Russian court sentences journalists to corrective labour for protest violations

(Reuters) – Four journalists who worked for a Moscow student magazine were sentenced to two years of corrective labour by a Russian court on Tuesday for encouraging minors to take part in anti-Kremlin protests, Interfax news agency reported.

The independent DOXA outlet was set up by students and university graduates at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics in 2017, covering student life, higher education, politics and science.

Police detained the four journalists in April 2021 after raiding the magazine’s editorial office.

The raid coincided with a crackdown on allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, whose arrest and jailing in early 2021 sparked several nationwide protests that police said were illegal and broke up using force.

DOXA said at the time its journalists had been detained over a video clip in which the outlet said it was illegal for universities to expel students for taking part in pro-Navalny protests.

It said it had taken down the video at the request of the state media regulator.

The punishment handed down by the court in Moscow’s Dorogomilovsky district does not involve prison time.

The court also forbade the four from administering internet resources for three years, Interfax reported, adding that they will appeal the verdict.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mike Harrison)