Russian police have detained at least two independent journalists on “extremism” charges in connection with a criminal case against the late opposition activist Alexei Navalny, media outlets reported.
According to the independent broadcaster Sotavision, its photojournalist Antonina Favorskaya was detained for a second time late Wednesday after initially serving a 10-day administrative sentence in the Moscow region on charges of disobeying police orders.
Meanwhile, in the republic of Bashkortostan earlier on Wednesday, police detained RusNews reporter Olga Komleva on similar “extremism” charges, that outlet said.
Komleva was at first summoned as a witness in the Navalny “extremism” case, but authorities later qualified her as a suspect.
The reporter had previously volunteered at Navalny’s campaign office in the city of Ufa, according to the independent outlet Meduza.
Favorskaya had covered Navalny’s court hearings and filmed the last known video of the Kremlin critic before his death at an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16.
She had also extensively covered his funeral in Moscow before she was detained at a cafe on an anonymous tip and jailed for 10 days for “disobedience.”
Favorskaya is suspected of “working” for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported, citing anonymous sources.
Russian authorities designated Navalny’s activist network as “extremist” in 2021, putting employees, volunteers and supporters at risk of criminal prosecution.
At least four of Favorskaya’s and Komleva’s colleagues were also detained overnight, with one of them saying he was beaten while in police custody.
The charges against those four individuals remain unclear.
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