Russian prosecutors on Monday charged a senior journalist with “defending terrorism” (a charge that can be sentenced to up to seven years in prison) as her trial began amid widespread crackdown on independent media.
Moscow has done everything he can to eliminate objections during the battle in Ukraine and regularly accuses anyone who is deemed to be inconsistent with official boundaries to “prove terrorism.”
Prosecutors accused Nadezhda Kevorkova of being a respected 66-year-old journalist who specializes in the Middle East, “openly defending and calling for terrorism… to shape public opinion.”
The allegations are based on two social media posts, one of the Taliban in 2020 and the other restarted by another journalist in 2018, involving the 2005 attack on the Russian city of Narchik.
Kevorkova was arrested in May and wrote for top Russian media outlets including Novaya Gazeta and for pro-Kremlin-language media such as Russia Today (such as Russia).
In court Monday, Kevorkova tied her hair to bread, wearing a black dress with white stripes, waving to about 20 supporters, including fellow countrymen, including journalists, from behind the cage of the glass defendant.
She told the judge that she was aware of the allegations against her and was expected to testify at a hearing later this week.
Her attorney, Kaloy Akhilgov, said the verdict could be made within a few days.
The Taliban was formally banned by Moscow, although Moscow has established ties with the Islamic authorities that now manage Afghanistan.
Akhilgov said any mention of the group was very sensitive to security services, especially after the March 2024 terrorist attack on the Crocodile Town Hall.
“The Talibu people came to Russia and met with our country’s senior representatives,” Akirgov told AFP.
“But the Taliban, which has been officially listed in the list of banned terrorist organizations since 2003… Of course, in a positive context, anyone who mentions the Taliban shows that this is a reason for terrorism.”
The Kremlin has imposed tight control on the Russian media under the long rule of President Vladimir Putin, but since the 2022 Ukrainian offensive, it has compared the control of the press with Soviet-era censorship and propaganda.
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