The Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow has received a motion to arrest Bellingcat investigator Hristo Grozev in absentia. Mediazona's information was found in the database of the court.
The investigation asks to arrest Grozev under part 1 of Article 322 of the Criminal Code (illegal crossing of the Russian border). The meeting is scheduled for today at 2:00 pm.
According to a Mediazona correspondent from the Lefortovo Court, in addition to arresting Grozev in absentia, the same judge plans to consider two more applications for arrest in absentia in a row. The names of the other two defendants and the articles they are charged with are not known.
Attorney Veronika Polyakova came to court to represent Grozev's interests. The FSB investigator also came to court and refused to give comments to journalists, explaining that he had no right to do so as an official.
At the end of December 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs put Grozev on the wanted list. Under what article a criminal case was opened against the investigator, then it was not specified. Before that, the FSB accused Grozev of helping Ukrainian intelligence, which, according to the agency, was planning to hijack a Russian military aircraft.
Hristo Grozev is an investigative journalist and head of the Bellingcat project. In particular, he participated in the investigation into the poisoning of politician Alexei Navalny.
Updated at 14:17. Added information from the Mediazona correspondent from the court.