The Cheryomushkinsky District Court of Moscow registered an administrative case against the founder and chief editor of The Insider, Roman Dobrokhotov. Mediazona drew attention to the case file.
The journalist is accused of participating in the activities of an “undesirable” organization (Article 20.33 of the Administrative Code). The materials were registered on July 2, a hearing on the case has not yet been scheduled.
What exactly was the reason for drawing up the protocol is unknown. In the summer of 2022, the Prosecutor General's Office recognized The Insider as an “undesirable” organization. According to the department, the work of the publication “poses a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation.”
At the end of June this year, a protocol under Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses was also drawn up against The Insider journalist Timur Olevsky. As he himself suggested in a conversation with Mediazona, the reason for the administrative case could be streams on the publication’s YouTube channel. The hearing in Olevsky’s case will begin at 10:00 on July 15 in the Preobrazhensky District Court of Moscow.
In April 2022, Dobrokhotov was recognized as a “foreign agent.” Later, he was fined due to “foreign agency” reports not submitted to the Ministry of Justice (Part 2 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code). In addition, a protocol was drawn up against the journalist for “discrediting” the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). Initially, he was fined 30 thousand rubles under this article, but later the Moscow City Court canceled the fine and terminated the proceedings due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
In August 2022, the founder of The Insider was arrested in absentia in the case of illegal crossing borders. According to investigators, on the night of August 1, 2021, Dobrokhotov crossed the border with Ukraine in the Voronezh region, bypassing customs. The FSB applied for a preventive measure.