A Russian court has sentenced a journalist from a respected business daily to 3 1/2 years in prison after convicting him on extremism charges in a case denounced by rights activists and scores of fellow journalists. Reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
A Moscow court on August 10 found Aleksandr Sokolov, a special correspondent with the RBK newspaper, and three others guilty of involvement with a nationalist group deemed “extremist” by Russian authorities.
Investigators accused Sokolov — together with co-defendants Yury Mukhin, Kirill Barabash, and Valery Parfyonov — of continuing the work of a hard-line nationalist group called the People’s Will Army after it was banned by authorities as an extremist organization in 2010.
Prosecutors say the defendants were part of a cosmetically rebranded version of the People’s Will Army known as For Responsible Authorities!
Sokolov was accused of registering and running the website for the group, which has called for a referendum on setting up a popular tribunal to try senior Russian officials.
Sokolov, who has been in custody since July 2015, says the calls for a referendum are constitutionally protected, and that prosecutors presented no evidence showing that the group is linked to extremist activities.
He says he suspects his prosecution was linked to his doctoral dissertation on mismanagement in state corporations, and to his investigative reporting for RBK, including on cost overruns involved in the construction of Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome, a space launch facility.
The Russian human rights group Memorial has called Sokolov, Mukhin, and Parfyonov political prisoners.
Nearly 300 Russian journalists last month signed an open letter of support for Sokolov.