"Freedom is the most important"

Four journalists received five and a half years of the colony for “cooperation” with the FBK. What is wrong with this business?

Today, April 15, the Nagatinsky District Court sentenced four journalists accused of participating in the activities of the “extremist community” of the FBK, - Antonin of the Favorskaya (Kravtsova), Artem Krieger, Sergei Karelin and Konstantin Gabova. Each of them received 5.5 years in a general regime colony.

Novyevropa says what is known about this case.

Note of the editorial office
The material was published on the morning of April 15 and updated after the sentence.

Detention

Sotavision journalist Antonin Favorskaya was detained on the evening of March 17, 2024 next to the Borisov cemetery in Moscow, where she, together with journalist Anastasia Musatova and another friend Anna (witness from the defense, whose surname is hidden) came to honor Alexei Navalny's memory.

After a visit to the cemetery, they went to a cafe where they were surrounded by about seven security forces, some of which were masked and civilian clothes. According to Musatova, during the detention of Taborskaya they knocked on the table, and she was hit the hand, knocking out the phone when she tried to remove it. Antonin was eventually appointed ten days of arrest for the “disobedience of the police”: the security forces claimed that she did not show the documents and resisted, but herself

Tabor insists that she had already presented the documents in the police department and was not going to run away. After serving the arrest at the exit from the special receiver, the security forces detained her and took a search in a criminal case. Then she was charged andsent to a pre -trial detention center.

"They judge me for the article about how the FSIN tortured Alexei Navalny!" - Tabor shouted to reporters when she was escorted from the courtroom.

Already from the pre -trial detention center, she told one of the letters that she was charged with "help in organizing the funeral of Alexei Navalny." The reason was her reports from Kovrov, Salekhard and Moscow.

On April 27, the Moscow Basmanny Court sent Constantine Gabov for two months of the Reuters news agency. He was accused of participating in the extremist community (part 2 of article 282.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation): according to investigators, he prepared photo and video materials for the Navalny Live YouTube Canal.

The next day, the Murmansk regionwas detained and sent to the arrest of journalist Sergei Karelin, who collaborated with the Associated Press and Deutsche Welle. He is also charged with participation in the extremist community - for the alleged work with the Navalny team. Karelin denies accusations.

On June 18, in the apartment of the Sotavision journalist, Artem Kriger, searches were searched-he seized a phone, information carriers and press cards. After that, he was taken for interrogation to the Investigative Committee, and later the Basmanny Court of Moscow sent him in a pre -trial detention center in the same case as other journalists.

“I am only 23 years old. I repeat that very soon we will meet with everyone at large, will hug everyone. The most important thing is to protect yourself, retain freedom, freedom - this is the most important, ”he said before the announcement of the decision of the judge.

During the extension of the deadline, he said that the operatives followed him from late May to June 18. He also believes that he is actually accused of shooting surveys of passers -by on the streets. Later, as Mediazona wrote , four witnesses came to the court meeting, one of which previously appeared in the street survey on the Navalny Live channel.

Artem Kriger is the nephew of Mikhail Krieger, an activist who began to participate in protests and democratic motions back in the 1990s. Since 2023, Mikhail was serving a seven -year prison term on charges of “justification of terrorism”.

Process

In October 2024, Gabov spoke about the torture conditions of the detention in the Moscow Investigative Izolator No. 1 "Sailor Silence". He was transferred from the pre-trial detention center-5 “Water” along with Krieger and Karelin. According to Gabov, he was placed in a special block for convicts in cases of terrorism and stateizer.

“It seems that they hold me somewhere in the basement. A small window is somewhere upstairs <...> the camera crowded. I sleep with [one] guy on the floor. He has been living like that for a month now. In the afternoon we sit on a bench (without a back), since we have no place. The mattress, blanket and pillow were given out worn, it turned out that with bugs. The atmosphere is oppressive here, ”he said.

Sergey Karelin also wrote about the overflow of Sailor Silence, his letter was published on October 15 by the New Gazeta. He said: “They slept with a valetik, but not on the skeleton, where the straight and hard surface, but on the prison line with the“ pit ”in the center. Now 7 in the morning, I'm going to go for a walk with two neighbors. Take -up. The first time I took a jacket, it was +4. When he walked back, he met Grigory Melkonian - he sits in the next cell.

