MOSCOW (AP) — Russian police on Saturday detained a number of journalists who protested authorities’ determination to label a prime impartial TV channel as a “overseas agent.”
The journalists held particular person pickets outdoors the primary headquarters of the nation’s prime home safety company, the FSB, on Moscow’s Lubyanka Sq..
They held placards reminiscent of “Journalism isn’t against the law” and “You might be afraid of the reality” to protest the Justice Ministry’s transfer on Friday so as to add the Dozhd (Rain) TV channel and the net investigative outlet Vazhnye Istorii (Necessary Tales) to the record of “overseas brokers.”
The Justice Ministry acted beneath a legislation that’s used to designate as “overseas brokers” non-governmental organizations and people who obtain funding from overseas and have interaction in actions loosely described as political. The label implies nearer authorities scrutiny and carries a powerful pejorative connotation that would undermine the credibility of media shops and damage their promoting.
Dozhd denounced the transfer as unfair and stated it will attraction.
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The TV channel has been sharply vital of Russian authorities’ crackdown on dissent and frequently carried stay experiences from opposition protests. It has extensively coated the poisoning and the imprisonment of Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny and the prison instances launched in opposition to his allies.
Russian authorities have raised strain on the opposition and impartial media forward of the Sept. 19 parliamentary vote, which is extensively seen as necessary a part of President Vladimir Putin to cement his rule forward of Russia’s 2024 presidential election.
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