A Moscow court on Monday revoked the license to distribute the paper edition of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, considered a mainstay of investigative journalism in Russia, following a request by the Russian telecoms regulator. [Roskomnadzor].
“The Basmanny court in Moscow recognized the registration certificate as invalid [enquanto meio de comunicação] of the paper version of Novaya Gazeta”, declared the newspaper on the Telegram social network.
The newspaper had already been forced to suspend publication in March due to Moscow’s crackdown on criticism related to the conflict in Ukraine, which began last February.
The announcement follows the death and funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who died last week aged 91, who was a longtime Novaya Gazeta supporter.
Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov, winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, was present at funeral services for Mikhail Gorbachev, which were held on Saturday.
In a statement, the Basmanny court confirmed the revocation following a complaint filed in late July by Roskomnadzor.
The telecommunications regulator said the newspaper failed to deliver, in accordance with current regulations, “the editorial statutes” during a new administrative search in 2006.
The UN has already reacted to the ruling, calling it a “new blow” to the independence of the Russian media.
The decision is “another blow to the independence of the Russian media, whose activities have already been hampered by legal restrictions and increased state controls imposed in the wake of the Russian Federation’s attack on Ukraine,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesman for the UN High . Human Rights Commissioner in a statement.
In two other separate cases, also filed in July, Rozkomnadzor requested cancellation of authorizations for the portal and for a new Novaya Gazeta magazine. These accusations will have to be studied by the Russian justice in the course of the month.
At the end of March, Novaya Gazeta, which has critically covered the conflict in Ukraine, decided to suspend its publication, both online and in print, for fear of reprisals in Russia. In fact, the newspaper had not been printed for months.
The European online edition, created after the suspension of the newspaper in Russia on March 28, has been added to the list of portals and websites blocked by Roskomnadzor, following a request from the Russian Public Ministry.
Russian authorities also accuse the media of breaking the law by failing to clearly identify organizations and individuals designated by Moscow as “foreign agents” in their articles.
Founded in 1993, Novaya Gazeta is known for its extensive journalistic investigations into the corruption of Russian elites and serious human rights violations, particularly in Chechnya.
Six of its journalists have been killed since its founding.
Source: TSF
