As of: February 22, 2024, 9:05 p.m
By: Simon Schröder
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According to a new study, the suppression of freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Russia is serious.
Hundreds of people are also arrested during protests over Navalny's death.
Moscow – Not surprising, yet shocking.
Vladimir Putin's regime is restricting freedom of the press and freedom of expression more than ever before.
Current figures from a study prove this. From 2018 to 2023, 116,000 people were persecuted and convicted “on the basis of repressive criminal and administrative allegations,” as the study states.
The frightening reality is that only Stalin can hold a candle to Putin when it comes to the extent of criminal prosecution of opposition figures.
Even Nikita Khrushchev or Leonid Brezhnev in the Soviet Union did not come up with Putin's numbers, reports the exiled newspaper
Meduza
based in Latvia.
Journalists are particularly restricted in Russia - Putin is taking advantage of Corona regulations
In the global ranking of the organization Reporters Without Borders, which ranks each country according to their freedom of the press, Russia is in 164th place, one place ahead of Turkey.
North Korea is in last place.
Therefore, the current study does not seem surprising.
Nevertheless, it underlines how extremely bad the situation is with freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Russia.
Police officers detain a woman who laid flowers for the late Russian opposition figure Navalny at a memorial for victims of political repression.
According to the judiciary, Navalny died on Friday at the age of 47 in a Siberian penal colony.
© dpa
Most of the cases were initiated against journalists, although the number of unreported cases is probably even higher.
Even Covid came in handy for Putin’s regime.
While all Covid regulations have now been lifted in the rest of the world, many of the Covid restrictions are still in force in Russia, reports
Meduza
.
Mass protests are not allowed to be organized under these restrictions.
From April 2022 to December 2023, according to the study, 159,000 people received penalties for violating “ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological well-being of the population.”
What some people feared in Germany is reality in Russia.
Putin is using the regulations designed to deal with the pandemic as a weapon to prevent any protest.
Since the Ukraine war: Putin's new laws to suppress protest
It should also be noted that since the start of the Ukraine war, a number of laws have been passed to further restrict freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
For example, during the two-year war in Ukraine, over 60 cases were initiated to take action against people who spread propaganda.
There were also charges against demonstrators based on “National Socialist” and “extremist” symbols.
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According to an analysis by the
New York Times
, Russians can already be prosecuted for wearing the colors blue and yellow (Ukrainian national colors).
Even private chat messages can be used in court as evidence of spreading “propaganda” and false information about the war with Ukraine.
Russian police arrested hundreds who publicly mourned Navalny.
© IMAGO/Andrei Bok/SOPA Images
Hundreds arrested at mourning gatherings for Navalny
The repression and the treatment of journalists and demonstrators only recently became apparent again.
After Alexei Navalny's death, thousands of Russians expressed their condolences at old Soviet monuments across the country.
They laid flowers as a symbol of mourning.
This peaceful symbol of hope and appreciation for Navalny was interrupted in many places by the police.
Several hundred protesters were taken away and arrested.
Please don't forget that there are still good people in this country
Andrej, student who expresses his sadness over Navalny's death
After deployment against the Russian regime: Navalny died in a prison camp
Alexei Navalny was 47 years old.
He felt unwell during a prison walk last Friday (February 16) and collapsed, according to Russian authorities.
The Russian opposition activist campaigned against Putin for many years.
The Kremlin critic narrowly survived a poison attack in 2020.
After recovering in Germany, he returned to Russia, whereupon he was promptly arrested at the airport.
Now he had to pay with his life for his fight against the Moscow regime.
Putin's repressive apparatus never stops - even priests can be arrested
The
New York Times
reports at least 400 people were arrested over the weekend after Navalny's death.
Even a priest, Father Grigory Mikhnov-Waitenko, could not escape Putin's repression.
When he wanted to hold a memorial service for Navalny, the cleric was arrested.
Andrei, a student, told the
New York Times
at the site that "one day what we see here will be in history books." He added: "Please don't forget that there are still good people in this country. “ Putin’s methods of suppressing protest make it difficult for Russians to openly question the status quo.