Day 17
Country: Russia
Journalist: Sergei Reznik
Media: Blogger
Jailed since: 26 November 2013
Suggested Tweet:
#FreethePress calls for the release of Sergei Reznik and demands better protection for journalists in #Russia bit.ly/1gKBFEj
On November 26, 2013, investigative journalist and blogger Sergei Reznik was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being charged with using the online blog LiveJournal to “publically insult” the chairwoman and judge of the Rostov Oblast Arbitration Court in the Russian city of Rostoz-on-Don.
Share our protest letter bit.ly/1tosnXg
In the build-up to the court case, Reznik was accused by the local authorities of having issued a bribe to a technician to clear his car of bugging devices. After reportedly receiving multiple threats over the phone in February 2012, the very people issuing the threats ended up accusing him of having staged these incidents. In October 2012, he was also beaten with a baseball bat and shot at in the presence of his wife.
The blog Reznik used, LiveJournal, thrives on its reputation for being a free and open source social networking service, particularly in Russia where it partners with the politically independent online newspaper Gazeta.ru. It was launched in 1999 by an American programmer and has since become a popular source for political commentary in Russia.
Increasing restrictions for investigative journalists have become even more acute in Russia’s rural regions. Since 2012, up to five court cases have been issued against Reznik, arguably as a response to his investigative work and reports on local government corruption. Reznik is not the only journalist for Novaya Gazeta to be punished for his combat against corruption. The murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006 remains unsolved after a futile prosecution case ended with impunity for the accused. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Russia ranks among the 10 worst countries globally in tackling deadly anti-press crimes.
Suggested Tweet:
#FreethePress calls for the release of Sergei Reznik and demands better protection for journalists in #Russia bit.ly/1gKBFEj
Resources:
- Statistics outling censorship in the Russian press: https://cpj.org/reports/2014/04/impunity-index-getting-away-with-murder.php
- Russia: Journalists persecuted by judges in Rostov-on-Don: http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/266543/380573_en.html
- Propaganda: History of Russian Pravda newspaper: http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/474092/Pravda
- Censorship: Recent repression of Independent news outlet Dozhd in Russia: http://europe.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-efj-condemn-russian-government-threat-to-shut-down-independent-tv-channel-dozhd-2
Twitter
Facebook
Google
LinkedIn
Yahoo
Xing
