Dagestani SC stops prosecuting journalist Yulia Vishnevetskaya

The Supreme Court (SC) of Dagestan has re-examined the complaint lodged by Yulia Vishnevetskaya, a journalist, who was arrested for five days for taking part in an anti-mobilization action, and found no offense in her actions.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 26, 2022, Yulia Vishnevetskaya, who was on the editorial assignment there, was detained at the venue of the anti-mobilization action held in Makhachkala. On September 30, 2022, the Dagestani SC upheld the decision to arrest Vishnevetskaya, without taking into account the arguments of her defence that the protocol on an administrative offense had been falsified. She appealed against the court ruling.

As reported by the "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence*, the judge of the Fifth Court of Cassation indicated that the consideration of the case at the Dagestani SC was held in the absence of Vishnevetskaya; and the judge failed to comprehensively examine the circumstances of the case.

Let us recall that on September 25 and 26, 2022, large-scale protests against mobilization were held in Makhachkala; they ended in mass detentions, including of the journalists who were covering the protest actions.

*As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the roster of foreign agents was the spread of "inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces."