Stefania Battistini

Affiliated media: RAI , Journalist

Incident date: October 8, 2024

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Kommersant

Location: Russia, Kursk Oblast, Kursk

Additional information:

The Leninsky District Court of Kursk has, in absentia, arrested Italian journalists Simone Traini and Stefania Battistini for illegally crossing the Russian state border (Part 3, Article 322 of the Russian Criminal Code, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment). The court found that cameraman Simone Traini and journalist Stefania Battistini, “together with other unidentified persons,” entered Russia from Ukraine on 6 August to film a report on the invasion of the Kursk region “involving tanks, artillery, and other lightly armoured vehicles.” According to the court, they travelled by a military vehicle to the town of Sudzha. The FSB opened a criminal case against the RAI journalists in the mid-August. Both journalists were charged in absentia. The court ordered their detention “from the moment of their apprehension on Russian territory or from the moment of extradition.”