human rights defender
Mikhail Afanasyev
Actions and Campaigns
Mikhail Afanasyev
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Organization affiliation
- Novyi Focus - Siberian Republic of Khakassia
HRD's year of birth
1976
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
HRD's geographical origin
Urban
Current Status
In prison (sentenced)
HRD's bio and work
Mikhail Afanasyev is editor-in-chief of the Internet magazine Novyi Focus in the Siberian Republic of Khakassia. He is a two-time winner of the Andrei Sakharov Prize 'For Journalism as an Act' and the first foreign winner of the Swedish Publicists' Club Award.
Afanasyev has been tried in Khakassia about 20 times, most of them unsuccessfully. In 2013, he was tried for slandering Colonel Zlotnikov, deputy head of the Interior Ministry. The court acquitted Afanasyev. The journalist claimed that he had received repeated death threats and said that criminal pressure on journalists was not an accident, but the result of the Russian authorities' policy.
It seems that local law enforcement agencies had a long-standing interest in stopping the activities of an independent journalist. The current charge against Mikhail Afanasyev was brought on the basis of a text dated 4 April 2022 about why 11 soldiers of the OMON of Rosgvardiya OMON in Khakassia refused to take part in the war in Ukraine. He did not admit his guilt.
Mikhail Afanasyev has five minor children.
Detained since
Apr 13, 2022
Charge(s)
- Spreading fake news
Sentence
5 years 6 months
Latitude: 53.67886851720313
Longitude: 91.46797753244903
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Europe: Eastern Europe
Location of detention - City/Town
Abakan
Location of detention - Facility
FKU IK-35 UFSIN of Russia for the Republic of Khakassia Molodezhny Kvartal, 11 Abakan, Republic of Khakassia, 655017 Russia
Any other relevant documents
Annual assessment of press freedom in Europe by the partner organisations of the Safety of Journalists Platform https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Annual-Report-2024-CoE-Platform-Journalists-.pdf
Statement by Memorial on recognising Mikhail Afanasyev as a political prisoner https://memopzk.org/figurant/afanasev-mihail-vyacheslavovich/
Attachments
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1976
- HRD's Gender
- Man
- Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
- Organization affiliation
- Novyi Focus - Siberian Republic of Khakassia
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
Mikhail Afanasyev is editor-in-chief of the Internet magazine Novyi Focus in the Siberian Republic of Khakassia. He is a two-time winner of the Andrei Sakharov Prize 'For Journalism as an Act' and the first foreign winner of the Swedish Publicists' Club Award.
Afanasyev has been tried in Khakassia about 20 times, most of them unsuccessfully. In 2013, he was tried for slandering Colonel Zlotnikov, deputy head of the Interior Ministry. The court acquitted Afanasyev. The journalist claimed that he had received repeated death threats and said that criminal pressure on journalists was not an accident, but the result of the Russian authorities' policy.
It seems that local law enforcement agencies had a long-standing interest in stopping the activities of an independent journalist. The current charge against Mikhail Afanasyev was brought on the basis of a text dated 4 April 2022 about why 11 soldiers of the OMON of Rosgvardiya OMON in Khakassia refused to take part in the war in Ukraine. He did not admit his guilt.
Mikhail Afanasyev has five minor children.
- HRD's geographical origin
- Urban
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Europe: Eastern Europe
- Location of detention - City/Town
- Abakan
- Location of detention - Facility
- FKU IK-35 UFSIN of Russia for the Republic of Khakassia Molodezhny Kvartal, 11 Abakan, Republic of Khakassia, 655017 Russia
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 53.67886851720313
Longitude: 91.46797753244903
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Apr 13, 2022
- Current Status
- In prison (sentenced)
- Charge(s)
- Spreading fake news
- Sentence
5 years 6 months
- Protection actions and campaigns
- Any other relevant documents
Annual assessment of press freedom in Europe by the partner organisations of the Safety of Journalists Platform https://www.article19.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Annual-Report-2024-CoE-Platform-Journalists-.pdf
Statement by Memorial on recognising Mikhail Afanasyev as a political prisoner https://memopzk.org/figurant/afanasev-mihail-vyacheslavovich/
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
sorted by
Date added
3 relationships, 2 entities