Russia: Detain Aleksandra Bayazitova For 2 Months On Extortion Charges

Location: Russia

Date: August 10, 2022

Russian police detained the freelance journalist associated with the Telegram channel Aleksandra Bayazitova. The journalist who works with pro-government news site Life has about 37,000 subscribers on the Telegram channel Adskiye Babki, which cover reports on corruption issues, and extortion charges. Two days later, the Moscow Kuzminsky court ordered her detained until October 7. According to the criminal code, Aleksandra might face up to 15 years in jail; the Russian authorities claimed that she extorted money from a state-owned Russian bank not to publish negative information about it. Aleksandra is receiving diabetes medication while jailed.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism denounces the verdict and extends support to Aleksandra; the CFWIJ condemns the detention of the Russian journalist and calls on the Kremlin to allow freedom of speech. The CFWIJ also worries about Aleksandra's health condition in the jail and calls for her immediate release for her.

On August 8, police detained Aleksandra, claiming she extorted money from Promsvyazbank, a state-owned Russian bank, in exchange for not publishing negative information about it. On August 10, she was ordered to be detained for about one month until October 7 by the Kuzminsky court in Moscow, according to news reports.

Aleksandra, who has diabetes and struggles with mobility, if found guilty, will face up to 15 years in jail, according to the criminal code. Aleksandra denied the charges, and claimed she was prosecuted for publishing evidence that Promsvyazbank executives were involved in embezzlement and stole federal money allocated to Russia’s defense industry, which led to Russia’s current “bad situation in Ukraine", as Aleksandra said.

“I wrote a post about Promsvyazbank, about our bad situation in Ukraine, because people at the state defence bank are robbing state procurements,” Aleksandra defenced herself in front of the court. “The dad of Promsvyazbank’s board chairman, if you recall, was the Foreign Intelligence Service director. In fact, he gutted the agency, otherwise, the operation in Ukraine would have been done literally in two weeks as Mr Putin planned.”, Aleksandra said, according to news reports.

Earlier in the week that the authorities had arrested the administrators of at least half a dozen popular Telegram channels; Russian authorities arrested them on charges of demanding money from Rostec’s press service in exchange for not publishing adverse claims about the company. The authorities claimed that the suspects would face charges for “promoting a pro-Ukrainian agenda and spreading false information to destabilize the situation in Russia.”.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) stands in solidarity and demands that Aleksandra Bayazitova is released and all charges against her are dropped. The CFWIJ extends support to Aleksandra and denounces the detention and verdict charges against her.

The CFWIJ denounce the legal proceedings against journalists in Russia; we are extremely concerned about the Kremlin’s increased crackdown on the independent press and its attempts to control channels of information. We applaud our brave colleagues in the country who are striving to bring the truth to the world despite heightened censorship. Journalists must be able to report freely without state interference. Journalists must be able to report freely without state interference.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.