OSCE Media Freedom Representative denounces latest arrests of media workers, calls on authorities to repeal restrictive laws
VIENNA, 14 April 2022 – Following the arrests of Mikhail Afanasyev, an award-winning editor-in-chief of the Abakan based Novyi Focus online magazine, and Sergei Mikhailov, founder of the Gorno-Altaysk based Listock newspaper, the OSCE Representative on Media Freedom, Teresa Ribeiro, today made the following statement:
“The effect of the legislation that introduced administrative and criminal liability with severe imprisonment terms for spreading “false” information about the Russia’s military attack against Ukraine continues to aggravate the situation of media freedom and the safety of journalists in the Russian Federation,” Ribeiro said. “I call on the authorities to repeal these highly restrictive and disproportionate laws, and strictly follow the country’s international obligations and OSCE commitments.”
On 13 April, the law enforcement representatives detained Afanasyev following intense late night searches in his and his mother’s apartments and seizing the documents and computer equipment. The case reportedly stems from a publication in Novyi Focus about several riot police officers from the region, who refused to fight in Ukraine.
On the same day, also after searching both the editorial office and homes of Listock’s staff, and seizing the computer equipment, the law enforcement representatives detained Mikhailov. According to reports, both editors will face criminal charges of spreading “false” information about the Russian armed forces.
Earlier, on 4 March, President Vladimir Putin signed into effect the laws that call for hefty fines and sentences of up to fifteen years in prison for distributing “false” information about the Russian armed forces or for “discrediting” them. According to reports, as of 14 April, more than 700 cases on related administrative offences have been registered in courts across the country.
The Representative also noted with great disappointment the 12 April criminal conviction of editors and journalists from the student magazine DOXA Armen Aramyan, Vladimir Metelkin, Alla Gutnikova and Natasha Tyshkevich. On previous occasions, she raised the case with the Russian authorities calling to ensure that the journalists continue to carry out their work in a safe manner.