Amnesty International denounces media silencing in Russia

The non-governmental organization Amnesty International complains that the Russian authorities are silencing journalists and human rights defenders who try to cover the anti-war protests in the country.

“We can see that the Russian authorities have set out not only to prevent and harshly criminalize any demonstration, no matter how peaceful, but also to minimize public information about it,” said Natalia Prilutskaya, Amnesty International’s Russia researcher. , according to a press release published by the NGO yesterday Wednesday.

The organization has criticized Moscow for increasingly tightening media and activist freedoms since Vladimir Putin took power in 2000.

However, “retaliatory” actions against activists and media workers “further escalated after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine” by the Russian military on February 24.

In addition to increasing police violence against journalists and independent observers, new legal restrictions “prevent journalists” and others “from informing the public about the protests,” according to Ms. Prilutskaya.

Shortly after the military invasion of Ukrainian territory, a new, highly controversial law was adopted in Russia that provides for heavy penalties for journalists and media outlets who “spread false information about the armed forces.”

The law’s vague wording allows any coverage that does not conform to the Kremlin’s official line on the conflict in Ukraine to be suppressed. Moscow still continues to refer to the war, now nine months old, as a “special military operation”.

RES-EMP

Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.