A journalist for the Russian edition of Forbes magazine has been detained on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military, his lawyer said Friday.
Sergei Mingazov is being held in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, lawyer Konstantin Bubon said on Facebook.
He said that Mingazov was detained because of social media posts he made about the Ukrainian city of Bucha, where more than 400 bodies of civilians were found, many bearing signs of torture, after Russian forces pulled out in April 2022.
Mingazov will appear in court on Saturday on the charge of spreading false information, which could send him to prison for 10 years if convicted.
Photographer Santi Palacios won the 3rd Prize in 'Story News' category with this "The Bucha Massacre" photo taken in Bucha, Ukraine. A journalist for the Russian edition of Forbes magazine has been detained for his social media commentary on the city, where over 400 civilian bodies, many showing signs of torture, were discovered following the withdrawal of Russian forces in April 2022. (Santi Palacios/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Russia cracked down severely on criticism of the war soon after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, passing laws that criminalize allegedly false information about the military or statements seen as discrediting the military.
Journalists, opposition figures and regular citizens have been swept up in the crackdown, many of them sentenced to long prison terms. The longest to be imposed was against prominent activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years.