In the cell where I am now, there is 0 personal space 0. It is much worse than in a cell, where there were 13 people in the “Water”. I would like to go back to the quarantine camera. ”

The last word

The whole process over journalists was closed allegedly due to threats to its participants-the state prosecutor Nadezhda Tikhonov moves accompanied by state preservation. Dozens of people came to each meeting to support the accused while they were going to the hall. At the same time, the essence of the prosecution and its details are still unknown.

After the previous court hearing, the texts of Karelin, Gabov and Krieger, which they were going to read out in the last word, were at the disposal of Novaya Gazeta and Sotavision.

Sergei Karelin dedicated him to his daughter:

“It is believed that one of the mitigating circumstances is“ repentance in the deed ”. Criminals should repent of the deed. I am in prison for my professional activity, an honest and impartial attitude to journalism, for love for my family and country.

Since I spoke about my work in the debate, and now I can speak about what I want. I will try through you to turn to the person most dear to me - my daughter, which I have not seen for 11 months. And it is not clear when I see. You understand that if the court finds me guilty, my whole family will be punished with me: from my grandfather, to whom, as I said, 101 years old, he is a veteran of the “Rzhev meat grinder”, my elderly parents who are holding, and above all, my beautiful daughter!

I never thought that my child would also become a victim of political repression, as the children of those who were repressed in the 1930s were recognized ... Can you imagine this about their children?!

And yes, I, of course, “dad on a business trip”, like many now, like all people then! I don't know when I can see her, all the more hug ... "

In the last word, Artem Krieger wanted to talk about his path in journalism and how “he wants to convey the truth to people from Russia, being and working in it”:

“The basis of the prosecution is“ participation in the extremist community ”. In this case, we can recall the great writer George Orwell, who wrote: “To tell the truth in the time of universal lies is extremism.” Only I will paraphrase the words of the great writer and declare: to be an honest and professional journalist, and not a propagandist shameful, is a criminal offense and extremism in Putin's Russia!

<...> I am a real patriot of Russia. I want Russia to be not in isolation, so that we would be respected in the world, and not be afraid that we had freedom inside the country, so that people like me could work calmly in journalism without fear for our freedom and life. I am for the replacement of power in the country and for the separation of powers, so that we become a real democratic state, and not be a totalitarian country. Is it really so difficult? If it is necessary in 2025 for this belief and for my position to pay at the cost of my freedom, I am ready for this.

No one can ever force me to believe in the madness that all this prison, operational, prosecutorial and judicial systems want to impose on me, that I am an extremist, that I am a criminal, that I have to sit because I stopped the law.

I will never believe it, to my last sigh and a heart blow, I will always say that this is all one great madness and inadequacy that happened to me on June 18, 2024, from the date of my detention to the date of my liberation. Let the story judge us, she will put all the dots over “and” ”!

In the last word, Gabov emphasized that all charges against him have no grounds and are not confirmed by evidence. He noted that he always acted within the framework of the law and in accordance with the Constitution, protecting the right of everyone to freedom of thought and word. Gabov also said that the FSB officers checked his professional path - from working on the city television channel Syktyvkar to cooperation with the world media like Reuters. He noted that Rosfinmonitoring indicated payment from Deutsche Welle in May 2024 as the basis for included in the register of extremists and terrorists, and shooting for Current Time and Radio Liberty became episodes of the case. According to him, there are only one of five episodes - they confirm that he himself interviewed, published on January 23, 2024 on the Navalny Live channel under Putin what you tell him? "

“I have always been a patriot of Russia and a small homeland - the Komi Republic. His work sought to show the country and the world of its people, culture, traditions. My homeland - Komi - is sadly known for its prisons, where they often sent for freedom of thought and words. That is why my fellow countrymen and my fellow countrymen appreciate both the first and second.

My work was to give a voice to those who cannot be heard, and to illuminate important events that relate to society. I believe that journalism is not a crime, but an important part of the democratic process.

We must remember that every voice is important, and only together we can change the situation for the better. I hope that one day we will see a country where freedom of speech will be not just the right, but an integral part of the life of every citizen. ”