On 15 July 2024, the Basmanny district court of Moscow sentenced exiled Russian journalist Masha Gessen to 8 years of prison in absentia, independent Russian media reported, on charges of disseminating “fake news” on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This came after on April 25, the same court registered the materials of the criminal case opened against the journalist, according to Russian independent media. Prior to this, Gessen was arrested in absentia, meaning they would be placed in detention if they came to Russia, and put on Russia’s ‘wanted’ list.
The case against Gessen for “fake news” was opened on 23 November 2023, TV Rain reported at the time. On 3 September 2023, independent Russian media reported that Russian authorities had opened a criminal case against the journalist for alleged “discreditation” of the Russian army, for a September 2022 interview with Russian journalist Yuri Dud, in which Gessen confirmed their conviction that Russia was responsible for the Bucha massacre.
Commenting on the case against them, Gessen earlier said that criminal cases for “discreditation” of the Russian army can be opened in Russia only if this offence is repeated: as the journalist had no knowledge of being convicted on these grounds in Russia, they said that the case could instead have been opened for dissemination of what the Russian government claims is “fake news” about the war in Ukraine.
Masha Gessen, a non-binary activist and journalist publishing as a staff writer with the New Yorker, reported from Bucha following the liberation of the Kyiv suburb in late March 2022.