Today, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow has arrested Sergei Smirnov, the editor-in-chief of Mediazona, for 25 days because of a retweet. According to the court, our colleague organized an unagreed rally by sharing a humorous tweet with the time of its beginning to his feed.
We consider the arrest of Sergei Smirnov for 25 days to be an evidence of the pressure on independent journalism in Russia. You can turn a blind eye to what journalists write, you can disagree and argue with it, but fighting against freedom of speech by means of arrests is unacceptable. We call for the immediate release of Sergei Smirnov.
Our colleagues from Novaya Gazeta are publishing the key texts of Mediazona on their website for the next 25 days. We are joining this initiative and suggest all independent media doing the same thing.