Russian Authorities Sentence Student Journalists to Hard Labor Over Freedom of Assembly Video

Russian authorities have sentenced four journalists who worked for Doxa, an independent Moscow student magazine, to two years’ “corrective labour” for publishing a video questioning whether it was right for teachers to discourage students from attending rallies protesting opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's incarceration.

In the video, which had been posted to YouTube, former Doxa journalists Armen Aramyan, Natasha Tyshkevich, Alla Gutnikova, and Volodya Metelkin stated that it was illegal to expel and intimidate students who participated in the rallies.

The Doxa student journalists. (Larry Poltavtsev/YouTube)

The journalists were initially detained in April 2021 for questioning before the Investigation Committee after authorities searched their homes and Doxa’s offices.

A Moscow court said the video had encouraged “the involvement of minors” in protests against Kremlin policies. Russian legislation requires those sentenced to correctional labor to pay the government up to 20% of their wages if they are employed. Those who are unemployed are assigned jobs by the Federal Penitentiary Service.

The court could have handed down a much harsher sentence: The journalists had faced prison terms of up to three years and Doxa founder Aramyan expressed relief that the sentencing had been considerably more lenient.

“I am very glad to be finally free. It was an amazing feeling when our ankle bracelets were taken off right in court. It could have been worse,” he told The Guardian. “At the same time, we still received a real sentence for an absurd, made-up case.”

Doxa editors said that Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor forced them to delete the video from their website.

Human rights groups have condemned Russia for the students’ arrests, saying that they represent a more intensive crackdown by the Kremlin that is intended to further suppress freedom of the press in Russia. In a statement last year, Amnesty International called the searches at Doxa “a new low for press freedom,” adding that "the Russian authorities’ intention is transparent. Investigations into corruption will not be tolerated, mobilizing youth to actively and peacefully participate in society will be prosecuted, and those journalists and media outlets who receive foreign funding will be ostracized and labelled as foreign agents."