Journalists arbitrarily included in list of alleged terrorists
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is very disturbed to learn that at least two Crimean journalists are on a list of 6,000 alleged “terrorists and extremists” that a Russian federal agency published yesterday.
Released by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring), which is supposed to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the list includes Nikolai Semena, a freelance journalist, and Anna Andriyevska of the Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Legal proceedings are pending against Semena and Andriyevska in connection with their supposed cooperation with media outlets hostile to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but neither has been tried or convicted.
“It is unacceptable that a state agency should designate anyone as a terrorist or extremist without a court decision,” said Johann Bihr, the head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.
“This list casts opprobrium on these two journalists and seriously endangers their safety, especially in Crimea’s polarized and volatile environment. The intimidatory effect is devastating. Any reporter could be on the list. We call on Rosfinmonitoring to remove this list from its website.”
Anti-extremist legislation is often used in an inappropriate and disproportionate manner to silence critics in Russia, which is ranked 148th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2016 World Press Freedom Index. -02D-
Politics
-
A court in the Mangystau region of Kazakhstan has sentenced blogger Azamat Sarsenov to a 10-day detention for filming the crash site of an Embraer 190 passenger plane in Aktau. The ruling was confirmed by the court's press service, according to reports from RBC.
-
The families of those killed in the crash of the AZAL passenger plane “Embrayer-190” will be paid compensation in the amount of 40 thousand manats (about 24 thousand dollars).
-
On 26 December, Ramzan Kadyrov awarded his nephew Khamzat Kadurov, who holds the post of secretary of the Chechen Security Council, with the medal "For Services to the Chechen Republic".
-
The Russian side must apologize for the air defense attack on the Azerbaijani civilian aircraft, said Azerbaijani MP Rasim Musabeyov.
Leave a review