CNN
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Russia has put the investigative journalist Christo Grozev on its “wished” listing, in line with the Russian Inside Ministry.
Grozev, who’s Bulgarian, is the lead Russia investigator on the journalism group Bellingcat.
Info revealed on the ministry’s web site mentioned he was “wished below an article of the Prison Code,” with out specifying the precise article.
In line with the unbiased human rights monitor OVD-Data, a prison case on disseminating “faux information” in regards to the Russian military has been opened in opposition to Grozev.
The Russian authorities adopted a regulation criminalizing the dissemination of what it calls “intentionally false” details about the Russian armed forces in early March, simply days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The utmost penalty below the regulation is 15 years in jail.
Grozev has reported extensively on Russia’s involvement in numerous high-profile worldwide crimes, together with the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in japanese Ukraine and the 2018 poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in the UK. Moscow has repeatedly denied any accountability for both assault.
Along with the crew of Russian opposition chief Alexey Navalny and journalists from CNN and different shops, Grozev additionally investigated the poisoning of Navalny in 2020.
He focuses on “safety threats, extraterritorial clandestine operations, and the weaponization of knowledge,” in line with Bellingcat’s web site.
Because the begin of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, Grozev has been utilizing open-source digital instruments to doc warfare crimes and different atrocities dedicated through the battle.
Grozev mentioned on Monday he didn’t know why he had been added to Russia’s wished listing.
“I don’t know on what grounds the Kremlin has put me on its ‘wished listing,’ thus I can’t present any feedback right now. In a method it doesn’t matter – for years they’ve made it clear they’re frightened of our work and would cease at nothing to make it go away,” he mentioned in a Twitter publish on Monday.
Putin’s regime has been methodically dismantling free press for years, however the crackdown on unbiased publications and journalists intensified in late February.
All remaining unbiased Russian media shops have been shuttered and on-line entry to those working from overseas has been blocked. Western publications and social media websites have additionally been banned.
In line with OVD-Data, not less than 370 individuals have confronted prison prosecution for anti-war statements and speeches. Dozens of them have fled Russia and have been positioned on the wished listing, in line with the monitor.
