might contain explosives,” Zharov said.
Since its attack on Ukraine, Russia has banned, blocked or attempted to censor nearly every independent media outlet still operating in the country.
Many independent journalists fled after the attacks, leaving those who remained at risk. American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Arsu Kurmasheva are currently in jail awaiting trial.
Also on Thursday, a court sent a Navalny associate to pretrial detention on “extremism”-related charges.
Olga Komleva, a volunteer at Navalny’s headquarters in Ufa, central Russia, was arrested earlier this week as part of a series of cases against Navalny’s allies who remain in Russia The latest together.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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