Igor Rudnikov

Affiliated media: Noviye Kolyosa, Founder

Incident date: June 1, 2019

Attack type:

• Fines and other restrictions following administrative offences

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Radio Liberty

Location: Russia, Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg

Additional information:

The Moskovsky District Court of St. Petersburg found journalist Igor Rudnikov not guilty of extortion, instead reclassifying his actions under other Articles of the Criminal Code. Rudnikov was thus charged with arbitrariness (Article 330 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which accounts for "actions contrary to the order presented by a law"), and failure to comply with the obligation to file a notice of foreign citizenship (Article 330.2 of the Code). The journalist was sentenced to 550 hours of compulsory work. The court counted the term that Rudnikov had spent in the pre-trial detention centre as a punishment, and on this basis, he released the journalist.