Russian journalist jailed for 4 years
Nika Novak was accused of "cooperation with a foreign organisation".
A court in the East Siberian city of Chita, located along the Trans-Siberian Railway, has sentenced local journalist Nika Novak to four years in prison, Radio Freedom reports, citing sources familiar with the case.
Nika Novak was charged with "cooperating with a foreign organisation on a confidential basis" after being detained in Moscow in 2023 and later transported to a detention center in Chita.
Radio Freedom reports that in addition to working as a journalist for the local Chita media, since 2022 Novak has been a freelance correspondent for Radio Freedom, which has been branded an "undesirable organisation" in Russia.
The case is “classified”, meaning that no details are known to the public and journalists were not allowed to attend the trial. The exact wording of Article 275.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, under which Novak was convicted, is as follows:
“The establishment and maintenance by a citizen of the Russian Federation of cooperative relations on a confidential basis with a representative of a foreign state, international or foreign organization for the purpose of assisting them in activities that are knowingly directed against the security of the Russian Federation.”
The article came into force in the summer of 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It allowed Russian authorities to arrest anyone who had contact with a foreign citizen, even if it was just communication via a messenger app.
In December 2023, journalists from Novaya Gazeta Europe researched Novak's social media where Novak's views on the war in Ukraine seemed to have shifted from support to questioning the actions of the authorities.
The human rights organisation The Memorial recognized Nika Novak as a political prisoner.
There have been several cases of people accused of "cooperation with a foreign organisation" in Russia. The first person to be prosecuted under this article was an activist from the Penza region Pavel Pishchulin, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison for "exchanging messages with the Ukrainian special services".
