Oleg Sofyin

Affiliated media: Journalist

Incident date: November 4, 2022

Attack type:

• Prosecution for libel, insult, violation of privacy (1)

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Simbirsk.city

Location: Russia, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Ulyanovsk

Additional information:

In Ulyanovsk, law enforcement officers searched the apartment of the journalist Oleg Sofyin in the case of defamation (Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). His personal electronic devices were confiscated. According to unconfirmed information, Vyacheslav Barynin, head of the Ulyanovsk region governor’s administration, filed a complaint against Sofyin. Sofyin links the visit of law enforcement officers with a scandal in the governor’s administration on April 15: at the meeting, where the situation in one of the Ulyanovsk hospitals was discussed, Alexey Russkikh, head of the region, began to accuse the journalist of running the Telegram channel Kompromat, where he allegedly denounced the official and «poured dirt» on him. Russkikh began threatening Sofyin that he would be «taken care of» and retaliated against.