The independent Russian daily Novaya Gazeta announced on Monday the suspension of its online and paper publications until the end of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, in a context of pressure from power on voices critical of it.
In a statement published on its website, the newspaper - whose chief editor, Dmitri Muratov, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 - indicated that it had taken this decision after receiving a second warning from the Russian telecommunications regulator for violating a law on “agents from abroad”.
“There is no other solution. For us and, I know, for you, it is a terrible and painful decision. But we have to protect each other,” Muratov wrote in a letter to the readers of the newspaper.
Specifically, Novaya Gazeta is reproached for not specifying that an NGO mentioned in one of its articles was classified as an “agent of abroad” by the Russian authorities, as required by law.
The newspaper received a first warning on March 22 and a second on Monday.
Since the start of the military operation on February 24, the websites of several Russian or foreign media have been blocked. Novaya Gazeta was one of the last independent newspapers still active in Russia.
The authorities voted on several laws punishing with imprisonment what they consider to be “false information” about the conflict in Ukraine.
Another measure used by the authorities against organizations or individuals critical of the Kremlin is the law on “foreign agents”. Those who are qualified as “agents from abroad” must be presented as such in any publication, including social media. The media that mention them must also specify this.
Founded in 1993, Novaya Gazeta enjoys a great reputation for investigating corruption and human rights abuses in Chechnya. This commitment has cost the lives of six of its employees, including the famous journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in 2006.
BACKGROUND
At the beginning of the month, the Strasbourg Court adopted precautionary measures at the request of the independent Moscow newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” and demanded that Russia not deprive it of the freedom of expression guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Pursuant to Article 39 of its Rules of Procedure, the European judiciary invites the Russian authorities to “refrain from any action and decision that completely obstructs and terminates the activities” of this medium.
The European Court of Human Rights has taken into account the exceptional context in which the complaint was lodged, following the adoption last week of a reform of the Russian Criminal Code to punish what is considered “false information” related to the invasion of Ukraine with sentences of up to 15 years in prison.
The request for precautionary measures was filed on March 3 by the companies Novaya Gazeta and the television company Telekanal Dozhd (Rain TV), and by Russian citizens Dmitri Muratov and Natalia Sindéyeva. Muratov is the editor of the newspaper and was awarded in 2021 the Nobel Peace Prize, which he dedicated to his media and to his six journalists and collaborators killed since 2000, including Politkovskaya.
The European court was asked to plead with the Russian Government not to interfere with the lawful activities of the Russian media relating to the armed conflict in Ukraine. In particular, that the Government refrain from “blocking information items and materials containing opinions that differ from the official point of view of the Russian authorities”.
The Strasbourg Court justifies its precautionary measures by “the imminent risk of irreparable damage to freedom of expression and the silencing of independent media in Russia”.
(with information from AFP and EFE)
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