Sergei Mingazov, a journalist for the Russian edition of Forbes, has been arrested on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military, the magazine reported on Friday.
Konstantin Bubon, Mingazov’s lawyer, said on Facebook that his client was in a detention center in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk, where he lives. Forbes Russia said it was unable to contact the journalist.
Laws passed shortly after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 impose long prison sentences for people convicted of deliberately spreading false news about the military.
The lawyer said Mingazov was arrested for republishing posts about alleged Russian war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bukha, where Reuters and other news outlets reported killings of Ukrainian civilians in the first weeks of the war. The Kremlin has denied that its troops executed people and said it was a “monstrous fake”.
Mingazov’s Telegram channel contains dozens of publications referring to Bucha. It is not clear which of these was the reason why he was placed under investigation.
The Russian human rights project OVD-Info said the Khabarovsk District Court would consider placing him under formal arrest on Saturday.
Source: Terra
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