Russian student journalists face jail over Navalny protest video
Russian police have raided independent student news site DOXA’s Moscow offices and charged its editors with inciting minors to illegally protest, the outlet said Wednesday, The Moscow Times reported.
Russian authorities demanded earlier this year that DOXA take down its video explaining that students shouldn't be afraid to voice their opinions at a Jan. 23 pro-Navalny protest and that it was unlawful for universities to expel students who attend. DOXA said it had deleted the video at the authorities’ request and maintains that it contained no calls to illegal activity.
Four DOXA editors now face up to three years in prison on the charges of "inciting minors to participate in illegal activities."
“Today at 6 a.m. [security officers] carried out searches at the DOXA office and the homes of editors Armen Aramyan, Vladimir Metelkin, Alla Gutnikova and Natasha Tyshkevich,” the outlet said on its website.
The four editors were then charged after being taken in for questioning by investigators.
According to human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov, their charges fall under the same case opened against top Navalny aide Leonid Volkov, who was charged in absentia as he is based in Lithuania.
On Wednesday afternoon, dozens of supporters, mostly young people, gathered outside Moscow's Basmanny District Court, where the editors were due to be sentenced to pre-trial restraints.