Galina Balaban

Affiliated media: Citizen journalist

Incident date: February 16, 2023

Attack type:

• Search with a court decree

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Alena Popova's Facebook page

Location: Republic of Crimea, Simferopol

Additional information:

On February 16, 2023, in Simferopol, officers of the Center for Combating Extremism inspected the premises where citizen journalist Galina Balaban lives. She was then detained and taken away to draw up a report under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation for the demonstration of a video on a social network that showed symbols of the organisation Right Sector, which is banned in the Russian legal field. Previously, Galina Balaban cooperated with the Ukrainian-language newspaper Crimean Teren, which was published by the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Simferopol. Due to persecution and threats, the Center stopped its activities, including the publication of the newspaper, in 2018. The persecution of Galina Balaban concerns the publication on social networks of a video of the period when the newspaper was published. As of 2023, Galina Balaban was not engaged in journalistic activities.