A journalist from Buryatia has been convicted in absentia in a case concerning “false information” and failure to fulfil the obligations of a “foreign agent”

The Sovetsky District Court in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia in Eastern Siberia, has convicted journalist Evgeniya Baltatarova in absentia and sentenced her to seven years in a general-regime penal colony on charges of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army motivated by hatred (subparagraph “d” of part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) and failure to fulfil the obligations of a “foreign agent” (part 2, article 330.1 of the Criminal Code). Baltatarova herself announced this on her Telegram channel.

The verdict was handed down on 16 July. In addition to imprisonment, Baltatarova was fined, though the amount is unknown.

The journalist stated that she will appeal the verdict.

“Procedurally, of course, it’s a total circus, trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Conceptually, well, it’s just sad, really, that such articles exist, that there’s a war going on and on both sides people are dying who don’t need this war,” she wrote.

Baltatarova left Russia in March 2022, shortly after her home was searched. Before that, she had publicly spoken out against the war with Ukraine. Soon after she left, a criminal case was opened against her for “fake news” about the military.

For a while, she stayed in Kazakhstan. There, she was repeatedly detained because of her prosecution in Russia. Baltatarova applied for asylum in Kazakhstan, but her application was rejected, citing her lack of original documents showing she had been charged, arrested in absentia, and put on a wanted list. After that, the journalist flew to France—she only managed to do so on her second attempt, because the first time she was removed from the flight and taken to a police station, where she was warned about possible deportation to Russia.

The “fake news” case against Baltatarova was opened because of posts in her Telegram channel. One post covered events in Bucha, and another included a link to a tweet by Maxim Katz: “Horrific. An air bomb was dropped on the drama theatre in Mariupol, and there were children sheltering there.”

In October 2022, the Justice Ministry listed the journalist in the “foreign agents” register. She has been fined several times for not complying with the “foreign agent” law (article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences), after which she was charged under the corresponding criminal article.