London
CNN
—
Six journalists working for unbiased media shops in Russia have been arrested in a span of only a few hours this week on the eve of the anniversary of American reporter Evan Gershkovich’s detention within the metropolis of Yekaterinburg.
The journalists embrace Antonina Favorskaya, who lined the late Russian opposition chief Alexey Navalny, Reporters With out Borders (RSF) mentioned Thursday.
Favorskaya, who works for the unbiased Russian media outlet SOTA Imaginative and prescient, is accused of “extremist actions” due to her protection of Navalny and his work, the media freedom group mentioned in a press release.
On Friday, Gershkovich marked the grim milestone of 1 12 months in Russian detention. Shortly after his arrest, the Wall Road Journal reporter was charged with espionage — an accusation vehemently denied by Gershkovich, his employer and the US authorities. He was the primary journalist to be arrested on such prices for the reason that Chilly Conflict, and the Russian authorities has but to offer any proof to assist its declare.
Favorskaya is the journalist who filmed what would later change into Navalny’s final video earlier than he died. The opposition activist might been seen laughing and joking as he appeared at a court docket listening to by way of video hyperlink from the penal colony the place he was serving his sentence.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s equal of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, had requested Favorskaya’s arrest for “taking part in an extremist group,” Russian state information company TASS has reported.
In response to the unbiased outlet Mediazona, over the past two years Favorskaya lined all of Navalny’s court docket hearings and traveled to the penal colonies the place he was serving his sentence. She additionally adopted developments on the cemetery the place Navalny was buried.
The six journalists, together with Favorskaya, have been arrested on Wednesday and Thursday, RSF mentioned.
“With six new arrests in a span of some hours, accompanied by violence, threats and searches, the authorities are stepping up their persecution of the final unbiased journalists and media in Russia,” mentioned Jeanne Cavelier, head of RSF’s Jap Europe and Central Asia desk.
“RSF condemns the arbitrary arrests and unacceptable violence in opposition to these journalists,” Cavelier added.
Favorskaya was arrested whereas she was being launched after spending 10 days in detention in Moscow on a cost of “disobeying the police,” RSF mentioned.
She was detained together with two different journalists, Alexandra Astakhova and Anastasia Musayeva, who got here to satisfy her and are actually “concerned within the case as witnesses,” in response to SOTA Imaginative and prescient. “All three have been searched.”