A Russian journalist criticized with the invasion of Ukraine for Moscow declared on Monday that he fled to France after Reporters without borders (RSF) will take her out of Russia.
“It was very difficult”declared in a press conference at the RSF headquarters in Paris the journalist of Ukrainian origin Ekaterina Barabashwho faces a Penalty of up to ten years in jail for criticizing the Moscow Army.
His trip lasted about two and a half weeks, he explained in English.
“I arrived three days ago,” he said, adding that he could not reveal all the details. “I’m going to ask for political asylum. ”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the authorities have opened Thousands of causes against people accused of “discrediting” the army.
Barabash, 64, was arrested in February under the suspicion of Disseminate “false information” about the Russian armed forces in several publications he made on social networks.
The Russian authorities were alerted to their disappearance in April by an electronic surveillance system.
Barabash said the bracelet was removed when she fled.
“It is somewhere in the Russian forest”He said smiling.
“He had been hidden for two weeks,” he said, he said, and added that he crossed the border on his birthday, April 26.
“I knew everything would go well.”
Barabash laid himself as a cinematographic critic and had written for several media in Russia, including the Russian service of Radio France Internationale.
Barabash, who was born in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv When he was still part of the Soviet Union, he has openly criticized Moscow’s military offensive against Ukraine.
In March 2022 he wrote on Facebook that Russia had “bombarded the country” y “Outstanding whole cities.”
Days before his arrest, he wrote about his “I hate, hate, I hate those who started all this.”
“So many lives destroyed, so many shattered families”he wrote on Facebook.
“Over the years, hatred has stopped burn, has stopped quelling me: it has hardened, it has become stronger and burns with a constant flame that nothing can turn off. I will die with him.”
Russia declared illegal to criticize the Army and its military operations in Ukraine shortly after the war against Ukraine began.
Rights defense groups claim that the authorities are using the law to carry out a unprecedented repression of dissent.
The former Russian state television journalist Marina Ovsyannikovawhich protested against the Ukraine conflict during a live broadcast, escaped from Russia in 2022 after fleeing his house arrest.
Reporters without borders, known by its acronym in RSF French, helped to take it out of the country.
The RSF director, Thibault Bruttinhe stated that, after the organization helped Ovsyannikova escape, it is more difficult to help journalists escape from Russia.
“We are very relieved”said. “It’s very dangerous”.
(With AFP information)
