Russian court fines newspaper for 'abuse of the freedom of the press'
After a warning issued by Roskomnadzor, the global judicial district of Moscow’s Presnensky District Court imposed a fine in the amount of 44,000 rubles on The New Times and its chief editor, Yevgenia Albats for abuse of the freedom of the press.
The Court found that the edition violated article 13.15, paragraph 2 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (abuse of the freedom of the press) and imposed an administrative penalty in the amount of 4,000 rubles on Albats and 40,000 on LLC The New Times.
In turn, the representative of Yevgenia Albats, lawyer Vadim Prokhorov, stated in his interview to Interfax that he intends to appeal the decision of the Magistrate that before it takes effect.
“If I hate Hitler, do I need to add every time when I mention him that he was found guilty during the Nuremberg trials? We didn’t spread any information—especially positive information—about the Right Sector. It was mentioned in the material only in passing,” Prokhorov said.
Earlier, the Press Secretary of Roskomnadzor, Vadim Ampelonskiy, told Interfax that The New Times had been warned on the 21st of January for running a story about the Ukrainian radical organization, Right Sector, without mentioning that the organization is banned in Russia. At the time, Roskomnadzor initiated administrative proceedings under article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (abuse of the freedom of the press).
According to Ampelonskiy, the article was published on 18th of January and it was a first warning that was issued this year. According to the legislation, if the media receives two or more warnings from Roskomnadzor within one year, then Roskomnadzor will have opportunity to file a claim in court for the cancellation of the registration of the media entity responsible.