Russia: Journalist Sent for 2 Years to ‘hard’ Prison For Criticizing Ukraine’s Invasion · Global Voices

In 2 years in prison a journalist was sentenced in for in messages criticizing the invasion of the same time 5 more journalists were arrested in Moscow. Michael Feldman, a journalist and activist from Kaliningrad, Russia, was found guilty of an attempt at “infiction” of the army, who has invaded Ukraine and will serve his sentence in a “hard” prison colony, said the non-governmental organization OVD- Info. He had already been sentenced to a fine for “defiance” of the army in early 2022, for participating in a protest against the invasion of Ukraine. He was then charged with “relapse” and prosecuted. According to OVD-Info, he was accused of sharing content against the Kremlin war online. “I did not kill, I did not plunder, I did not steal, I did not rape, and, above all, I did not start a conquering war against a neighbouring country,” he said before the court’s decision was announced. In Russia journalists, lawyers, activists or ordinary citizens are being targeted for daring to publicly criticize the Kremlin. In Moscow, Antonina Favorskaya, photojournalist of SOTAvision, one of the last media covering Russia’s political repression, is accused of “extremism”, as her employer announced today. Her case is linked, according to SOTAvision, to Alexei Navalni’s movement who died in February in prison. The organizations he had founded have been described as “extremist” by Russian justice. Favorskaya has been covering Navalni’s trials for years. She was the one who took the last video that showed him, on February 15, in a hearing. He was arrested on March 17, a few hours after leaving flowers in his grave and immediately sentenced to administrative detention of 10 days for resistance to the authority. Last night, after serving this sentence, he was arrested again as soon as he got out of prison. Her home and that of her parents were investigated and the photojournalist was detained, according to SOTAvision. Two other journalists, Alexandra Astahova and Anastasia Musatova, who went to pick her up when she left prison, were also detained for a few hours and their homes were searched. Today, they were questioned about the category of “extremism” and released. During Wednesday night to Thursday police also arrested Sotavision’s Ekaterina Anikjevic and RusNews’ Konstantin Yarov, who were then released without prosecution. A woman, invoked by OVD-Info, said that during his arrest Yarov was beaten and sexually threatened by the police. “They kicked me, put a foot in my head, twisted my fingers, tricked me when I tried to get up,” said Yarov himself, according to RusNews. The journalist said his arrest was caused by the shooting he did near Antonina Favorskaya’s house.