Russia: Journalist Yana Toporkova Was Detained, Her Home Raided And Equipment Confiscated.
Location: Russia
Date: November 16, 2020
Journalist Yana Toporkova was detained as a part of an investigation into the spreading of "false information". The police also raided the journalist’s house and confiscated her equipment. The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands Russian authorities to return the confiscated equipment to journalist Yana Toporkova immediately.
On October 2, 2020, three men in plainclothes, who identified themselves as police officers, raided Yana’s home, seizing her laptop, mobile phone, router, notes. Following the search, the authorities detained the journalist.
Thereafter, police took Yana to Cherkessk, a city 200 miles away from where she lives, and questioned the journalist as a witness in an investigation into false information posted on Instagram by Cherkessk-based independent news site, Politika 09. Yana Toporkova is a reporter for the independent news agency, Region Online, and covers regional news for the media outlet.
Police officers interrogated Yana, admitting to having listened in on her private phone calls. The authorities had brought the journalist in to convince her to work with them on the Politika 09 investigation. Yana was taken to the Ministry of Interior’s Center for Combatting Terrorism where the police played a recording of a phone call from July 2020, a phone conversation allegedly linked to Politika 09. Authorities later released the journalist with orders to come back the next day. The journalist was interrogated again on October 3, in the presence of her lawyer, Aleksey Shestak. Following the interrogation, the officers released the journalist and informed her that she will be named as a witness in the investigation.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands the immediate return of Yana's confiscated equipment and an end to the interrogation against journalists. Most women journalists are intimidated and harassed by officials for simply doing their job. It is unethical to seize the essential belongings of a journalist under the guise of an investigation. We believe these investigations to be a new method of intimidating journalists and the CFWIJ condemns such legal harassments. The essential duty of security forces is to ensure the safety of the journalists, not to detain them.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
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