The editor-in-chief of “Vechernie Vedomosti,” Vladislav Postnikov, who was due to be released from the detention centre today after serving 14 days under arrest, has been issued a new protocol for displaying prohibited symbols (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences), reports RusNews.
The journalist was taken to the Leninsky District Court in Nizhny Tagil, a city in the Urals. The case is already being considered by a judge.
The new protocol was triggered by two posts on a Telegram channel. The outlet It’s My City reported that the posts in question concerned an action by “Another Russia” activists held in September 2021, and an event organised by Alexei Navalny’s Yekaterinburg headquarters in October 2020. The first post featured a logo of the banned NBP (a predecessor of “Another Russia”), while the second showed a photo of a person wearing a badge from Navalny’s headquarters on their lapel.
The previous protocol for prohibited symbols, which resulted in Postnikov’s arrest and 14-day sentence, was drawn up over a four-year-old post which also included a logo associated with Navalny’s headquarters.
17:47 The Leninsky District Court of Nizhny Tagil has sentenced the editor-in-chief of “Vechernie Vedomosti,” Vladislav Postnikov, to 14 days’ arrest. His lawyer Roman Kachanov reported this to OVD-Info.
“I am accused of a deliberate act, of publicly displaying extremist symbols. The circumstances regarding my current prosecution should be taken into account by the court, because, excuse me, this is a ‘set-up.’ I’ve been detained, denied access to administer the Telegram channels, and meanwhile they are searching for posts which I have no possibility of deleting,” said Vladislav Postnikov to the publication “Govorit NeMoskva.”
17 March Vladislav Postnikov suspects that the trigger for his arrest was his planned lecture at the “Evening of Ural Identity” event scheduled for 28 February. This was reported by “Vechernie Vedomosti.”
Postnikov added that the link between the arrest and his speaking engagement was confirmed by Ombudsperson Tatyana Merzlyakova in a conversation with his relatives. However, the journalist noted that the lecture could not be the sole reason, as this is a case of “carousel arrest,” and the lecture was disrupted only after the first detention.
Vladislav Postnikov explained that he considers local identity important, but does not support the separation of the Ural Republic from Russia. “And not because the law forbids it, but because these are my beliefs, formed many years ago,” the journalist explains.
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Illustration: OVD-Info