The Russian journalist Favorskaya has been reporting on Kremlin opponent Navalny for years. Now she has been arrested. Observers see this as an attempt to silence them. She faces up to six years in prison.
After years of reporting on the now deceased Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, journalist Antonina Favorskaya was arrested in Russia. The Basmanny District Court ordered a two-month pre-trial detention for Antonina Kravtsova, the information service of the Moscow courts said in the online channel Telegram. Favorskaya was committed to Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Russia banned as an “extremist organization” a long time ago.
However, both her media outlet “SotaVision” and Navalny’s team reject this as an excuse to silence the critical journalist. She faces up to six years in prison.
Russia arrests journalists
Contrary to what is alleged in the indictment, Favorskaya never published materials for the Navalny fund FBK, wrote Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysch on the X platform. “A journalist is being accused because of her journalistic activities,” she added. “It’s no surprise, but what a darkness.”
Since the war of aggression against Ukraine began more than two years ago, Russia has become increasingly repressive against critical voices in its own country. As the organization Reporters Without Borders reports, Russia arrested six journalists in March alone.
Favorskaya reported on Navalny
According to her media, Favorskaya reported on almost all of the trials that continued against Navalny even after his imprisonment at the beginning of 2021. After his death on February 16, she also visited the opposition politician’s grave in Moscow several times and documented how people continued to come in droves and leave flowers for days after the funeral.
After one of these cemetery visits, she was arrested by police officers in a café on March 17 and initially put in a detention cell for ten days for allegedly resisting police officers. On the day of her scheduled release, Favorskaya was arrested again – this time on charges of involvement in the Navalny organization.
According to Sotavision, Favorskaya said in court that the judiciary’s actions were retaliation for an article she wrote about how Navalny was tortured in prison. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, described Krawzowa’s article as an important text and shared it on the online service X.