MEDIUM-ORIENT agency was fined under the law on “foreign agents” due to archived articles on the site

The Tagansky District Court of Moscow fined the Czech news agency MEDIUM-ORIENT 500,000 rubles due to the lack of a “foreign agent” label in the archived articles of the publication established by the agency. It is reported by Radio Liberty.

A protocol on violation of the law on “foreign agents” (part 1 of article 19.34.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) was drawn up in October due to several articles on the Caucasus Times website - two of them have already been moved to the archive. “They also had to be found, rummaged through the archives, in order to eventually impose such a large fine on us by any means,” Islam Tekushev, the site editor, commented on the court decision in a conversation with Radio Liberty. The hearing took place on December 14th.

Sign the petition against the legislation on "foreign agents"!

• The Czech agency MEDIUM-ORIENT was included in the register of media outlets as “foreign agents” on December 21, 2020. At the end of the same month, the State Duma adopted changes to the legislation on “foreign agents”. According to the new clarifications, the status of a "foreign agent" can be obtained by an individual engaged in political activities and receiving money for this from abroad. Another draft law prohibits the dissemination of information from “foreign agents” in the media without a special mark.