Russia assured the ECHR that Mediazona censored the news about Oleg Deripaska and Nastya Rybka of its own free will, and not by court decision

Russian authorities believe that Mediazona itself removed photographs and videos from the news about the investigation of politician Alexei Navalny about businessman Oleg Deripaska. Mediazona was informed about this by the international human rights group Agora, which represents the interests of the publication.

As stated in the comments of the Russian government to the complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (available to Mediazona), in 2018 the Ust-Labinsky District Court ordered Mediazona to “limit access to information that violates Deripaska’s rights to image, privacy "

After this, Roskomnadzor sent the publication a notice of the need to edit the note within 24 hours. Mediazona removed the link to Navalny’s video from the article, as well as maps of the movement of Deripaska’s yacht and a collage depicting the oligarch and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko. “At the same time, the content of the article has not undergone any changes,” the Russian side assures.

Russian authorities believe that Mediazona’s right to freedom of information dissemination was not violated, since photographs and videos were used to “enhance the effect of the publication,” and the article itself was not harmed when it was deleted.

According to the government, the photos and videos had to be removed “in order to effectively address the civil matter” and the request was short-lived. At the same time, Russian authorities claim that the decision of the Ust-Labinsk court did not oblige Mediazona to delete photos and videos. “This decision was made by the publication independently,” the document says.

In 2018, Roskomnadzor demanded that Mediazona remove photographs that illustrated the news about the FBK investigation into Prikhodko’s vacation on Deripaska’s yacht. The demand was based on a court decision in Ust-Labinsk, where Deripaska is registered.

Navalny released an investigation based on the book and Instagram posts of a girl under the pseudonym Nastya Rybka. The politician came to the conclusion that in August 2016, Prikhodko conducted informal negotiations on Deripaska’s yacht in Norway in the company of escort girls.

Roskomnadzor added the investigation to the register of prohibited information and demanded that it be removed from Navalny’s website. After providers began to block the site, the politician himself deleted the material.