The website of the human rights media project “OVD-Info” was blocked in Russia for posting information on the Internet that was prohibited from distribution on the territory of the Russian Federation. This is confirmed in the decision of the Lukhovitsky District Court of the Moscow Region, promulgated on Friday, December 31.
The court’s website states that the decision was made in connection with the claim of the Lukhovitsky city prosecutor in defense of an indefinite circle of persons and interests of the Russian Federation. In this claim, among other things, it is noted that the material (site “OVD-Info”. – Ed.) “is formed and built in such a way that, based on the results of familiarization with it among an indefinite wide circle of people, an idea of the permissibility of carrying out extremist activities can be formed, as well as a positive and sympathetic attitude towards banned groups.”
What “forbidden” information was published by “OVD-Info”
Among other things, the court’s decision mentions an article about a terrorist attack in the building of the FSB in Arkhangelsk. “As follows from the linguistic analysis of the presented text, the main communicative orientation is to justify actions aimed at violating the current legislation,” the court notes.
Another article that attracted the attention of the court was the article entitled “OVD-Info’s position on mass persecution in connection with the actions … (January 23. – Ed.) “In this regard, the court’s decision reads the following:” Taking into account the act of a comprehensive psychological and linguistic research conducted by the ANO Center for the Promotion of the Development of Humanitarian Expertise “Independent Expert”, it was established that in it (article. – Ed.) we are talking about “uncoordinated protest actions aimed at disrupting public order and destabilizing the political situation in Russia, which took place in … years in connection with the arrest of the leader of an extremist organization” … “N.A.A.”
Why “OVD-Info” was registered as “foreign agents”
On September 29, the RF Ministry of Justice added OVD-Info to the list of “foreign agents”. On December 25, Roskomnadzor blocked the OVD-Info website and demanded that social networks delete the project’s account, and Yandex removed the link to the OVD-Info website from the search results.
The main partner of OVD-Info is the Memorial Human Rights Center, the decision to liquidate which was made on December 29. The official reason why “OVD-Info” was declared a “foreign agent” was to receive funding from this human rights center.
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