At least 295 people have been charged or convicted in Russia since last year for alleged false news or disparaging the armed forces, according to a report by Bulgarian UN expert Mariana Katzarova. “Russia’s human rights situation has deteriorated significantly since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,” she stressed.
In her report presented in Geneva on Monday, Katzarova referred to new laws covering these criminal offences. The UN Human Rights Council appointed the special rapporteur on the situation in Russia in 2022. Katzarova names, among others, Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin, who was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in December 2022 for allegedly disparaging the Russian armed forces.
A UN expert was denied entry to the country
Russia did not allow Katzarova into the country or cooperate with her, she said. However, she exchanged ideas with around sixty Russian and international human rights organizations and received almost a hundred reports from civil society, victims and human rights defenders.
According to the report, human rights in Russia have been curtailed for years. She mentioned, among other things, laws that restrict opinion and editing work and laws against people from the LGBTIQ+ group.
43 murders of journalists since 2000
Since 2000, 43 journalists have been killed, including those reporting on the North Caucasus. She referred to information from the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Russia has long been one of the worst countries when it comes to killings of journalists,” Katzarova wrote.
At least 38 charges have been filed against journalists since last year in connection with the armed forces’ controversial false news and defamation laws. The state also intimidates artists so that they do not criticize the system.
Source: Krone
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