Today, a number of Russian media outlets - Echo Moscow, Takie Dela, 7x7, MediaZona and MBK Media - are publishing an open letter by journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva.
Prokopyeva, from Pskov, is accused of publicly justifying terrorism in connection with her coverage of the 2018 Arkhangelsk bomb attack. On 31 October that year, anarchist Mikhail Zhlobitsky, 17, set off explosives in a Federal Security Service (FSB) office, killing himself and injuring three law enforcement officers. Prior to the attack, Zhlobitsky wrote that he chose the FSB as a target because “it fabricates criminal cases and tortures people”. In the past year, several high-profile criminal cases concerning violent uprisings in Russia have emerged, with anarchist and anti-fascist defendants in one case reporting serious torture.
In an article after the event, Prokopyeva analysed the possible motives behind the attack in a radio broadcast. “In my opinion, this explosion shows - better than any column by a political scientist or a report by Human Rights Watch - that there are no conditions for political activism in Russia. Despite the Constitution, the hundreds of registered political parties and regular elections. None of this works - at least, this is what the young man, who had something to say to the authorities, saw.”
