In February the Prosecutor General’s Office declared the Barents Observer an “undesirable organization”, thereby criminalizing our journalism and any associated activities we do in Russia or together with Russian citizens abroad.
The decision is part of a broader effort to silence media, civil society and others who want Russia to be an informed society.
The Prosecutor General argues that we publish articles “aimed at stimulating protests actions among the population in north Russian regions, tightening anti-Russian sanctions [and] boosting NATO’s military presence along our borders.” […]
We will argue in court that the Prosecutor General’s listing of the Barents Observer as an ”undesirable organization” violates our rights granted in the Constitution. Therefore, the listing should be reversed.
The question for the judge will be to what extent does the state have the right to interfere in the activities of the independent media, to ban their journalism in Russia under the pretext of security.
To help us appeal the repressive decision in court we have teamed up with Pervy Otdel [which translates as Department One], an independent legal group. It was this team of lawyers that helped us when we in February won the case in the European Court of Human Rights against Russia’s censorship agency Roskomnadzor which since 2019 has blocked the Barents Observer on the internet for readers in Russia. Läs artikel