A protocol was drawn up against the publication “Magadan Speaks” regarding an article about “fake news” due to a publication about coronavirus

On March 21, the Magadan police sent an official comment to OVD-Info about the protocol being drawn up. We quote the comment in full: “According to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Magadan Region, the police initiated administrative proceedings against the owner of the site who posted false socially significant information on the grounds of an offense under part 9 of article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

The maximum sanction for legal entities is an administrative fine from 200,000 to 500,000 rubles.”

In Magadan, a protocol was drawn up against the editorial office of a local publication under the article on “fake news” (part 9 of article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) due to a publication about the coronavirus. This is written by the publication "Speaks Magadan".

According to the publication, the report was drawn up at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Magadan Region following a note entitled “A person who was suspected of having a coronavirus, who was lying in the Magadan Regional Hospital, died.” According to the police, Magadan Speaks has repeatedly disseminated deliberately unreliable socially significant information under the guise of reliable information about the death of a person in the Magadan regional hospital from coronavirus infection (COVID-19), which can cause panic among citizens during the global pandemic.

According to the publication itself, there is no statement in the text of the news about the death of a person directly from the coronavirus, and the accusations against the editors are falsified.