On 29 May 2023, an appeals court in the Siberian region of Kemerovo confirmed a sentence earlier handed to local journalist Andrei Novashov, who was sentenced to 8 months of corrective labor for allegedly spreading “fake” news on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The court also forbade him from using social media for a year. Novashov said he would appeal the verdict.
The journalist, who reports for U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster RFE/RL’s project Sibir.Realii, was initialy charged with spreading “fake” news in March 2022, according to a report by RFE/RL and a copy of his charge sheet shared online by Net Freedoms Project, a legal aid organization. According to the charge sheet, the case against Novashov stems from a post he published on the Russian social media network VKontakte on March 10. The post he shared was an eyewitness account of Russian attacks during the siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. It had previously been posted on Facebook by a journalist in Mariupol. Novashov faced up to 15 years in prison under legislation passed immediately after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At Sibir.Realii, Novashov covered local news in Kemerovo, including protests against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing police crackdown on these protests. On 9 February 2023, a prosecutor in Kemerovo region demanded a local court sentence Novashov to 11 months of correctional labor.
UPDATE: On 5 March 2024, Novashov’s sentence was confirmed by a regional court of cassation.
UPDATE: On 13 March 2024, police searched Novashov’s home, confiscating electronic devices and not allowing the journalist to leave his home during the search. According to local media, the search could have been linked to suspicions that Novashov continued working as a journalist despite a recent court order which banned him from doing this, as part of his sentence for alleged “fake news”. Following the search, Novashov was taken to a police station, and was released shortly after, however his phone was confiscated. Russian media later reported that authorities suspected Novashov of working with RFE/RL, a U.S. Congress-financed independent media outlet, which had recently been banned in Russia as “undesirable”. Russians found to be working with “undesirable” organizations can be sentenced to prison.