Russian court authorizes journalist’s inclusion on list of extremist organizations

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2 Jul. () –

A Russian court has ruled that journalist Alexander Nevzorov, sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia for spreading false information about the war in Ukraine, and his wife Lidia should be included on the list of extremist organisations.

The Oktyabrsky District Court in St. Petersburg has ruled in favour of the prosecutor and an unspecified number of people who filed a lawsuit in defence of state interests, TASS news agency reported.

“Since March 2022, Alexander and Lidia have been spreading extremist ideology to an unlimited number of people, regardless of the region and country, by publishing false information on their Internet pages about the conduct of a special military operation (war in Ukraine),” the press service of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said.

Under the measure, the spouses’ assets will become state revenue. The trial, at the request of a representative of the prosecution, was held behind closed doors, according to the Interfax news agency.

Nevzorov was found guilty by a Moscow court in February 2023 of deliberately, publicly and “under the guise of truthful information” spreading false news about the Russian military in the context of the war in Ukraine.

Russian authorities have put the journalist and former State Duma member on their wanted list. The case against him was opened in March 2022, and just a month later the Justice Ministry labelled him a “foreign agent”.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched an investigation into Nevzorov for posting “false information” on his Instagram and YouTube accounts about an attack by Russian forces on a maternity hospital in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.