Despite increasing pressure from the Russian government on the press, a journalist risked escaping house arrest and crossing the country’s border into Georgia.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Kavkazr website, what seemed like a solution turned into a legal stalemate, and after Insa Lander was denied entry to Georgia by the authorities, she moved to live in the neutral zone between the two countries. . , affiliated with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
In a post on Telegram, Insa conveyed the hunger and thirst at the border where it received donations from travelers. “I am very tired. But I do not lose hope. I try not to lose it,” he wrote on June 16.
Pressure on journalists in Russia increased with war
The Insa case, which is the subject of the report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists on World Refugee Day (June 20), is an example of the problems affecting journalists who had to leave their country due to persecution.
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, President Vladimir Putin’s government intensified its crackdown on domestic and foreign journalists, especially independent professionals.
A law passed in the country’s parliament in March, Up to 15 years in prison for journalists who publish “fake news” about the warthis means censoring the dissemination of information not approved by the Kremlin.
But even before the conflict with the neighboring country began, Putin was already suppressing the work of journalists from large organizations and independent media.
That’s what happened with the blogger İnsa Lander, whose real name is İnsa Oğuz. He has been under house arrest since December 2021 after being accused of terrorism in the Russian city of Baksan, near the Georgian border.
He told CPJ via text message that Russian authorities accused him of trying to find an acquaintance to join ISIS in 2014.
However, according to the journalist, these allegations are in retaliation for a report that a local official was about to publish on the corruption allegations.
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On June 12, Insa was released from house arrest and passed through the Russian border authorities to enter Georgia.
He described some of the escape on Telegram:
“I escaped from house arrest on a wonderful holiday called ‘Russia Day’ on June 12.
I tried to swim [rio] Terek – I almost choked, bumped my legs, broke my nails, had bruises and bruises.
[Enquanto nadava no rio]I turned halfway back when I realized that there was an even more turbulent current ahead of me and that I would definitely not be able to overcome it.”
However, after crossing the border, the Georgian authorities prevented him from entering the country.
Since then, Insa has slept on a bench in the duty-free section of the checkpoint, in the neutral zone between the two countries, and has relied on travelers crossing the border for food.
The journalist also reported the ill-treatment suffered by the authorities of the neighboring country on his Telegram channel:
“Asylum denial, manipulation, psychological pressure, threats, police harassment wherever I go; an unspoken ban on employees help me (distribute wifi, give water).
Between 12-14 June I was starving and I couldn’t sleep from the stress, I brought water wherever I could find it. So the truckers fed me, let me sleep in the taxi.”
Insa Lander is an independent journalist covering investigations into alleged donation fraud and cases of physical and sexual abuse. According to CPJ. The materials produced are shared in their accounts Twitter and Telegram, which have around 3,700 and 3,400 followers, respectively.
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Memorial, an independent Russia-based human rights organization that reviewed the blogger’s case, concluded that Russian officials’ accusations were “politically motivated”.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said on June 16 that Insa applied for asylum on June 13 after being initially denied entry for giving “false and inconsistent information” about the purpose of her visit.
The statement did not elaborate on the status of the journalist’s asylum application and stated that Georgian law and the UN Refugee Convention allow authorities to deny entry to persons accused of terrorism on national security grounds.
CPJ points out that if the journalist is found guilty of terrorism charges in Russia, he could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison under the provisions of the penal code in force at the time of his arrest.
Insa told the committee that Russian financial intelligence agency Rosfinmonitoring is on the list of terrorism and extremists and has restricted access to its bank accounts.
With the repercussions of the case, Lithuanian Ambassador to Georgia Andrius Kalindra said that his country is ready to issue a visa to a journalist if the Georgian authorities do not agree.
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source: Noticias
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