MK journalist Lev Speransky was detained by police in front of his young children.
A search at home, a search at the editorial office.
They are accused of some kind of extortion in 2018. It all seems like nonsense. But Lev was taken to the Main Investigation Department already with his things, which means everything is serious, they will try to arrest him.
Lev wrote on the topic of crime and did investigative journalism. He always had many informants from different law enforcement agencies. Leo is a talented journalist. He and I sometimes fundamentally disagreed about the same event (what was important to him was the exclusivity, and not what consequences the publication would cause, and certainly not the rights of a particular person as such). But, again, he was one of the best criminal investigators in the country, capable of getting any information.
Just a few years ago, just coming to a journalist’s home and putting him face down on the floor was unimaginable. And then there was Vanya Golunov, who was planted with drugs, then there were other journalists who ended up behind bars only because the “funeral mafia”, some official, an oligarch or a security official (or all three in one person) did not like him.
We tried to fight this. For example, they asked that law enforcement officers notify the Union of Journalists about every case that is brought against a journalist (related in one way or another to his professional activities). But they made it clear to us that journalists are viewed as servants, and not as the “fourth estate.” What do they do with the servants? They use it and then…
Who do you think was the first lawyer recognized as a foreign agent? Galina Agapova, who defends the rights of journalists.
Now they don’t even allow a lawyer to see Lev.
“Even those who apply the law eventually begin to despise it, when there are no longer political assemblies or newspapers capable of moderating the whims or limiting the arbitrariness … of ministers and their offices.”
A search at home, a search at the editorial office.
They are accused of some kind of extortion in 2018. It all seems like nonsense. But Lev was taken to the Main Investigation Department already with his things, which means everything is serious, they will try to arrest him.
Lev wrote on the topic of crime and did investigative journalism. He always had many informants from different law enforcement agencies. Leo is a talented journalist. He and I sometimes fundamentally disagreed about the same event (what was important to him was the exclusivity, and not what consequences the publication would cause, and certainly not the rights of a particular person as such). But, again, he was one of the best criminal investigators in the country, capable of getting any information.
Just a few years ago, just coming to a journalist’s home and putting him face down on the floor was unimaginable. And then there was Vanya Golunov, who was planted with drugs, then there were other journalists who ended up behind bars only because the “funeral mafia”, some official, an oligarch or a security official (or all three in one person) did not like him.
We tried to fight this. For example, they asked that law enforcement officers notify the Union of Journalists about every case that is brought against a journalist (related in one way or another to his professional activities). But they made it clear to us that journalists are viewed as servants, and not as the “fourth estate.” What do they do with the servants? They use it and then…
Who do you think was the first lawyer recognized as a foreign agent? Galina Agapova, who defends the rights of journalists.
Now they don’t even allow a lawyer to see Lev.
“Even those who apply the law eventually begin to despise it, when there are no longer political assemblies or newspapers capable of moderating the whims or limiting the arbitrariness … of ministers and their offices.”
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
